THE HEIRESS OF CRONENSTEIN. THE HEIRESS OF CRONENSTEIN BY THE COUNTESS HAHN-HAHN MARY H. ALLIES / O amare, O ire, O sibi perire, O ad Deunt pervenire. ST. AUGUSTINE. NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO BENZIGER BROTHERS PUBLISHERS OF BENZIGER'S MAGAZINE 1913 COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY BENZIGER BROTHERS. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. CASTLE AND TOWN 7 II. SISTERS AND SUITORS 17 III. DR. EABENER 24 IV. OSWALD VON LAUINGEN 34 V. YES OR No? 41 VI. Two YEARS LATER 53 VII. BETWEEN Two WORLDS 71 VIII. A TRAGEDY 86 IX. THUNDER CLOUDS 105 X. THE HERMIT OF SANT' ISIDORO 116 XI. THE ANGEL OP THE RESURRECTION 129 XII. " DEO SERVIRE REGNARE EST " 137 XIII. DECEPTION 147 XIV. THE CAMALDOLESE AND DON SERAFINO 155 XV. THE GAMBLER'S WIFE 171 XVI. THE VILLA PAISIBLE 186 XVII. ALL SOULS' DAY 192 XVIII. FAREWELL 200 XIX. " NOVA ET VETERA " 208 XX. "MAGNIFICAT".. . 218 THE HEIKESS OP CROMNSTEIN. CHAPTER I. CASTLE AND TOWN. THE districts watered by the large and small riv- ers in the neighborhood of the Rhine are amongst the pleasantest in Germany. Along the banks of the Moselle, Lahn, Neckar, Murg, and Kinzig, to mention a few out of many, the eye rests upon a varied succession of sylvan and romantic pictures at every turn. It is not the stupendous beauty of a. lofty mountain nor the majesty of a lordly river ; it neither dazzles nor overawes. It is a beauty full of sentiment, hence eminently German. The ancient little town of X., numbering about five thousand inhabitants, was situated on one of these Rhine rivers. An old ivy-grown church of Roman origin formed the centre of its irregular streets. The vine flourished on the sunny hills with their southwest aspect, though not to the same ex- tent as on the Moselle and in the Rheingau. The grape ripened in the narrow slips of valley, and the lordly forest crowned the hilltops. A few wood- dealers, whose trade had descended from father to son, had grown well-to-do in the course of time, and 7 8 CASTLE AND TOWN. employed wood-cutters and wood-carriers. Houses run up by contract were unknown at X., whilst there were not a few projecting gabled roofs, black with age, in simple and serious contrast to smiling nature all around. The highroad branching off at the entrance of the town led up to Cronenstein Castle, a modern resi- dence on an ancient site. A powerful arched entrance alone remained of the old building, and over it the arms of the Cronensteins were conspicuous : a crown strongly cut in stone, and on each side in a niche half hidden by ivy, a knight in armor. The site was magnificent, commanding as it did the upward and downward traffic on the river, the highroad, the town, and the opposite bank. The chapel was evi- dently new, built in ornate Gothic, with very narrow arched windows and the mysterious rose over the portal. To the right a cluster of old lime-trees sheltered a rocky terrace, which presented a lively scene in the spring of 185 -. Four boys and a girl were playing at soap-bubbles. Their youthful spirits proved too boisterous for the game, so they were de- lighted when the girl's pipe at last produced a full round bubble. ** That one will soar up with the birds ! " " Yes, to the angels." "No, to God!" " O dear ! there, it has melted away." " Neither you nor I can reach God by this road,** exclaimed the girl, as merry as her little companions. " And soap-bubbles are not good enough for heaven," said one of the children. CASTLE AND TOWN. 9 " Why not, Rees ? " she asked. 44 Because they dissolve," answered the child. " That's quite right, Rees. Everything is beauti- ful in heaven, because everything lasts forever." These children were spending the afternoon with Florestine von Cronenstein, as a reward for good con- duct. They came from St. Francis' Mount, a Fran- ciscan convent at the other end of the town, and their little hearts had been gladdened by strawber- ries and soap-bubbles, Florestine being the gladdest of them all. She was now eighteen, her father's only child, and had lost her mother when she was ten. Frau von Cronenstein had had a sister whose mar- riage had been as unhappy as her own had been for- tunate. After her husband's death Frau von Strahl had been invited to live at the Castle in order that she might give her niece a mother's care. She had previously occupied the top of a house in X., belong- ing to Herzog, the wood-dealer. His children, in visiting their grandmother at the same house, had seen those of the Frau Majorin, as she was called. Telesphor Herzog was Franz von Strahl's comrade both at home and at school, and Franz was not sure whether he liked Florestine or Telesphor best. When Franz went to live at the Castle, Telesphor went with him to a certain extent. At least he was a daily guest there, and Herr von Cronenstein was fond of him. ****** After seeing the children home, Florestine and her father were returning over the hill, for, as Flor- estine said to him, " the world looks better when you look down on it." 10 CASTLE AND TOWN, " There you are right, Flore. Mind you always do it." Florestine seemed to wait an explanation of these words, but none came. She followed her father up the hill. It was nearly sunset when they reached the top. Rosy clouds lit up the evening sky, but the twilight already hung over the valley, and here and there a light appeared in the windows of the town. Deep silence reigned over all nature. Not a leaf moved on the trees, the birds had long sought out their nests, the midges, dancing so merrily in the evening sunlight, they too had disappeared. From time to time the sound of a dog barking or of a cow lowing was heard in the villages on the opposite side of the river. Passing through a thicket, they were now standing on an open spot overlooking the Cronenstein hill. The Castle and the chapel lay at their feet, and the few windows from which lights shone gleamed like stars through the sombre foliage of the trees. " Oh, really, our chapel is too pretty ! " exclaimed Florestine. "Don't these arched windows, with their mullioned rose lighted from within, look like a heavenly constellation?" " The fact that it is lighted warns us that we are late," said Heir von Cronenstein. " Make haste down." The house of Herzog, the wood-dealer, was sit- uated in the principal street of X., and a very unpretending tradesman's house it was, mainly con- trived for blocks of wood which were stacked in the large courtyard. Old Herzog had lost his eldest CASTLE AND TOWN, 11 son. Telesphor, the youngest of the family, was a general favorite, a handsome, very gifted boy. The four Duke's daughters (Herzogstochter), as they were jokingly called in the town, were very pretty girls. Agatha was married to the postmaster, and Apollonia to young Dr. Hellmut, who was gradually falling into his father's practice of the whole town. Afra was engaged to one of the college masters, also a native of X. The youngest daughter, Frances, was alone out of harmony with her surroundings. Her sisters were characterized by their simple dis- positions, love of family life, hearty industry, and their obedient spirit. She did not even wish to be so distinguished. She coveted showy advantages, talents, culture, and the elegancies of life. When Telesphor was fifteen, being, as he was, intelligent beyond his years, his father thought it high time that he should give up Latin and Greek and devote himself to bookkeeping and busi- ness, for it was his cherished wish that Telesphor should succeed him in the wood-dealing. Great, therefore, was his surprise to hear that Telesphor had made up his mind to study for the priesthood. " A general disturbance of the heavenly bodies," as he expressed it, " would have astonished him less." The old man fetched his Sunday clothes on the spot and went straight up to the Castle to unburden his heart. " What extra grand piece of news are you bring- ing me, Herzog ? Good, eh ? " was Herr von Cron- enstein's greeting. " My Teles wants to be a priest ! What do you 12 CASTLE AND TOWN. say to that, sir ? " said Herzog, without further pre- amble. " You know the boy as well as I. Tell me what I ought to do." " You are passive. It is your son who has to do." " Yes, so it is . . . but my business, my business ! " said Herzog, pressing his forehead anxiously. " You don't know how I cling to my business and my firm. Look, I can't say exactly how old I am ; it's in the register at the church but I have been a good fifty years in business, that I know as well as the Our Father. Am I to see it all fall to the ground, or pass into other hands ? My poor Fidelis is gone ! If he were alive, he would have been married and a father by now, and the business would be secure. Fidelis Herzog. Why, the name would have de- scended from father to son ! Or if, at least, one of my daughters had married a man who would have been willing to go into the business But, no ! They understand as much about wood-dealing as a crow does about Sunday. All my hopes were cen- tred in Teles, the clever, promising lad, and now he is crushing them. And yet I may not be angry with him if he has a real vocation to the priesthood. But time must elapse before we can be sure, and God almighty may take me before I am able to find a partner." So he poured out his troubles. Herr von Cronen- stein listened sympathetically, and then replied kindly : " I am just about in the same position as you, Herzog. My name, too, will die with me, as my daughter will take her future husband's and what CASTLE AND TOWN. 13 will become of this property on which we have spent ourselves? I think God allows it to prevent our clinging to earthly things. He promised eternal life to our souls, not to our family name. Don't you vex yourself. Perhaps your son may still take up your business, or your fourth son-in-law. But you must have patience for a few years." " A few years I " echoed Herzog, quite startled. " I have given the boy a few weeks to think about it." " Teles will hardly change his mind in four weeks, but he might in four years," said Herr von Cronen- stein, " A boy does not know the world or what it has to offer a young man looks at it with very different eyes. Leave him quietly at college, and if at the end of his last term he chooses the priesthood, you will have to thank God for it." " What patience I shall require to live through those three years ! " " Four years," laughed Heir von Cronenstein, correcting him. "Four full years and four weeks, as we are four weeks off the holidays." When it was rumored that Teles thought of the priesthood and therefore remained at his books, every one expressed satisfaction. Frances Herzog alone was cold on the subject and without enthusiasm. She did not express her feel- ings to her father and mother, but gave her full con- fidence to Afra. Needlework always upset her, and on this lovely summer afternoon she was condemned to sit hemming and marking pocket-handkerchiefs for Afra's trousseau. She was shedding tears ovei her sad fortune, whilst Afra sang " Da gang i an's 14 CASTLE AND TOWN. Briinneli," in a loud voice, and the canary lustily responded to her song. Suddenly Frances sprang up, and putting both hands to her ears, exclaimed, " It's intolerable, Afra ! " ' What is ? " asked Afra in surprise. u The noise which you and your tiresome bird are making ! " " Do you call it a noise ? " asked Afra laughing. " I and my birdie call it singing." But Frances threw a handkerchief over the cage, so that the bird stopped singing, and said impatiently : " 1 can't understand why you are so tremendously cheerful, now that you are engaged." " I'm not so ' tremendously cheerful,' " answered Afra. "I've always been cheerful and am so now that I am engaged, although serious thoughts come." " A marriage of this sort, with the prospect of being tied to this hole of a place, wouldn't make me happy, I know," said Frances, turning away. " What would make you happy, then ? " asked Afra. " It is something to stay in your native place, married to the man of your choice." " Well, really, Afra, I can't exactly say what I should like," said Frances after a pause. " Every- thing here is so monotonous and humdrum. I know every one inside out, and that wearies me. If noth- ing wearied me, I might be happy. If I could be- come a great lady, now that would please me." " Say Frau Majorin ? " " What are you thinking of, Afra ? Majorin, indeed ! What's that ? No, it must be a general or a count at least. Mightn't I marry a prince ? " CASTLE AND TOWN. 15 " Perhaps or an emperor ! " * 4 Oh, do you think so ? " asked Frances eagerly. '* Yes, in a madhouse," answered Afra coldly. " Then Teles is to be a priest, and I am expected to rejoice at it," grumbled on Frances. " I'm sure I never will. I might as well rejoice over becoming a nun myself, and I would rather be buried alive ! How can I be glad about poor Teles ? " " If God calls him to His special service, it's a high honor, and what more do you want? " " Honor ! " exclaimed Frances. *' Is it very honor- able to be curate or parish priest ? They have neither title nor fortune. They are always being mixed up with common people, and are plagued with school- children. This doesn't seem to me at all honor- able." " But it does to other people, Franz. Why, the Frau Majorin came to mother expressly to wish her iy-" " If Teles becomes a bishop, and is received here under triumphal arches, with ringing of bells and cannon, and th houses are decked with garlands, and girls dressed iz white, then I will rejoice, for that will be real honor." " Franz, you are a naughty worldling ! Just don't let father hear your silly talk." Frances cast a rapid glance at the house to see if there was any one on the porch, and then said : ** Nobody is listening. . . . But I really don't know what I shall be at when you have gone, Afra." " I shall be still in the town, Franz, and it's not large enough to keep us apart." 16 CASTLE AND TOWN. " But you know what father is ! In the morning we go to early Mass, and then we don't stir out till after supper and not always then. And supposing even that I were to come to you in the evening, I couldn't really talk before your husband." " I can't imagine, Franz, what it is you always have to say. I believe it will be good for you not to talk so much, for it simply makes you pull things to pieces, and grow more discontented." " I want a girl-friend, Afra, who will understand me, for really you don't understand me at all." " Indeed I do, then, and very well too, for I'm trying to set your head straight on your shoulders," said Afra laughing. " If I were to listen to you and all your nonsense, I should get just as whimsical as you are." " I take a great deal from you, but I must have some outlet for my feelings. I daren't speak to father or mother* Father has no time, and mother only gives me good advice, and never takes my view of things." Afra laughed. ** You may draw the conclusion that your * views ' are stuff and nonsense," she said. " Do be reason- able, Franz, and believe that father and mother know more and better than you and I." But Frances kept her own opinion, and continued to be the element of contradiction in the house. CHAPTER II. SISTERS AND SUITORS. WHILST Telesphor was intent upon his new voca- tion Franz von Strahl was quietly adopting art. Neither his mother nor his uncle encouraged him. To them an art career was beset with dangers. It was finally settled that Franz should matriculate at the Gymnasium. " In my free time, mother dear," he said gently, " I shall be moulding my little figures/ 1 Shooting was the boy's amusement during the holidays, and Florestine was made happy by the gift of a horse from her father, who himself taught her to ride. When Franz and Telesphor saw Florestine on horseback for the first time, Franz exclaimed : " How nicely you and your horse would look in a sculptured group, Flore ! Only it's too difficult for me, especially the horse. But I will draw you both and put a falcon in your hand. I'll make you quite romantic and chivalrous." *' I don't care for romance and chivalry," said Teles- phor. "I know that Fraulein von Cronenstein is real enough, and I mean to drop ' Flore ' and * Du, ' and begin to say * you ' and * Fraulein Florestine.' " Florestine never rode through the town, so that a 2 17 18 SISTERS AND SUITORS. year passed before Frances Herzog happened to see her on horseback. Afra had been married quite some time when one afternoon Frances came to her in a state of great excitement. " O Afra ! What would I give to be so fortunate ! Why, I would give ten years of my life for it." " For what, Franz ? " " For a horse ! " "It's a pity that the postmaster has already married Agatha; he would be the husband for you, with his horses," she replied with innocent sarcasm. " Don't call his miserable nags horses ! They are mere jades, common beasts of burden. I mean a riding-horse, a dapple-gray, for instance. O Afra, how lovely they are ! But why should Florestine be better off than I ? What injustice there is in the world!" " Are you going to pick a quarrel with God ? " ex- claimed Afra laughing. "What does God trouble Himself about it?" asked Frances in return. " He has the great things of the world to look after ; the sun, moon, and stars to keep in their places, so what does He care whether Frances or Florestine rides a dapple-gray ? He has nothing to do with it. Men settle the business." " Franz ! " exclaimed Afra in a serious tone, " we are always taught that every hair of our head is counted. Not a sparrow falls to the ground with- out our heavenly Father. You have heard it from your cradle, so how can you talk in this really im- pious way ? " SISTERS AND SUITORS. 19 "Yes, I hear it often enough . . . only I can't quite believe it," answered Frances. " It's all your fearful vanity," said Afra. " Youi silly thoughts are the birds of the parable who are always eating away the good seed from your heart." " You are much better than I," said Frances with tears in her eyes. " You are happier, which accounts for it." " How you do talk, Franz ! Certainly I am hap- pier than you. I have always been contented, and you always discontented. What hinders you from being happy? It is your vanity again. You are al- ways thinking about what other people have more than you. Just think a little about the thousands who have far less, or about those who have given up everything for the love of God." " That's quite different," said Frances, impatiently. " It proves that riches are not everything." Afra's husband came in, and Frances broke off her conversation abruptly. " I must be going home," she said after a hasty greeting. " Why so soon ? " asked her brother-in-law. " Since Afra has left home I have an immense deal to do," she replied. " Sometimes I have to attend to father's business people." " It's good practice for you," he said laughing. " Oh, don't ! " she exclaimed impetuously. " I hate the very name of business, and nothing but father's wish induces me to bother myself with it." " My dear child, I heartily wish you may never have worse things to do than attending to your father's business." 20 SISTERS AND SUITORS. "I shan't if I can help it," exclaimed Frances snappishly, as she rose to go, with a cold good-by. " And I should not wish to be Frances' liege lord," said her brother-in-law, with a hearty laugh. " You are laughing, but I feel inclined to cry," said Afra. " How will it end ? " " End, my dear ? Begin, you mean. Holy matri- mony will settle it, and it won't be the first queer lot that it has managed. A sensible husband or plenty of trouble will do it." " Oh, but Frances is quite by herself ! It vron*t be so easy to get her to have a sensible man." " Don't worry yourself about Franz. She will come all right." The prophecy was not speedily fulfilled. Frances made every one around her anxious and unhappy. It was the wish of old Herzog's heart to find a son- in-law who would become his partner and successor in the wood trade. He began to make formal in- quiries amongst his business friends who had eligi- ble grown-up sons. Old Kiihn of Z. received a letter on the subject which he discussed with his son. " Is the girl good-looking, father ? " asked George phlegmatically. " Bless me ! No one with two eyes in his head could pick a hole in her. I have not seen her for three years, and in those days she was a girl in short dresses, with black eyes and hair, and very bonny." Old Kiihn wrote back to say that his son would leave " on business " the following Saturday, and pass the Sunday at X. 8I8TER8 AND SUITORS. 21 " I wonder whether he says ' bless me ! ' at every other word, taking after his father," remarked Fran- ces, as they sat at supper. " You would have been wiser to notice how many sensible things he said," replied her father, control- ling himself. " O father ! as far as I can remember he was dreadfully common, and so was all that he said." " I daresay you find your father ' dreadfully com- mon,' " said Herzog. " Franz, you have forgotten the oil and vinegar. Fetch them quick how am I to make the salad ? " said Frau Herzog with ready tact. Frances rose and stayed away in the kitchen till she thought her father would have cooled down. Being sharp she said to herself, " George Kiihn is coming on my account, but it won't do any good." And so it turned out. He came, and Frances made herself as disagreeable as possible, so that there could be no question of any offer on his part. Herzog immediately produced another string to his bow, and this time more successfully, as it seemed. The young man who now came " on busi- ness " to X. was gentlemanly, agreeable, good-look- ing, clever at his profession, and a thoroughly honest fellow. He was a constant visitor at the Herzogs, and thought Frances very pretty and nice. She noticed it, and made herself pleasant, for on her part she liked him. " You have my ' God speed you/ " said old Herzog ; " but you must have it out yourself with my daugh- ter." 22 SISTERS AND SUITORS. Herr Birger required no second telling. Frances was pleased at his proposal, still she avoided giving a definite answer. " What do you mean by it, Franz ? " asked Agatha. " Why don't you say a plain ' yes ' or * no ' to Birger ? You see that he is getting fonder of you every day, and you know how the marriage would please father and mother. It's mere trifling." " I must give myself a fair trial," said Frances, with a mock modest air. " Nonsense ! I know what you are, and you know quite well what you mean to do." "I wonder whether Birger has been grumbling about me," said Frances to herself. " What bores these men are ! They want me to say a rapturous * yes ' on the spot. After all, I'm civil to Birger." She played with him for some time longer, making them all think she could not possibly draw back. But they were wrong. When the proposal was made, Frances revealed her real mind. She met Birger's earnestness by saying affectedly : " So you want to settle down here ? This obliges me to refuse you, as I could not possibly stay on at X." He looked at her in speechless astonishment, and then said : " Would you prefer my native place ? " " No, Herr Birger," said Frances icily. " My father wishes me to marry, but for the present 1 wish to be free." Birger left her without a syllable. Old Herzog listened pensively to what the rejected suitor had to tell him. " God help us, Birger," he said in a dejected, broken SISTERS AND SUITORS. 23 voice, " and as for you, you deserve a better wife than Frances. I feel her conduct even more than you do, for she leaves me no hope." Frances solaced herself by saying : " If I marry at all, I shall marry to please myself and not other people." CHAPTER III. DOCTOR RABENER. AFRA was no longer living at X. Her husband, a first-rate mathematician, had been called to the Gym- nasium of a larger town after two years' professorship at X. A Dr. Rabener was living in the same house, and when illness knocked at their door, they found him out and became very friendly. He was always welcome, even when he came unprofessionally, for he was the best man in the world, and talked about fraternity and benevolence as nobody else could, Afra thought. Through his frequent visits he came to know the Herzogs as if he had spent all his life at X. One day he found Afra in tears, and she told him of their family trouble about Frances. The girl was not happy at home, yet she refused very good offers for mere whims, and no one could make her see reason. " Wouldn't it be a good thing to remove the cause of discord ? " asked Dr. Rabener. " Of course, Doctor, but who is to do it ? " ex- claimed Afra, drying her tears. *' You might very easily, Frau Professorin. You can have your sister here for a little while. Parents will calm down, relations will forget, the young lady herself will come to a better state of mind, and her presence will do you much good." 24 DOCTOR RABENER. 26 The scheme found favor at X., and Frances was overjoyed. The prospect of a journey, and several weeks iu a large town delighted her. What would she not see and hear and do ? She dreamt of the wonders that were to take place. " Dear, dear ! " said Agatha impatiently. " Don't go and imagine any silly nonsense. People there walk about on their two legs just as they do here." " All the same I shall at last emerge from this oyster-shell of a place ! " " Try to come back in a better frame of mind," answered Agatha sharply. " And don't hurt our tender feelings," said gentle Apollonia Hellmut. " You know how father loves his little town, and how he is always hoping to get a partner and successor through you." " I will not foster father's hopes, for I am sick and weary of the wood trade," answered Frances snap- pishly. " Stupid girl ! " growled Agatha, but Apollonia kept silence, for fear of angering her sister more. Frances arrived safely at Afra's, and was so de- lighted with everything that she became quite pleasant. Her whole manner and conduct, her talk and expression of face changed. Good Professor Stark at once noticed the difference, and he saw for the first time, he said, what a pretty girl Frances was. She managed to make herself uncommonly happy, not because she was in a large town, but because she liked Dr. Rabener's society. " O Afra, what an interesting man that is 1 " she 26 DOCTOR RABENER. said with great enthusiasm. " One could listen to him all day long.'* 44 And he isn't a prince, or a general, or even a count," laughed Afra. " Princes aren't to compare with him, Afra ! And didn't you hear what he was saying about the so- called upper classes having lived their day, and be- ing worn out ? They're fast going down the hill, and the citizen is coming to the fore." " Did he say all that ? " asked Afra in surprise. 44 Indeed he did. I could not find words for these great thoughts, although I've had them in my mind." 44 1 don't always follow him on these high-flown subjects I am too ignorant. But when he speaks of charity I am quite impressed." 44 But you must call it humanity, not charity, Afra." 44 Rabener says it's all the same ; then why not call it so?" 44 Humanity sounds more elegant. In any ordinary sermon you may hear about charity." 44 You are a curious girl, Franz. But I must tell you that I prefer the language in which I have been born and bred, and that's plain German." 44 Well, I prefer Dr. Rabener." Dr. Rabener at once remarked the extraordinary impression which he made upon Frances. It was exactly what he intended. He much desired a good match, and soon found out that Afra's father was old and well-to-do. It also seemed likely that he might profitably set up at X., for old Dr. Hellmut was not immortal, and people were shy of tne young man. DOCTOR RABENER. 27 But he had not foreseen how pretty Frances would be, nor how quickly she would be taken with him. After a fortnight of frequent intercourse his visits suddenly stopped. When the third day passed, and no Dr. Rabener appeared, Frances could not conceal her agitation. She did not open her mouth, and looked deadly pale. On the fourth, Afra sent up. stairs to him, asking him to come. His manner was constrained. He looked eagerly round the room, and seemed relieved to find Afra by herself. After she had innocently expressed surprise at not seeing him for " three whole days," he owned to a secret. He loved Frances, he said, and had kept away, not knowing if his love was returned, or if her family would approve of him as a suitor. "Your sister, with her beauty and her money prospects, may look much higher," he concluded. " I have nothing to offer her but my practice." " That is a good deal, for you are so clever that you are sure to make your way,'* answered Afra. " Then you allow me to hope ! " he exclaimed. Afra was reflecting on her answer when the door opened and Frances walked in, flushing with pleasure when she saw who was there. He turned quickly towards her, and said earnestly : " Will you consent to make me happy and be my wife ? " " Yes,*' said Frances, resolutely. " Only don't be too hasty," suggested Afra " Let us wait to hear what they say at home." " Then I shall be kept in suspense," said Rabener. " No, you won't be," answered Frances. " I am quite determined to maintain my yes." 28 DOCTOR RABbJTER. And so she was. She was enraptured with her engagement, and early as it was in ihe day, talked over all her plans with Rabener. Settling at Z., he told her, was an impossibility, so he would try X., where the Hellmuts were in possession. Li case of an epidemic they could not possibly suffice. Frances would much have preferred the larger town, but she could not endure the thought of being parted from Rabener. Furthermore, the oyster-shell would cer- tainly become a paradise with him in it. These were her feelings as she returned home, to find her father had quite other views for her. Some Guldmans were engaged in the wood-trade at X. One of them had made a fortune in America, and Vincent Guldman was his heir. It was now rumored that he was on his way to Germany, and old Herzog had set his heart upon Vincent marrying his Franz and uniting the firm of Guldman and Herzog. And now Frances' foolishness shattered his hopes. He could not control his vexation, and lost no oppor- tunity of declaring that he would never give his con- sent to the Rabener marriage. Frances only clung to it the more. Of course Vincent Guldman was the talk of the place. Even Frances in her own mind was excited about the millionaire's arrival. She sat at the win- dow and saw his post-chaise stop at his mother's un- pretending house, and envied those who could drive post-horses. Vincent Guldman had made his plans with great precision, and now he carried them out with a rapidity far beyond his plodding fellow-towns- men. He went straight to old Herzog, and asked DOCTOR RABENER. 39 him if he was minded to become his partner. If not, he said, he would give up his business, sell his pro- vision of wood at X., and return to New York. Herzog was obliged to decline an offer which was the wish of his heart, for he could not meet alone the burden of present work and future provision. Vincent Guldman did not wait to hear more. He rushed out of the house without even greeting Frau Herzog. Soon afterwards he left X., not, however, before bestowing rich gifts upon the church and poor, so that his charity was the talk of the place. " I am quite weary of hearing about Vincent Guldman," said Frances impatiently. " When will it stop?" " It's pleasant to hear of so much charity," said Apollonia Hellmut. " At all events it is very humane," remarked Frances coldly. " What a senseless word that humane is ! Say it is Christian, Franz." " My dear Agatha, is it Christian of him to wish school Sisters to be brought here ? " asked Frances, in a tone of contempt. " What is it, then ? " asked Apollonia and Agatha, fairly startled. " It is bigotry. He wants to make teaching Sister*. of your daughters." " Ah, this is what you get in those long letters from Dr. Rabener ! " exclaimed Agatha, angrily. " What do you know about his letters ? " asked Frances, blushing ; " and why shouldn't I write to him?" 30 DOCTOR RABENER. "I only hope he doesn't indoctrinate you with these dreadful views, for they are not yours," said Apollonia. " But they are ! " answered Frances, bridling up. " I have always had these views." The sisters were interrupted in their talk by Apollonia's eldest daughter rushing into the room, almost shouting : " Come quickly. Grandpapa haa been taken ill. He's going to die." They all hurried into the garden, and found the old doctor stricken with apoplexy. He was at once removed to the house, and regained sufficient con- sciousness to apprehend his state and to receive all the last rites, after which he quietly expired. Probably Frances Herzog was the only person in the town who was pleased at this death. Indeed, she felt inclined to credit Dr. Rabener with a pro- phetic spirit for saying three months previously that old Dr. Hellmut was not immortal. This wonderful prediction was now accomplished, and it brought the possibility of Rabener's settling at X. within grasp. A little while afterwards people at X. ' eard to their great astonishment that a certain Dr. Rabener was coming as district doctor to X., with the title of Medizinalrath. Frances was the first to tell the news triumphantly to her father and mother. The penni- less stranger was now a Herr Medizinalrath, and, therefore, an honorable member of society. Afra, too, looked on his suit with favor, and was proud of her future brother-in-law. Her husband had certainly cautioned her in his mild way : " Don't burn your DOCTOR RABENER. 31 fingers, Afra, with this business," he had said. " Perhaps you may be sorry for carrying so many coals to Franz' love-kitchen." " Poor Franz must have some one to help her." " She seems to me well able to manage her own affairs, and I would rather you did not meddle with them. For if what I have heard is true, your father would be beside himself." " What have you heard then ? " asked Afra. " That Rabener is a Freemason." " O, it can't be true," she said. " But it shall soon be cleared up, for I will ask him." " No, let it alone. He would not tell you the truth, as he knows your family well enough to be sure that they would not receive a Freemason." Afra held her tongue and kept her counsel. A few days afterwards she came to her husband with a beaming face. *'- Now I can give you exact information about Rabener," she said. " I simply asked him to what secret society he belonged. He answered, ' Have you never heard of the Vincent Society ? ' 'Of course I have,' I said, ' but that is no secret society. It is very well known, and is authorized by the Church.' 'There are various societies,' he said, * which have the same end as St. Vincent's Confer- ence r the prosperity, happiness, and education of the greatest number, only they don't give it out openly, and for my part I prefer the incognito? " ** And where is the ' exact information ' all this time?" asked Professor Stark. " I tell you that he belongs to a society which 32 DOCTOR RABENER. works secretly to make people happy," answered Afra, laying emphasis on all her words. " You are a good creature, Afra, but you are not a genius of discernment," said Professor Stark, laugh- ing, as he sat down at his writing-table. What could Herzog say against the marriage when Rabener appeared as Herr Medizinalrath at X., and at once proposed for Frances ? He gave his consent, and tried to put himself on a pleasant footing with his future son-in-law. Rabener was not congenial to any of them, to Telesphor least of all. There was great antipathy between the two. One day when Rabener was dining with them, Telesphor said to him : " What is that Chinese contortion, Herr Medizinalrath, which you make, instead of the sign of the cross, before your meals ? " " Do your studies extend to Chinese ? " asked Rabener in his turn. " I should have thought dog Latin was all you required." " If you like to call Horace and Virgil ' dog Latin,' you may." " I quite respect Horace and Virgil they at least had a philosophy of their own. No, I was thinking of your Fathers." " Aren't they your Fathers as well as mine ? " " Nobody need trouble his head about the Fathers unless he is studying to be a priest," observed Frances. " And if he doesn't trouble himself, how can he be sure about the ' dog Latin ' ? " replied Teles- phor. DOCTOR RABENER. 33 At the close of the year Frances became the proud wife of Herr Medizinalrath Rabener. They settled down at Weingarten, the little house which had be- Jonged to her grandmother, and Rabener christened it " our cottage.'* 3 CHAPTER IV. OSWALD VON LATJINGEN. FLORESTINE was riding back from a property which belonged to her father on the side of the hills op- posite to Cronenstein. It was late in the afternoon and there was a rising fog. She was suddenly ac- costed by a horseman who had lost his way in the intricacies of winding paths from field and forest. He was struck by the security of her footing and her directions, and guessed that she was Fraulein von Cronenstein; he of course preserved his incognito. Whilst Florestine was out riding, her father received a letter from Baroness Frankenhausen, which gave him food for reflection. It ran : ** DEAR JUSTIN : " Lauingen is here, and is extremely sorry to ha" which were slightly underlined in red pencil. She rubbed out the marks with nervous haste, feel- ing sure that he would know what she meant to convey. When Telesphor came into the drawing- room, she was sitting at her frame with Frau von Strahl. They were both working industriously, and saying that possibly Franz might arrive that day, as it was the beginning of May. Telesphor took no part in the conversation. " That everlasting Franz," he thought to him- self, as he sat down at the table. Then his hand was put out nervously for the son nets, and he noticed Florestine's amendment. It was enough for him. Frau von Strahl, who happened to raise her eyes from her work at that moment, was struck by his pallor. " I am not well," he exclaimed, and he left the room, and soon afterwards the house. 204 FAREWELL. " Just look at him," said Frau von Strahl. " He is absolutely running out of the house, and yet he said he was not well." " He is ill in mind, Aunt Augusta." "Yes, he has been so for some time past. He managed better when you were ill. Your illness took his mind from his own troubles, and now they are upon him again." " I think he ought to get back to his profession. How could we contrive it for him without letting him imagine that we are tired of him ? " "He would contrive it for himself if he were sensible, for what is he to live upon ? " answered her aunt. " I heard lately from Dr. Hellmut that Teles- phor has all but spent his portion. He must be living on his small capital. His family are most anxious about him, though they know that he is out of harm's way with us." " I must have a talk with him, Aunt Augusta." " Yes, Flore, and have it at once." That evening Frau von Strahl went to the town for the May devotions, leaving Florestine alone in the drawing-room, very anxious for her interview with Telesphor. He came back in a state of great agitation. From the garden he could see into the drawing-room, where she sat in widow's mourning, solitary, calm, and contented. She was deeply en- grossed in her book, and yet rose, as soon as she heard his step. " Oh, here you are ! " she exclaimed heartily. " Do come in. I have something to say to you." He obeyed as if reluctantly. FAREWELL. 205 "I must tell you some good news. Dr. Croisy has been here, and he allows me to give up the cure. In July, therefore, I shall leave the Villa Paisible, and go to Gais in the Appenzell Canton, to get the mountain air and to drink whey. Then I may winter at Gries or Meran, where I can eat grapes as well as here, and I shall be more at home as a German and a Catholic. In a little more than a year's time I hope things will be getting into shape, and that I may be able to take up my abode permanently at Cronenstein. So much for myself. Now what about you?" ** What about me ? " he repeated. " Yes. Haven't you, too, a life to live ? It inter- ests me as much as my own." He looked at her eagerly. " It cannot be otherwise. My father was fond of you, and you risked your life for Oswald." " And what else ? " he asked coldly. " I should like to be of real use to you, and so you must not be vexed with me for speaking to you as a friend. You must alter your mode of life, Teles- phor. You must break with the past, and take up your life from the time when you left your father's house." " What's the good of it all ? " " Doing your work in life, and so reaching happi- ness." u Happiness ! " he exclaimed bitterly. " Why talk to me about happiness ! Abstract faith, hope, and charity will never make it for me." " I am talking about your work in life, and pro- 206 FAREWELL. posing that first of all you should get a firm footing in your profession. Now that we are parting " Parting ! " he exclaimed in a tone of consterna- tion. " No, no, don't send me away. Let me take you to Gais and see how the mountain air suits you." " I am very grateful to you, Telesphor. But now that Dr. Croisy has released me from the cure, I have no further need of a doctor. You have devoted yourself so entirely to me for the last six months that I cannot thank you sufficiently for all your sacrifices, and would not for the world have you continue them. You must stay with me for the present to see Franz, and go later on to Vienna and Paris ; and then I hope you will allow your old Cronenstein friend to open an account for you just to help you with your work ? " "Are you sending me away and paying me?" exclaimed Telesphor with quivering lip. " Am I to make room for Franz ? " " On the contrary I ask you to stay because Franz is coming. As to pay, well I am trying to give you what you gave me, a life for a life." " All that is beside the mark," he said passion- ately. " You know what I want." u I offer you what I have got," she said in the same kind tone. " Thank you. I cannot accept it," he answered irritably. " I wonder, indeed, that a woman of your mind can make me the offer, when she knows per- fectly well how things stand with me. Farewell," he said, getting up. FAREWELL. 20? " No, I can't let you go as you are," exclaimed Florestine, getting up too. " Wait and see Franz." " He can do me no good, and a stranger in youi house is only in the way." " I have not treated you as a stranger." " Farewell," he repeated. " O Telesphor ! J> she exclaimed sorrowfully. "Remember Cronenstein, my father, and Oswald, and don't throw away my old friendship so harshly." " It's no use reminding me of the past. What has it to do with the present? Farewell once more." " O, you cannot leave me so ! " she entreated. " Florestine ! " he said softly, but the passion in his tone frightened her. She drew back, saying, * Go if you must. I won't stop you any more." CHAPTER XIX. " NOVA ET VETERA." FKANZ had finished all his orders and was prepar- ing to start for Vevay. Except the Angel of the Resurrection, there was not a single marble figure in his studio. Only the plaster models remained. " Good-morning, Herr von Strahl ! " suddenly said a familiar voice. " Good heavens, Sir Robert ! " exclaimed Franz, " what brings you to Rome ? " " You may well ask. I should never have dreamt of it. I have had to leave London in the season and come here to have the Holy Father's opinion." " Do you want to become a Papal Zouave ? " " Now, Herr von Strahl, you know I am an old fellow. No, the matter concerns Rosabel." *' Miss Rosabel ? How is she ? " asked Franz, full of interest. " Wait a bit. Have you time to listen to my story? My Rosabel is the fairest rose in all Eng- land, and as good as she is fair. She has only one fault, she's obstinate, and she has set her obstinate will on going into a convent." " These things will happen sometimes, Sir Rob- ert," laughed Franz. " But I don't approve of their happening to me. 208 '' yOVA ET VETERAN 209 At first I thought it a pretext for not marrying Lord Glenarvon, and I told her there was no necessity for her to take refuge in a convent. To that she calmly replied : * I don't want to take refuge in a convent, papa dear. I want to go of my own free will and give myself to God.' I need not tell you what I felt. I merely replied very quietly : * That's non- sense, Rosabel.' In the midst of my misery I couldn't help thinking how wise you had been in keeping your own intention to yourself. I should have been eure to say now, 'Aha! she's becoming a nun be- cause he's becoming a priest,' and it might have given me a feeling against you, Herr von Strahl." " Her resolution comes from God, not from me, Bir Robert. But I am glad that you kept your word." " The long and the short of it is that Rosabel has persisted in refusing all offers lately she refused a duke's son and she's only twenty now. I liked the young fellow so much that I talked to her seri- ously. It was all in vain. Then I proposed that she should come with me to Rome and have her vocation examined by the Holy Father, and that I would abide by his decision. She refused, but said I might lay the whole matter before the Holy Father, and that's why I'm here. It will be given for Rosabel, I suspect, because I must stick to the truth and say to the Holy Father : ' She is lovely, an angel, an only daughter, a rich heiress, wor- shipped by her father and mother, besieged by suit- ors, and she turns her back upon it all and wants to go into a convent.' Can he say anything but, 14 210 "NOVA ET VETERA." Well, let her go ' ? Livia Granford has also gone into a convent, but her mother has still two daugh- ters." " Where has Livia Granford gone ? " asked Franz, with interest. ** To the Good Shepherd Convent at Hammer- smith, and that's where Rosabel wants to go, to serve God, as she says, in those poor fallen ones." " Deo servire regnare est," answered Franz, deeply moved. " Livia Granford and Rosabel Balmond are chosen souls, Sir Robert." They parted a few days later, never to meet again. When Franz reached the Villa Paisible, poor, rest- less Telesphor was no longer there. On the morn- ing after their talk, Florestine rang as usual for her maid, and discovered that Dr. Herzog had left the house. Frau von Strahl was inclined to blame Florestine for letting him go. " What harm did his affection do you ? " she asked. " It made him happy. You might have won him back to God." " These are mere suppositions, Aunt Augusta. It did not make him happy, and if I had encouraged him I should probably have drawn him rather to myself than to God." Florestine showed more wisdom than her aunt. Franz went to Geneva to institute inquiries about Telesphor, and they found he had taken his passport to Turin. " Could he mean to join Garibaldi ? " exclaimed Frau von Strahl. " He is hardly strong enough," said Florestine. "NOVA ET VET ERA." 211 " Mightn't he go for this very reason, out of sheer desperation ? " " O Aunt Augusta, how wretched you make me ! " said poor Florestine. " We mustn't jump so hastily at the very worst conclusions," said Franz. Franz thought of going home to Germany, and of taking his Angel of the Resurrection to Cronenstein. Florestine pressed Frau von Strahl to accompany him, though she shivered at the bare suggestion of seeing Cronenstein herself. " It is overwhelming to think what I should find there now," she said; " only a vault, and it does not even belong to me at this moment. I shall recover myself and get used to it all perhaps some day or other I shall live there quite happily." In June they left Villa Paisible for the Vierwald- statter Lake. From thence Franz accompanied his mother to Germany, and Florestine established her- self at a pension. For the first time in her life she was quite alone amongst perfect strangers. Telesphor was in Vienna, on the staff of a paper notorious for its hatred of the Catholic Church. He wrote his articles at night over the champagne bottle. They were in keeping with the paper, insolent and coarse, depreciating the Church, and everything and anything connected with it, and thoroughly enjoyed by the scum of journal-readers. He was well paid, so he could afford to keep himself in champagne. This was Telesphor's life in Vienna. His relations at X. completely lost sight of him. He had claimed his share at his mother's death, and broken off all cor- 212 - NOVA ET VETERAN respondence with Rabener. The sisters were dis cussing him one day, according to their habit. " He is wandering about in the world without any religion," sighed Afra. " With nothing to do and nothing to live for, he's bound to come to grief," said Apollonia. "First of all, he'll starve," exclaimed Agatha. " He ran through what father left him during his student days, and his vagabond life will soon do for poor mother's few gulden." " The Countess is able to provide for him," re- marked Frances ; " it's the least she can do after his devotedness to her." " She is sure to do what is proper," said Apollonia, *' but she cannot be called upon to provide for Teles for life." " And she could not do it, poor thing, as she has to get on for many a year with a very small income," added Agatha. " What cattle men are ! " exclaimed Frances. " For twenty years all X. looked up to this Teles as a prodigy of cleverness and goodness. Then there's this Count Lauingen, a spendthrift, a gambler, who beggars his wife, and brings her to death's door, and is still considered a pattern. What must the others be who are not patterns and mirrors of virtue ? " " These are indeed two sad cases, but there are good men in the world for all that," said gentle Apollonia. " For instance the Frau Majorin's son," supple- mented Agatha. " They say he wants to be a priest." "NOVA ET VETERA." 213 "That interesting Heir von Strahl a priest! Well, that beats everything," said Frances. " Who would have guessed it from his dreamy, beautiful eyes ! But that's what it is. The male sex is divided into two classes, monsters and blockheads." The sisters were accustomed to her way and let her talk on, partly because they viewed her as in- corrigible, partly because they were sorry for her. It was no secret at X. that Frances' married life was not happy. She grew more and more embittered. u Is it really true that Rabener is going to escort the Mayoress to America ? " asked one of the sisters. " I am sure I hope not," answered Agatha. " Is not the scandal of Teles enough for us ? " u Poor Franz ! " sighed Afra. " She has made her own bed and she must lie on it," said Agatha. The Mayoress of X. did not seem inclined to let Agatha have her wish. At ten o'clock one summer's morning she rustled into her husband's shop, order- ing him to her presence-chamber. As usual when dragged from his customers he was put out, and said shortly : "What's up?" "Nothing's up. I have something to ask you, that's all. Do you still refuse to go to New York about my brother's money ? " " I do, absolutely, Barbele. Vincent Guldman is dead so are his wife and little boy. Your sister is dead, and you are in possession. The law out there and at home will settle the business nicely. Why should I leave my office and business in the lurch, 214 "NOVA ET VETERA." and risk my life on the sea ? No, Barbele, I will not do it." " Then I will. I don't mean to let the New York lawyers keep half the money in their clutches as the) 7 have kept it already for a year. I shall bring them to order." " You have lost your senses, Barbele ! You can't speak a word of English." " I mean to take Jenny with me." "Take my Hannchen? Worse and worse." " I am thinking that Jenny will make a good match out there." " Stop, Barbe it's really too bad ! Let the good match come to our Hannchen. As for sending my child over there as if she were a bale of goods want- ing a purchaser, I positively will not do it, and I think your scheme absolutely ridiculous, for you are not the woman for business." " Of course I should want the advice of a sharp business man, so I have invitod the Medizinalrath to go with me, and he has agreed to my proposition." " But I don't agree ! " thundered the Mayor, with a vehemence his wife had never before heard. " If you go with him to America you may stay there. You shall never enter my house again. I won't have so great a scandal at X." " I shall return as a millionaire," replied the May- oress coldly, u buy Cronenstein Castle, which will soon be put up at auction, give balls and parties, and see the whole town cl X. coming up the Castle hill on all-fours to get an invitation, and you at the top." ** Gracious, no ! I shall not go on my knees to "NOVA ET VETERA." 215 you ! " he exclaimed, bringing his fist down upon the table with a thump which made the window- frames shake. " Behave yourself, do. The people in the shop will hear the ridiculous noise you are making. The long and the short of it is, either you go to America or I." " I shall not go," he exclaimed angrily, " and I forbid you to go." She laughed scornfully, and betook herself in si- lence to the house, whilst her husband shut himself into the shop and strove in vain to serve his cus- tomers with his usual placidity of temper. But the Mayoress ruled in her own house, and was, in prospective, a very rich woman. Frances Rabener went one day to speak her mind to her former friend, and found the Mayoress in pleased contemplation of twelve moire-antique dresses, which were spread out on sofa, chairs, and table. " O, Franz dear ! " she said in a condescending tone, " so here you are at last. Just look there how do you like those dresses? They have just come from town, six for me, and six for Jenny, all in moire-antique. You know it's the proper thing for fine ladies to wear, and one must appear in America with a proper show." " Is it part of the show that you should be escorted by my husband ? " asked Frances sharply, making room for herself on the sofa by pushing the dresses aside. " It would look veiy strange in America to see two ladies travelling alone," said the Mayoress, se- 216 NOVA ET VETERA." cretly angered at the careless handling of the moire- antiques. "That may be true of American women," said Frances, " but foreigners have no need to adopt their customs. I tell you frankly I think your plan is outrageous, disturbing married people and a whole household in order to get a protector for yourself on your journey." " With my weak health could I find a more suit- able person than the Medizinalrath ? " " If your health is really weak, don't venture on the journey." " And leave my property to be squandered, you mean ? No, I'm not so unnatural a mother. I mean to have my million's worth, first, for myself, and then for my seven children." " Why don't you go over there with your husband, or let him go alone ? " "He alone? What a wretched figure he would cut at New York ! And he and I couldn't go together. One can't leave one's home and seven children to their own devices. And besides I don't see why you should vent your discontent on me. I made the proposal to the Medizinalrath and offered him a handsome fee. Surely a thousand pounds are worth having, besides a free passage and his living in America." " No, not in your society ! " burst out Frances. " To my mind the whole thing is so low and under- bred that your husband must be what he is to agree, and mine what he is to go." " My husband is Mayor of X. and I won't hear a " NOVA ET VETERA " 217 word said against him," replied the Mayoress, draw- ing herself up. " You may have whatever opinion you please of your husband. I value him extremely, and have always done so. But if you came here to say disagreeable things to me, you force me to treat you as you deserve." So saying, she left Frances to her own cogitations. A fortnight later the Mayoress, escorted by Dr. Ra- bener, set off with her eldest daughter for New York, via London arid Paris. CHAPTER XX. '* MAGNIFICAT. " GRIES near Botzen has much the same winter cli- mate as Meran. It is a tiny place, and accommoda- tion is limited, so that the great mass of winter visitors go to Meran. This was just Florestine's rea- son for remaining at Gries, when in September she left Switzerland and went to the Austrian Tyrol. Some few of its houses have a lovely view of the rich valley surrounded by mountains, and the river Etsch winding its way to Lombardy. Florestine preferred a small abode in the place itself, close to the Benedictine church. She was alone this winter, as Frau von Strahl was spending it with a sick sister. Franz was able to pay her a visit before his winter lectures at Innsbruck began. He found her cheerful and uncomplaining, but he could not get rid of the thought that she was certainly declining. How wasted her hand was ! Then she was very pale, breathed with difficulty, and could move about only slowly and languidly. Franz questioned the doctor, who had been attending her for a fortnight. He seemed to think it was a nervous illness affecting the whole system. " A thorough break-up, you mean, though incip lent ? " asked Franz in alarm. 218 " MA GNIFICA T. " 219 " Let us hope rather that the nervous exhaustion may yield to remedies." It was enough for Franz. "How do you really feel, Flore dear?" he asked her one day, as she seemed to him quite exhausted. " I * really feel ' that I am in God's hands," she answered gently. " You are evading my question." " The truth is, Franz, I have never quite recovered the terrible shock of Oswald's death, and now I feel that I am losing my grasp on life. It is very grad- ual. I can do less and less every day. It may be a nervous delusion, so you see I can say with perfect truth that I am in God's hands." " Do you pray for your recovery, Flore ? " " Oh, no." " But you should. You must get well again to com- fort us all. Now you are making us sad and anxious." The winter was long, dreary, and severe. Flo- restine declined day by day. She did not keep her bed. She was up and went to Mass by sheer force of will. She could scarcely read or talk; her maid wrote her letters at her dictation ; even needlework tried her too much. Her doctor, confessor, and some nursing Sisters were frequent visitors. There was a large hospital at Botzen, which they served. One day towards the end of Lent, Sister Celestine came to Florestine, asking her prayers for a dying man, who declined all religious help. " Has no priest been to him yet, Sister ? " " He was brought in yesterday morning. An Ital- ian gentleman came with him, but he was obliged 220 " MA GNIFIGA T: to go on to Rovendo. TLay were both from Vienna where the poor gentleman has already had several bad attacks, and has been altogether reckless about his health, so the other said. We all thought he was going, so I ran for the chaplain. But directly the priest began to talk, the sick man opened his eyes and declared that he drd not require a priest. So we put him down as a Lutheran, but the Italian gentle- man assured us that he was a Catholic and a Ger- man ; that his name was Herzog, but that possibly at Vienna he might have grown careless about his religion. This is how things are at present, gnadige Grafin. The Italian gentleman has left, and the poor man is at death's door." Sister Celestine hurried away, and Florestine, in a state of mind not easily described, sent for the Bene- dictine Father to whom she gave her whole confi- dence. She told him Telesphor' s history from first to last. " Now," she said in closing, " the all-impor- tant hour has come. He is dying at the Botzen hos- pital, and has no notion that I am here. I beg you to go to him at once and give him the sacraments, which he has refused. We will trust in Our Lord to help you. All you have to do is to get Sister Celes- tine to take you to the sick man from Vienna. God speed you, Father." " I will try most willingly," replied Father Burk- hard, " but it's a work of grace in which God must do everything." " Yes, I know, Father. God must do everything, and we must consent to be His instruments, now, before it's too late." " MA ONIFICA T." 221 " Shall I mention your name in case I cannot make an impression in any other way ? " "Yes, if it's necessary, but it might excite him. You might say Beatrice. He will at once under- stand." Father Burkhard went to the hospital, a fine building standing on a free and open situation out- side the town of Botzen. He asked for that part of it which was served by Sister Celestine, and begged her to go with him to the dying man. " It is high time," she whispered, " for the doctor thinks he cannot last over the night." Father Burkhard quietly opened the door to which she pointed. The figure on the bed, buried in the shadows of death, looked lifeless, but when Telesphor opened his eyes, they revealed soul, and conscious- ness, and clearness of mind. Father Burkhard at once said : " I have been commissioned to come and see you. Beatrice has sent me." " You are welcome ! " said Telesphor, in a low tone, but with a peaceful expression. " You know why I have been sent ? " " Yes to save my soul. I will make my confes- sion." He did so with great self-possession and presence of mind, only interrupted at intervals by his weakness, and received absolution with indescribable joy, then the Holy Viaticum. He had the benefit of all the Church can do for her departing children, and then said : " Now, Father, thank her. . . . tell her I am happy, for I have made my peace with God." Father Burkhard returned to Florestine at Gries, 222 "MAGNIFICAT." thanking God. It was evening, but she was still lying on the sofa as he had left her. " The battle is won," he exclaimed. " Magnificat anima mea" she answered. " But how did you induce him to make up his mind, Father?" " I did nothing. God did everything. As soon as I said ' Beatrice sends me,' his mind seemed to light up, as if with some scene or memory of the past." " Yes," said Florestine, as her tears rained down, " our last talk was of Beatrice before that dreadful catastrophe, and before he jumped into the Lake to rescue my husband." " These memories, under the action of grace, helped him to overcome himself," said the Father. " He was as unresisting as a child." " How his mother must have been praying for him," exclaimed Florestine. The Father was silent. He had his own thoughts on the subject. The following morning Father Burkhard found only Telesphor's corpse, and Sister Celestine told him with feeling that towards midnight Telesphor had expired quietly without any death-struggle. " His life was his struggle, Sister Celestine," said the Father. Florestine wrote to apprise Telesphor's eldest sister of his death. The prodigal, she said, was in his Father's house. She lingered on for a few months. The life which had been so rich in joy and promise, in happiness and the world's good things, was drawing to a close in " MA GNIFICA T. " 223 shadow, oblivion and solitude. Florestine never saw her beloved Cronenstein again for she had not strength for the journey. She had told her relations to expect her, and thus they had been deceived as to her illness. Perhaps death came upon her unawares. So it was that, of all her family, only Franz was present at her peaceful death-bed. He was summoned from Innsbruck by telegram, when a sudden attack of fever made her condition serious. In three days all was over. Franz accompanied her body to its last resting-place. She wanted nothing more of Cronen- stein than space for her coffin. From the winter of her life, so bleak in its bereavements, she went to the spring of eternity, for she had been able to save two souls, and her last word was Magnificat. PRINTED BY BKNZIGER BROTHERS, NBW YORK. University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. I 301995 ST/