"Stand out of my way!" commanded Kuirenie, imperiously as before. "I 
 wish to go on!" Instead of obeying, he seized her horse's bridle with an iron 
 grasp. Page 190. 
 
 Gooff Luck.
 
 GOOD LUCK! 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF 
 
 ERNEST WERNER, 
 
 Author of "Saint Michael," "Broken Chains," etc., etc. 
 
 . L BURT COMPANY, Publishers 
 52-55 Duane Street, New York
 
 GOOD LUCK! 
 
 [GLUCK AUF!*] 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the afternoon was far advanced, the 
 principal church of the Residence was full to over- 
 flowing. The great numbers present, the rich floral 
 adornments of the altar, as well as the long row of 
 waiting equipages outside, proved that the marriage 
 about to be solemnized here excited great interest 
 in an unusually large circle. 
 
 The bearing of the assembly, as is usual on such 
 occasions where the sacredness of the place forbids 
 any audible expression of curiosity or sympathy, 
 betrayed an expectant unrest. There was a whis- 
 pering, a putting of heads together, and an eager 
 attention to all that passed near the sacristy ; until 
 at last all ended in a general half-suppressed "Ah !" 
 of satisfaction as the doors were thrown open and 
 with the first notes of the organ the bridal part}' 
 entered. 
 
 *" Good luck!" "God speed you!" a favorite salutation 
 among miners. 
 
 2138745
 
 2 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 It was a large and brilliant company that grouped 
 around the altar and the bridal pair. Rich uni- 
 forms, heavy velvet and satin robes, rare costly 
 laces, flowers and diamonds, all glittered, undulated, 
 and blent together in a blaze of magnificence daz- 
 zling to behold. The aristocracy of birth and 
 wealth, present here in its most distinguished rep- 
 resentatives, lent an unwonted splendor to these 
 marriage rites. 
 
 At the right of the bride, as first among the 
 guests, stood a tall, stately officer, whose uniform 
 and numerous orders indicated a long military ca- 
 reer. His bearing was simple and dignified, as be- 
 came the solemnity of the occasion ; and yet it 
 seemed as if the gravity of his features concealed 
 something not in harmony with so joyous an event. 
 It was a peculiarly melancholy glance he threw 
 upon the bridal pair, and as his gaze wandered over 
 the crowded church a thrill of repressed pain or 
 anger seemed to pass over the proud features, and 
 the firmly closed lips quivered. 
 
 Opposite him, by the bridegroom's side, stood an- 
 other gentleman in the dress of a civilian. He was 
 somewhat advanced in years and appeared to be one 
 of the nearest relatives ; but neither the profusion 
 of brilliants he displayed in watch-chain, rings, and 
 breast-pin nor the immense self-consciousness of his 
 manner could give him the faintest gleam of that 
 distinction the man opposite possessed in so remark- 
 able a degree. His appearance was decidedly com- 
 monplace, not to say vulgar; and this was only
 
 GOOD LUCK 3 
 
 heightened by his present air of unconcealed tri- 
 umph. It was with infinite complacency that he 
 surveyed the bride and groom and the brilliant as- 
 semblage the intense satisfaction with which one 
 hails the attainment of a long-sought goal. For 
 him there was no shadow to dim the joy and splen- 
 dor of these bridal festivities. 
 
 These two men appeared to be the only deeply 
 interested spectators of a marriage in which the 
 bride and groom were most indifferent of all. The 
 most distant of the guests could have shown no 
 greater unconcern than did these two who in a few 
 moments would belong for life to each other. 
 
 This young bride of nineteen years was undenia- 
 bly a beautiful girl, but there floated about her an 
 icy atmosphere, little suited to the place and time. 
 The light of the altar candles played among the 
 heavy folds of the white satin dress and flashed back 
 from the diamonds of the costly bridal jewels, but 
 it fell upon a face which, with the beauty of mar- 
 ble, seemed to have received all its coldness and 
 rigidity, at least for this hour, which should have 
 animated even the most lifeless repose. 
 
 The ash-blond of the heavy braids, around which 
 lay the myrtle wreath, contrasted strangely with 
 the dark brows and the almost black eyes which 
 were raised but once or twice during the ceremony. 
 The pale, regular features looking out from the 
 bridal veil wore that aristocratic expression which 
 is inborn and can never be inbred. This was the 
 ruling element in the bride's appearance. It was
 
 4 GOOD LUCK 
 
 betrayed in the delicate noble outlines of her face ; 
 it was impressed upon her manner ; it was so in- 
 woven into her whole being as to throw every other 
 characteristic into the shade. 
 
 This young lady seemed created to move only 
 around the heights of life, without ever coming in 
 contact with beings of a lower sphere, and yet 
 there was an expression in those dark eyes which 
 betrayed more energy and character than we are 
 wont to find in a lady of fashion. 
 
 Possibly this hour demanded all the bride's en- 
 ergy and self-control, for as the ceremony progressed 
 the gentleman in uniform at her right and the three 
 young officers behind him fixed the most searching 
 glances upon her face. But through all that face 
 remained cold and impassive as at first. 
 
 The bridegroom, a young man of some twenty- 
 eight years, was one of those individuals who seem 
 created for the glittering frame of the salon, and 
 who are of small account anywhere but in the fash- 
 ionable world, where they celebrate their triumphs 
 and pass their lives. 
 
 Exquisitely elegant in dress and manner, he yet 
 appeared blase in the highest degree. His refined 
 and pleasing features wore an expression of such 
 entire apathy, such utter indifference to every 
 earthly thing, as to rob them of all that could at- 
 tract or charm. All was so lifeless, so colorless ! 
 Not a breath of red in the cheeks, not a gleam of 
 animation in the whole face, which looked as if 
 neither joy nor sorrow could move it from its in- 
 sensibility.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 5 
 
 As in society a gentleman conducts a lady to her 
 place, so he had led his bride to the altar. Now he 
 stood at her side and held her hand in just the same 
 listless, apathetic way. Neither the importance of 
 the step he was about to take nor the beauty of the 
 woman he was to marry appeared to make the 
 slightest impression upon him. 
 
 The clergyman went on with the marriage serv- 
 ice. His voice rang loud and clear through the 
 church as he asked Herr Arthur Berkow and the 
 Baroness Eugenie Maria Ann von Windeg if they 
 here, in the presence of God and these witnesses, 
 took each other for husband and wife. 
 
 Again there was a convulsive movement of the 
 officer's features, and he threw a glance almost of 
 hatred at the man opposite him. The next moment 
 the double " Yes " had been spoken, the double vow 
 through which one of the oldest, proudest names of 
 the nobility was merged in the plebeian name of 
 Berkow. 
 
 Scarce had the last word of the benediction been 
 pronounced, when the bejeweled gentleman rushed 
 forward with the evident idea of giving an ostenta- 
 tious salutation to the newly wedded pair. But the 
 officer was before him. Calmly, but with the man- 
 ner of one who claims an inalienable right, he stepped 
 between the two and clasped the bride in his arms. 
 But the lips which touched her forehead were cold, 
 and the face which for some moments bent down to 
 hers bore an expression quite different from its usual 
 haughty reserve.
 
 6 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Courage, my father ! it must fie" 
 
 The words, audible to him alone, recalled the 
 baron to his self-possession. Once again he folded 
 his daughter to his heart, and there was in his 
 whole manner something like an entreaty for 
 pardon. Then he released her from his arms and 
 delivered her to the unavoidable embrace of the 
 other gentleman, who with visible impatience had 
 waited to congratulate his " dear daughter-in-law." 
 
 Eugenie made no resistance, for the eyes of the 
 whole assembly were upon her. She stood im- 
 movable ; no feature of the beautiful face changed ; 
 but the eyes were lifted, and there was in their 
 glance such unapproachable pride, such icy repul- 
 sion against what she could not possibly avert, that 
 the father in-law, quite disconcerted, at once sub- 
 dued his first violent tenderness, assuming in its 
 stead a respectful courtesy. The embrace which 
 followed was a mere form, in which Berkow's arm 
 just swept the airy folds of the bridal veil. The by 
 no means small self-conceit of the new relative had 
 cowered before that haughty glance. 
 
 Young Berkow did not make matters so difficult 
 to his father-in-law. Something like a pressure of 
 the hand, in which his white glove scarce came in 
 contact with that of the baron, was exchanged be- 
 tween them. It appeared to quite satisfy both. 
 The bridegroom now offered the bride his arm, and 
 they passed down the aisle. The bride's satin 
 train swept the marble steps of the vestibule, and 
 behind came the gorgeous array of guests. Soon
 
 GOOD LVCK. fl- 
 
 atter the equipages, one after another, rolled swiftly 
 away. 
 
 The church was quickly vacated. Some pressed 
 to the doors and windows to gaze after the bridal 
 party : others hurried out to exchange remarks over 
 the appearance of the bride and groom and wed- 
 ding-guests. In less than ten minutes all within 
 was silent and desolate. 
 
 But the twilight gleamed through the lofty 
 chancel window, flooding with its roseate beams 
 altar and altar paintings, so that the ancient figures 
 on that golden ground seemed to be alive. Moved 
 by the breeze, the tapers swayed to and fro, while 
 from the chancel floor exhaled the perfume of the 
 flowers that had been strewn there with lavish 
 hand. The ladies' trains had swept over them : the 
 gentlemen's feet had crushed them. Of w r hat 
 account were these poor flowers amid the lavish 
 diamond splendor of those nuptial rites which had 
 sealed the union of the daughter of a proud heredi- 
 tary race with the son of a millionaire ? 
 
 The equipages had already drawn up before the 
 baronial mansion and the brilliantly lighted rooms 
 began to be alive with guests. In the reception- 
 room, amid the dazzling glow of wax-tapers, stood 
 the young bride leaning on her husband's arm, and 
 just as proud and cold as an hour ago she had stood 
 at the altar and received the congratulations of the 
 w T edding-guests. 
 
 Was it happiness her bridal vow had sealed ? The 
 melancholy shadow that would not lift from her 
 father's haughty forehead gave answer.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 " Now, thank Heaven, things are at last in order ! 
 and it is high time, for in a quarter of an hour they 
 may be here. I have given the men on the hill 
 exact instructions. As soon as the carriage comes 
 in sight they are to fire the first salute." 
 
 " But, Herr Director, you are too hasty too 
 much excited." 
 
 " Spare your energies for the all-important 
 moment of reception !" 
 
 " In your present proud position of master of 
 ceremonies and marshal-in-chief -"began another. 
 
 " No more of your witticisms, gentlemen," inter- 
 rupted the director angrily. "I wish they had 
 honored one of you with this accursed post. I have 
 had enough of it." 
 
 All the officers of the great Berkow mines, in full 
 society dress, had gathered at the foot of the 
 terrace before the mansion house. This house, built 
 in the most elegant modern-villa style, with its 
 costly fagade, its lofty plate-glass windows, and its 
 magnificent entrance, more resembled a palace than 
 a country-house. Broad, tasteful pleasure grounds 
 surrounded it, giving an impression of boundless 
 wealth and lavish expenditure, which was greatly 
 enhanced to-day, when all was in gala dress.
 
 GOOD LTJCK. 9 
 
 The hot-houses had apparently yielded their 
 choicest treasures for the adornment of staircases, 
 balconies, and terraces. Hare and costly plants, 
 which seldom come in contact with the outside air, 
 here unfolded their tropical splendors and filled the 
 air with their fragrance. 
 
 Upon the velvety lawn, surrounded by carefully 
 tended native flowers, now in the first glories of the 
 awakening spring, fountains sent up their glittering 
 spray, and at the entrance to the grounds stood a 
 grand triumphal arch, profusely decorated with 
 flags and garlands. 
 
 " I have had enough of this !" repeated the 
 director, joining the circle of officers. "Herr 
 Berkow demands the most brilliant reception pos- 
 sible, and believes that for this nothing is needed 
 but unlimited access to his cash-box : as to the 
 good-will of the miners, he never brings that into 
 account. If we only had the miners of twenty 
 years ago ! If there was then a holiday, a festival, 
 or even a dance, we need have no anxiety about the 
 cheers : now there is passive indifference on the one 
 side and open hostility on the other. They were 
 almost ready to refuse our young gentleman any 
 reception at all ! When you return to the Resi- 
 dence to-morrow, Herr Schaffer, you must be care- 
 ful to drop no hint of matters ; our proprietor 
 either does not or will not know." 
 
 " I will be careful," returned Herr Schaffer. 
 " "Would you yourself like to encounter the fine 
 phrases of our chief when he hears anything dis-
 
 10 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 pleasing to him ? In such a case, I get as far from 
 him as possible." 
 
 The officers laughed. The absent chief did not 
 seem to be the object of any great respect in their 
 circle. 
 
 " But he has really brought about this aristo- 
 cratic marriage," said the engineer. " He has given 
 himself no end of trouble to secure it ; and I really 
 hope it will solace him for the loss of that patent of 
 nobility they still obstinately refuse him in spite of 
 all his schemes and efforts to obtain it. He at least 
 has the triumph of seeing that the old nobility no 
 longer take offense at his plebeian name, since the 
 Windegs ally themselves with it." 
 
 " They could not help it," replied Herr Schaffer. 
 ts The embarrassed circumstances of the Windegs 
 are well known at the Residence. I doubt the 
 baron's willingness to sacrifice his daughter in such 
 a speculation. He belongs not only to the oldest, 
 but to the haughtiest aristocracy. Yet even he and 
 his had to bow at last to stern necessity." 
 
 " Well, one thing is certain," replied the director : 
 "this aristocratic alliance costs us a prodigious 
 sum of money. In any event, the baron has made 
 his own conditions, and I cannot see the advantage 
 of all this sacrifice. It still remains a daughter-in- 
 law bought for her rank and name, and Arthur will 
 continue to be no less a plebeian, even though he 
 has a wife of ancient lineage." 
 
 " Do you believe it ?" said Herr Schaffer. " I 
 think quite the contrary. To the husband of the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 11 
 
 Baroness Windeg-Rabenau, the son-in-law of the 
 baron, they will not refuse that title for which his 
 father has striven in vain ; but, let this be as it 
 may, they cannot prevent his now associating with 
 that circle which has hitherto excluded him. Teach 
 me anything about our chief ! He knows just 
 what this marriage will bring him and is therefore 
 regardless of its cost." 
 
 One of the officers, a young, very blond man, 
 with tightly fitting dress coat and faultless kid 
 gloves, here thought proper to make a remark. 
 
 " I cannot understand why our bride and groom 
 make their wedding-tour to this out-of-the-way 
 place, and not to the land of poesy to Italy " 
 
 The engineer laughed aloud. 
 
 " No more of that, Wilberg ! Poesy in this mar- 
 riage between money and rank ! Besides, wedding- 
 tours to Italy are so much the fashion that they 
 must seem plebeian to Herr Berkow. The aristoc- 
 racy go to their estates to pass the honeymoon, and 
 above all things we must and will be aristocratic !" 
 
 " I fear there are more serious reasons," said the 
 director. "The young gentleman might run the 
 same career in Rome or Naples that he ran last 
 year at the Residence, and it was high time to put 
 an end to such extravagance. His expenditures at 
 length rose into the hundred thousands. One can 
 exhaust a fountain, and Herr Arthur was in a fair 
 way to try this experiment for his father." 
 
 Herr Schaffer's thin lips curled derisively. 
 
 " The father reared his son in this way," he said ;
 
 12 GOOL LUCK. 
 
 " he only reaps what he has sown. But you may 
 be right. In a solitude like this a man may per- 
 haps sooner learn to yield to the control of a young 
 wife. But I fear that this wife, with her small en- 
 thusiasm, undertakes no enviable task." 
 
 " Do you believe she has been coerced into the 
 marriage 3" asked Wilberg eagerly. 
 
 " Oh, no ! not at all. Things in our day are not 
 so tragically carried on. A little sensible persua- 
 sion, a clear insight into circumstances, brought it 
 all about, and I have no doubt this marriage of con- 
 venience will in the end turn out to be quite endur- 
 able, as in most such cases." 
 
 The blond Herr Wilberg, who apparently had a 
 passion for the tragic, mournfully shook his head. 
 
 " Ah, I fear not ! If only, later, the true love 
 awakes in this young woman's heart if another 
 my God, Hartmann ! couldn't you lead your men. 
 through another route ? You are enveloping us all 
 in a cloud of dust !" 
 
 The young miner Hartmann, who was passing at 
 the head of a column of some fifty of his comrades, 
 turned and threw a scornful glance upon the gala 
 dress of the speaker, and then a second upon the 
 dusty highway, where the rough shoes of the miners 
 certainly raised a cloud of dust. 
 
 " Kight-about face !" commanded he, deigning 
 no reply to Wilberg. The men obeyed and with 
 military precision turned and took the designated 
 course. 
 
 " A bear this Hartmann !" said Wilberg, brush-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 13 
 
 ing his coat with his handkerchief. " Had he even 
 a word of apology for his rudeness ! ' Eight-about 
 face,' he said, with a tone of command as if he 
 was a general at the head of his army ! And what 
 airs he gives himself ! If his father had not inter- 
 fered he wouldn't have allowed Martha Ewers to 
 recite my poem in honor of the bride my poem 
 that I " 
 
 " Have already read to all the world," added the 
 chief engineer, turning to the director. " If it was 
 only shorter ! But our poet is right : it was a piece 
 of impudence for Hartmann to forbid the recital. 
 You should not have posted him and his men just 
 here. We need not expect them to take part in the 
 reception: they are the most obstinate fellows in 
 the whole works.'" 
 
 " And also the most stately," said the director. 
 " I have stationed all the others upon the route and 
 in the village : the elite of our workmen belong to 
 the triumphal arch. On such occasions we want to 
 make the best show possible with our men." 
 
 The young miner Hartmann had meantime 
 posted his comrades around the triumphal arch. 
 The director was right : he was a stately fellow, 
 towering at least a head above all his men. He 
 was a powerful, strongly built figure, and looked 
 especially distinguished in his dark miner's dress. 
 According to the strict rules of beauty his face 
 could not be called handsome : the forehead was some- 
 what too low, the lips too full, the lineaments not 
 sufficiently noble. But these sharp, clearly cut fea-
 
 14 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 tures were not commonplace. Flaxen curling hair 
 clustered thick around the broad, massive forehead, 
 while a wavy flaxen beard covered the lower part 
 of the face, whose bronzed, healthy complexion did 
 not betray its frequent withdrawal from the light 
 and sunshine. The lips were curled in defiance, 
 and in the blue, sullen eyes lay a something inde- 
 scribable an expression common natures at once 
 felt and respected as superiority. Embodied energy 
 spoke from this man's whole being, and little sym- 
 pathy as his rigid bearing might awaken, at the 
 first glance you felt his power. 
 
 An elderly man, who, although he wore the 
 miner's dress, did not seem to belong to the work- 
 men, now appeared, accompanied by a young girl. 
 
 " Good luck to you, comrades !" he said. " How 
 is Ulrich ? is everything in order ?" 
 
 Ulrich nodded assent, while the men answered 
 his salutation by a hearty " Glilck auf, Herr Over- 
 seer !" But the glances of most turned to his young 
 companion. 
 
 This young girl of twenty years was really very 
 pretty, and the peasant costume of that region be- 
 came her charmingly. Rather petite in stature, her 
 crown scarce reached to the shoulder of the giant 
 Hartmann ; heavy dark braids surrounded her 
 fresh, slightly sunburned face, with its blooming 
 cheeks and clear blue eyes. Her form was robust, 
 but yet graceful. 
 
 She made a gesture as if to reach her hand to 
 Ulrich, but as he remained standing with folded
 
 GOOD LUCK. 15 
 
 arms her own fell quickly. The overseer remarked 
 this and fixed a sharp glance upon both. 
 
 " Are you in a bad humor because you couldn't 
 have your own way for this once?" he asked. 
 " Console yourself, Ulrich : it seldom enough hap- 
 pens ; but when you go too far your father must 
 interpose with his authority." 
 
 " If I had anything to say to Martha, I should 
 say it," replied Ulrich decidedly ; and his morose 
 glance swept over the bouquet of rare hot-house 
 flowers in her hand. 
 
 " I believe you," returned the old man : " it would 
 be just like you. But Martha is my sister's child 
 and must obey me. What is the matter with your 
 triumphal arch up there ? The flag-staff has sunken : 
 fasten it up again or the structure will fall." 
 
 Ulrich, to whom this warning was evidently 
 addressed, threw an indifferent glance up to the 
 threatened garlands, but made no motion to come 
 to their help. 
 
 " Do you not hiear ?" asked the father impatiently. 
 
 " It is my business to keep watch up here, not to 
 stand by the arch," replied Ulrich. 
 
 " Can't you let the old grudge rest to-day ?" asked 
 the overseer angrily. " Well, one of you others 
 attend to the matter." 
 
 The miners glanced at Ulrich as if waiting a 
 word of assent from him, but none was given. Onh 7 
 one of the men moved as if to accede to the over- 
 seer's request. The young leader turned and gazed 
 at him. It was but a single glance out of those
 
 16 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 stern blue eyes, but it had the effect of a command. 
 Every man at once stepped back ; not another hand 
 moved. 
 
 " I wish it would fall on your obstinate head !" 
 cried the overseer in a rage, while with youthful 
 alacrity he himself climbed up and bound the flag- 
 staff. " Perhaps you would then learn how folks 
 ought to behave at a festival ; and you have spoiled 
 Lorenz, who used to be the best of you, but now he 
 only does what his lord and master Ulrich com- 
 mands." 
 
 " Ought we to rejoice that a new aristocrat is 
 coming to rule here ?" asked Ulrich in a low tone. 
 " I thought we had had enough of the old one." 
 
 The overseer, busied with the flag-staff, did not 
 hear this remark ; but Martha, who had stood silent 
 at one side, turned quickly around and threw an 
 anxious glance up to the arch. 
 
 " Help him, Ulrich, I beg you !" she said. 
 
 The obstinate young man made no answer, but 
 his features were not a shade milder or more com- 
 pliant. The girl stood motionless before him. She 
 evidently wished to say something, but was half- 
 afraid. At length she spoke softly : 
 
 " And will you really not come to the festival 
 to-night ?" 
 
 "Ulrich!" 
 
 " Leave me alone, Martha ! You know I do not 
 like your dancing foolery !" 
 
 Martha started back, but her red lips curled in
 
 GOOD LUCK. 17 
 
 scorn and the moist glimmer in her eyes was more 
 tears of anger than of sorrow at her cousin's rude- 
 ness. 
 
 Ulrich did not remark this. He did not seem to 
 trouble himself much about the girl. Without a 
 word further she turned her back to him and went 
 in another direction. The eyes of the young man, 
 who had at last found courage to help about the 
 flag-staff, followed her continually. He would no 
 doubt have given much if the invitation had been 
 to him rather than to Ulrich, who had declined it so 
 indifferently. 
 
 Meantime the overseer had come down and was 
 regarding his work with great complacency, when 
 the first salute echoed from the hill. It was fol- 
 lowed by a second and a third. This signal of the 
 arrival of the long-expected bride and groom, as 
 may be supposed, caused a great flutter. The 
 officers were in lively commotion. The director 
 once more scanned his preparations. The chief 
 engineer and Herr Schaffer buttoned their gloves, 
 and Wilberg hurried over to Martha to ask for 
 perhaps the twentieth time if she was sure she 
 knew his verses if there was really not danger lest 
 by some untimely fright she might peril his poetic 
 triumph. Even the miners betrayed some curiosit}* 
 to see this young and beautiful woman, their future 
 mistress. More than one tightened his leather belt 
 and pressed his hat down over his forehead. Ulrich 
 alone stood quite unmoved, just as dumb and scorn- 
 ful as before, and threw not even a glance in the 
 direction of the coming guests.
 
 18 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 But the reception, arranged with so much ex. 
 pense and trouble, was to turn out quite otherwise 
 than could have been hoped. A cry of horror from 
 the overseer, who stood outside the arch, drew all 
 glances in that direction ; and what they saw was 
 terrible enough. 
 
 Down the declivity leading to the village dashed, 
 or rather flew, a coach, whose horses had become 
 utterly unmanageable. Frightened probably at the 
 salute, they stormed onward, swaying the coach 
 hither and thither over the uneven road and 
 threatening every moment to rush with it over the 
 precipice to the right or hurl it against the giant 
 trees at the left. 
 
 The coachman had lost all presence of mind. He 
 had let go the reins and in mortal terror was cling- 
 ing to his seat. From the hill, where the inter- 
 vening trees shut out the sight of what had 
 happened, still crashed shot after shot, goading the 
 terrified animals to , still greater fury. The fearful 
 end of this mad journey was only too evident. 
 The catastrophe must come at the bridge below. 
 
 The throng of people gathered in front of the 
 house did what such throngs are wont to do on like 
 occasions. They shrieked aloud with terror and 
 ran helplessly up and down. It never occurred to 
 one of them to offer the needed assistance : even 
 among the miners, so accustomed to scenes of 
 danger, no one seemed to have retained his pres- 
 ence of mind. 
 
 Ah ! but there was one. Taking in the magnitude
 
 GOOD LUGS:. 19 
 
 of the danger at a glance, to hurl aside his father 
 and his comrades, to rush forward, was for Ulrich but 
 the work of a moment. In three bounds he had 
 reached the bridge. An agonized cry from Mar- 
 tha followed him. Too late : he had already thrown 
 himself in front of the horses and seized the reins. 
 The frightened animals reared and then rushed 
 forward with new impetuosity, carrying Ulrich 
 along with them. Any other man would have been 
 trodden under foot, but Ulrich's giant strength ere 
 long prevailed. A powerful jerk at the reins, from 
 which he had not for a moment loosed his hold, 
 caused one of the horses to stumble. He fell and 
 dragged down the other with him. The coach 
 remained standing. 
 
 The young miner darted up the steps, in certain 
 anticipation of finding the occupants of the coach, 
 the lady at least, in a state of unconsciousness. 
 This was the usual resource of aristocrats in the 
 face of danger. But there was no swooning here, 
 where, if in any place in life, swooning might have 
 been justifiable. The young lady stood upright in 
 the coach, convulsively clinging to the back of her 
 seat with both hands, her wide-open, stony eyes fixed 
 upon the precipice down which the next moment 
 they were almost certain to be dashed ; but not a 
 syllable, not one cry of terror passed her firmly 
 closed lips. Ready, when things came to the worst, 
 to make a spring which would have been certain 
 destruction, she had looked death calmly in the 
 face, and her countenance showed that she had 
 done so with the fullest self-possession.
 
 20 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The animals were yet struggling upon the ground 
 and the danger was still great. Ulrich hastily took 
 the lady in his arms and bore her from the carriage. 
 It required only a few seconds to carry her over the 
 bridge, but during that short space she fixed her 
 dark eyes upon the man who with such contempt of 
 death had thrown himself under the horses' hoofs, 
 and his glance, too, swept that beautiful pale face 
 which had so courageously met danger. This man 
 had never before felt a soft, glistening silk dress in 
 his arms or a fleecy white veil fluttering over his 
 shoulder : a flush of embarrassment overspread his 
 face, and he hastily, almost violently, set the lady 
 down on the other end of the bridge. 
 
 Eugenie was still trembling, and now her lips 
 parted for a deep sigh of relief ; but this was the 
 only sign of the agony she had endured. 
 
 " I I thank you," she said. " Will you now look 
 after Herr Berkow ?" 
 
 Ulrich, who had been just about to do this, now 
 paused unwittingly. 
 
 " Will you look after Herr Berkow ?" said the 
 young wife in a moment when an} 7 other woman in 
 agonizing cries would have called after her hus- 
 band, and she said it very coolly, very calmly. 
 The young man remembered the words the officers 
 had spoken about this marriage and went to look 
 after Herr Berkow. 
 
 He needed no help. He had already left the 
 carriage and was coming over the bridge. Arthur 
 Berkow, even in this catastrophe, had not belied his
 
 GOOD LUCK. 21 
 
 passive, indifferent nature. When the danger had 
 come so unexpectedly and his young wife had made 
 a motion as if to spring from the carriage, he had 
 only placed his hand upon her arm and said in a 
 low voice : 
 
 " Keep your seat, Eugenie ! You are lost if you 
 venture to spring out !" 
 
 Not another word or syllable had been ex- 
 changed between them. Whiln Eugenie stood 
 upright in the coach looking for help and resolved 
 at the last moment to make the dangerous spring, 
 Arthur remained immovable in his place ; but as 
 they neared the bridge he had for one short moment 
 placed his hand over his eyes, expecting, no doubt, 
 the next instant to be dashed in pieces. 
 
 Now he stood leaning against the railing of the 
 bridge, perhaps a trifle paler than usual, but without 
 trembling, without any visible token of excitement. 
 Whether he really felt none or whether he con- 
 trolled it even now, TJlrich must confess that there 
 was something unusual in his apathy. The young 
 heir had just looked death in the face, and now 
 he looked at Ulrich as if that man who had rescued 
 him from mortal danger was a sort of incom- 
 prehensible curiosity. 
 
 The now rather superfluous assistance came from 
 all sides. Twenty hands were at once raised to lift 
 up the prostrate horses and to help down the coach- 
 man, who was almost senseless from fright. The 
 whole tide of officials rushed forward and over- 
 whelmed the bride and groom with all sorts of
 
 22 GOOD LVCK. 
 
 expressions of condolence and sympathy. They 
 vied with each other in offers of help ; they could 
 not imagine how the accident had happened ; they 
 blamed the shots, the horses, and the coachman by 
 turns. Arthur for some moments endured all this 
 passively, then he made an evasive gesture. 
 
 " No more, gentlemen, I implore you ! You see 
 we are both unharmed. Let us, above all things, 
 get to the house." , 
 
 He offered his arm to Eugenie to conduct her 
 there, but she lingered and gazed around. 
 
 " And our rescuer ? I hope nothing has happened 
 to him." 
 
 " Ah, yes, your rescuer ! I had almost forgotten 
 him," said the director, somewhat embarrassed. 
 " It was Hartmann who held the horses. Hart- 
 mann, where are you ?" 
 
 The man called did not answer, but Wilberg, 
 who in his admiration for the romantic deed quite 
 forgot his recent spite against the doer, cried 
 eagerly, " There he stands ; up there!" and hastened 
 to the young miner, who stepped back as the 
 officers crowded around him and now stood leaning 
 against a tree. 
 
 " Hartmann, you should heavens ! what is the 
 matter with you ? You are as pale as death ; and 
 where does that blood come from ?" 
 
 Ulrich was evidently struggling with a mortal 
 faintness, but still an angry flush passed over his 
 face as Wilberg made a movement to support him. 
 Enraged at being seen in anything so like a swoon,
 
 GOOD LUCK 28 
 
 he hastily collected himself, rose to his full height, 
 and pressed his clinched hands against his bleeding 
 forehead. 
 
 " It is nothing at all a mere scratch," he said. 
 " If I only had a handkerchief." 
 
 Wilberg was just about to offer his, when suddenly 
 a silk dress rustled near him. The young Fran Ber- 
 kow stood at his side, and without a word reached 
 her own handkerchief edged with costly lace. 
 
 The Baroness Windeg could never have been 
 called upon to offer help to the wounded, else she 
 would have known that this tiny elegantly em- 
 broidered cambric handkerchief was little designed 
 to stay the blood which, as yet kept back by the 
 thick masses of flaxen hair, now welled forth in a 
 torrent. Ulrich, too, must have known this better 
 than she : still, as if without knowing it, he reached 
 his hand for the proffered handkerchief. 
 
 " Thanks, your ladyship, but that will not be of 
 much use," said the overseer, who now stood at his 
 son's side, with his arm around his shoulder. 
 " Hold still, Ulrich !" 
 
 So saying, he drew forth his own coarse linen 
 handkerchief and pressed it against the apparently 
 deep wound. 
 
 Arthur Berkow now came up, accompanied by 
 the other officers. 
 
 " Is it really dangerous ?" he asked in a drawling 
 tone. 
 
 "With a start Ulrich broke loose from his father 
 and stood erect, the blue eyes flashing scorn and 
 defiance as he replied :
 
 24 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Not at all dangerous ; no one need trouble him- 
 self about it ; I can help myself." 
 
 The words sounded rather disrespectful, yet the 
 service just rendered had been too great for any one 
 to reprove him. As for Arthur Berkow, he seemed 
 only too glad that the answer relieved him of all 
 further trouble. 
 
 " I will send my physician to you," he said in his 
 listless, indifferent way ; " but our thanks are still 
 due you. For the present there is help enough. 
 Shall we go, Eugenie ?" 
 
 The young wife took the offered arm, but once 
 more she turned her head to see if the needed help 
 was really there. It seemed that the manner in 
 which her husband had treated the affair did not 
 meet her approval. 
 
 " Our whole reception is a failure," said Wilberg 
 despondently as he a few minutes later joined the 
 officers who had accompanied young Berkow and 
 his bride to the house. 
 
 " And your poem also !" replied the chief engi- 
 neer. " Who now thinks of verses and flowers ? 
 And to any one who believes in omens, this first 
 entrance to the new home does not seem especially 
 propitious mortal danger, wounds, blood ; but this 
 is a romance just in your style, Wilberg. You can 
 compose a ballad about it, only you will be forced 
 for this once to make Ilartmann your hero." 
 
 " And he is and always will remain a bear !" cried 
 Wilberg excitedly. " Could he not even give our 
 lady a word of thanks as she offered him her own
 
 GOOD LUCK. S5 
 
 handkerchief? And how rude he was tc Hen* Ber- 
 ko\v ! But this man has a giant nature. When I 
 asked him why in God's name he had not sooner 
 bound up his wound, he answered laconically that 
 he had not until just then remarked it. The idea! 
 He received a blow on the head which would have 
 knocked any one of us senseless ; but he first stops 
 the horses, lifts the lady out of the coach, and does 
 not remark that he is wounded until the blood 
 gushes out in a torrent !" 
 
 The miners meanwhile remained with their com- 
 rade. The manner in which the future chief had 
 expressed his thanks to Hartmann had deeply 
 wounded them. There were many morose faces, 
 many indignant, cutting remarks : even the over- 
 seer had not now, as usual, an excuse for the young 
 gentleman. He was still occupied in staying th 
 blood from his son's wound, and Martha was assist- 
 ing him. 
 
 This young girl's face wore such a look of un- 
 mistakable anguish that Ulrich must have noticed 
 it if his eyes had not been turned in an opposite 
 direction. It was a strangely intent and bitter 
 glance which he sent after Arthur Berkow and the 
 depaiting officers. He was evidently thinking of 
 something quite other than the pain of the wound. 
 
 As he was about to bind a bandage around the 
 still bleeding forehead, the overseer remarked that 
 his son still held the lace handkerchief. 
 
 " This spider's web " the old man's voice had an 
 unusually bitter tone "this embroidered spider's
 
 26 GOOD LUCK 
 
 web must have been of great use to us ! Give it to 
 Martha, ray son : she can return it to our lady." 
 
 Ulrich glanced down at the handkerchief, which, 
 soft and fragrant as a zephyr, lay between his 
 fingers ; but as Martha would take it he started, and 
 hastily pressing it against the wound dyed the 
 delicate lace blood-red. 
 
 "What are you doing?" cried the father, both 
 surprised and angry. " Would you bandage this 
 deep hole in your head with that gauzy thing ? I 
 thought we had bandages enough." 
 
 "Ah, yes, I did not think of that!" returned 
 Ulrich hesitatingly. " Let it alone, Martha !" and 
 without another word he tucked the handkerchief 
 into his blouse pocket. The hands of the girl, until 
 now so active, sank helplessly, and she looked on 
 motionless as the father arranged the bandage. She 
 fixed her eyes inquiringly upon Ulrich's face. Why 
 did he wish to render the costly rag useless? 
 Would he perhaps not give it back ? 
 
 Young Hartmann seemed to have little talent for 
 the sick role. He had already shown himself very 
 impatient at the abundant offers of help : now he 
 started up and declared, once for all, that it was 
 enough ; he would be left in peace. 
 
 "Let him be, the stubborn fellow !" said the over- 
 seer. " We can do nothing with him until we hear 
 what the doctor says. You are my right hand, 
 Ulrich ! You would not help build the triumphal 
 arch in honor of the young master and mistress 
 that would be too humiliating. But you could
 
 GOOD LUCK. 27 
 
 throw yourself before the horses that were running 
 away with that same master and mistress, and not 
 trouble yourself in the least about the old father, 
 who has nothing but you in the whole world ! 
 Consistency, I suppose you call that in your new- 
 fashioned language ! Well, you others you would 
 follow your lord and master in all things it can 
 really be no shame to you if you pattern after him 
 in courage." 
 
 And with these words, which, in spite of their 
 pretended resentment, very plainly showed pride 
 in his son and tenderness for him, the old man took 
 Ulrich's arm and led him away.
 
 28 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IT was early evening. The festivities upon the 
 Berkow- estates, at least so far as the young master 
 and mistress could participate in them, were at an 
 end. After the threatened catastrophe had been 
 so happily averted and the excitement it had caused 
 had died away, the original programme had been 
 conscientiously carried out. Now, at last, Arthur 
 and Eugenie, whose attention had been engrossed 
 on every side, found themselves alone. Herr 
 Schaffer, who was to return to-morrow to the Resi- 
 'dence, had just taken his leave ; and a servant, after 
 having arranged the tea-table, had left the room. 
 
 The lamp, burning upon the table, threw its clear, 
 mild light upon the pale-blue damask tapestry and 
 the expensively covered furniture of this little par- 
 lor, which, like the other apartments of the house, 
 had been newly and magnificently furnished for the 
 reception of the bride. 
 
 This parlor belonged to her own suit of rooms. 
 The closely drawn silk curtains quite excluded the 
 gaze of the outside world ; flowers exhaled their 
 perfume from costly vases ; and upon a table before 
 the little corner sofa stood a silver tea-service, a
 
 GOOD LUCK. 29 
 
 picture of quiet, harmonious domestic life in the 
 midst of all this splendor. 
 
 But this household comfort seemed to have no 
 spell to charm the young married pair. The bride, 
 still in full society dress, stood in the middle of the 
 room, holding in her hand the bouquet which Wil- 
 berg, in Martha's stead, had had the happiness of 
 presenting her. The perfume of the orange-blossoms 
 so absorbed her that she had not the slightest 
 attention left to bestow upon her husband, who, in 
 fact, did not demand such attention ; for scarce had 
 the door closed behind the servant when, with an 
 expression of utter weariness, he sank upon a 
 fauteuil. 
 
 "This eternal parade and ceremony is really 
 killing! Do you not find it so, Eugenie? Since 
 yesterday noon they have not allowed us a minute's 
 peace ! First the marriage, then the dinner, then 
 that awfully tiresome rail and extra post-chaise 
 journey, which took all night and the next forenoon ; 
 then that tragic interlude ; here again receptions, 
 introduction to officers, dinner. My papa, when he 
 sketched the programme of these festivities, seems 
 not at all to have thought that we possessed any 
 such thing as nerves. Mine, I confess, are all 
 unstrung." 
 
 The young wife turned her head and threw a very 
 contemptuous glance upon the man who, at this 
 their first solitary interview, spoke to her of his 
 nerves. Eugenie seemed not at all acquainted with 
 this malady. Her beautiful face wore not the 
 slightest trace of exhaustion.
 
 30 GOOD LUCK 
 
 "Have you heard whether young Hartmann's 
 wound is dangerous ?" she asked, instead of answer- 
 ing her husband. 
 
 Arthur seemed surprised that no notice was taken 
 of his exceptionally long speech. 
 
 " Schaffer says it is not of much account," replied 
 he indifferently. " He has, I believe, spoken with 
 the physician. And now it occurs to me, we must 
 make the young man some recompense. I will have 
 the director see about it." 
 
 " Ought you not to attend to the matter per- 
 sonally ?" 
 
 u I ? No, spare me that ! As I incidentally hear, 
 he is not a common workman, but the son of the 
 overseer of the mines a master-miner or something 
 of that sort. How can I know whether money or 
 a present would be most in place here ? The direct- 
 or will arrange all this in the best manner." 
 
 He let his head sink still further back upon the 
 cushions. Eugenie made no reply. She sat down 
 on the sofa and rested her head upon her hand. 
 After a pause of some minutes it seemed to occur 
 to Arthur that he owed his wife some attention, and 
 that he could not with propriety during the whole 
 tea-hour bury himself in his fauteuil. It cost him 
 some effort certainly, but he made the sacrifice and 
 really arose. Sitting down by his wife's side, he 
 allowed himself to clasp her hand, and even went 
 so far as to try to place his arm around her waist ; 
 but it remained only an effort. With a passionate 
 gesture Eugenie withdrew her hand and turned from
 
 GOOD LUCK. 31 
 
 him. At the same time she gave him that very 
 glance which had so deeply wounded his father in 
 the church at his first embrace of his daughter-in- 
 law. It was the same expression of icy, proud 
 repulsion which, better than words, said : " I am 
 unapproachable for thee and thine !" 
 
 It appeared far more easy to impress the father 
 with this aristocratic manner than the son, perhaps 
 because the son no longer allowed himself to be 
 impressed by anything. He -looked neither con- 
 founded nor intimidated at this token of an only too 
 plainly expressed aversion : still, somewhat aston- 
 ished he asked : 
 
 "Is this disagreeable to you, Eugenie ?" 
 
 " Unusual, at least! You have hitherto spared 
 me all this." 
 
 The young man was much too apathetic to com- 
 prehend the deep bitterness of these words: he 
 appeared to take them as a sort of reproach. 
 
 " 'Ilitlierto f Yes, etiquette was somewhat strictly 
 enforced in your father's house. During our two 
 months engagement I never once had the happiness 
 of seeing you alone. The constant presence of your 
 father or brothers placed a constraint upon us which 
 at the present undisturbed interview may well be 
 removed." 
 
 Eugenie again drew back and in the iciest tone 
 said: 
 
 " Let me declare to you, at this the first hour we 
 have been left to ourselves, that I have no liking 
 for expressions of fondness given because custom
 
 32 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 demands them and in which the heart has no share. 
 I for all time release you from this obligation." 
 
 Astonishment was still more vividly impressed 
 upon Arthur's features, yet he did not allow him- 
 self to be excited. 
 
 " You seem to be in a strange mood to-day," he 
 said. "Custom heart! Really, Eugenie, I be- 
 lieved that with you, least of all, one need have fear 
 of romantic illusions." 
 
 An expression of 'intense bitterness passed over 
 the young bride's features. 
 
 " I renounced all my youthful illusions the moment 
 I promised you my hand. You and your father 
 you would at any cost connect your name with the 
 noble old name of Windeg, and thereby force 
 entrance into circles hitherto strictly closed to you. 
 Well, now you have won your goal. My name is 
 Eugenie Berkow /" 
 
 She laid an infinitely scornful emphasis upon that 
 last word. Arthur had risen. He seemed at length 
 to comprehend that here there was something more 
 to deal with than the ill-humor of a young wife, 
 called forth, perhaps, by his neglect on the journey. 
 
 "You certainly do not appear to love this name 
 much ! I had not supposed that compulsion on the 
 part of your family had led you to take it, but now 
 it seems to me " 
 
 "No one. compelled me," interrupted Eugenie 
 emphatically. "No one used over-persuasion. 
 What I did was of my own free will, with the full 
 consciousness of what I was taking upon myself.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 33 
 
 It was bitter enough for my family to have me make 
 this sacrifice for them." 
 
 Arthur shrugged his shoulders. His face showed 
 that the conversation already began to weary him. 
 
 "I do not understand why you take a simple 
 family arrangement so tragically. If my father in 
 this matter had ulterior plans in view, the baron's 
 motives were certainly of a no more romantic 
 nature; only he might presumably have more 
 pressing reasons for the conclusion of an engagement 
 in which he certainly was not the losing party." 
 
 Eugenie started up, her eyes flashed*, and with a 
 passionate movement sho threw the fragrant bouquet 
 from the table to the floor. 
 
 "And you dare say this to me after what hap- 
 pened before your wooing? I believe that you 
 must blush at this if you really were capable of 
 blushing !" 
 
 The dull, half -veiled eyes of the young man 
 suddenly opened wide : under their ashes there 
 glowed something like fire, but his voice retained 
 its languid, indifferent tone. 
 
 "I must beg you to speak more plainly. I 
 cannot understand your enigmatical words." 
 
 Eugenie, with a passionate gesture, crossed her 
 arms : her breast rose and fell in stormy emotion. 
 
 " You know as well as I," she said, " that we 
 stood on the brink of ruin ! As to whom we owed 
 this, I cannot and must not judge. It is easy to 
 fling stones at the man who is struggling \vith 
 destiny. If one inherits his family estates encuin-
 
 34 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 bered, if he must uphold the luster of an ancient 
 name, maintain his position in the world, and secure 
 the future of his children, he cannot heap up wealth 
 like the Berkows in their plebeian gains. You 
 have squandered money from full hands ; you have 
 had every wish fulfilled, every caprice gratified. I 
 have tasted the whole misery of a life which feigns, 
 and must feign, outward splendor to the world, 
 while every day, every hour, brings it nearer to in- 
 evitable ruin. Perhaps we might still have escaped 
 if we had not fallen into your father's net. He 
 from the first pressed his assistance upon us, urged 
 it so persistently that at last he had all in his 
 hands, and we, hunted, entangled, despairing, knew 
 no way of escape. Then he carne and demanded 
 my hand for his son as the only price of rescue. My 
 father would rather have borne the utmost than 
 sacrifice me ; but I would not see him sacrificed, 
 forced from his career ; I would not destroy the 
 future of my brothers and see our name dishonored ; 
 and so I gave ray consent. What it cost me no one 
 of my family will ever know ; but if I sold myself 
 I can answer for it to God and my own conscience. 
 You who submitted to be a tool in carrying out the 
 ignoble plans of your father you have no right to 
 reproach me : my motives were at least more hon- 
 orable than yours." 
 
 She was silent, overpowered by excitement. Her 
 husband still stood motionless before her. His face 
 again showed the slight paleness it had worn at 
 mid-day as he had just been rescued from danger, 
 but the eyes were again veiled.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 35 
 
 " I regret that you did not make these expla- 
 nations before our marriage," he said slowly. 
 
 "Wherefore?" 
 
 " Because you would then have been saved from 
 the humiliation of being called Eugenie Berkow." 
 
 The young wife was silent. 
 
 " I had indeed no suspicion of these manipulations 
 of my father," continued Arthur, " as I am accus- 
 tomed to keep myself entirely aloof from his busi- 
 ness affairs. He said to me one day that if I would 
 go to Baron Windeg and sue for his daughter's 
 hand my proposal would be accepted. I consented 
 to the arrangement and went through with the for- 
 mality of an introduction, followed in a few days by 
 a betrothal. That is my share in the matter." 
 
 Eugenie turned away her head. 
 
 " I would have preferred an open confession of 
 your joint knowledge of the transaction to this 
 fable," returned she coldly. 
 
 Again the young man's eyes opened, and again 
 glimmered in them that strange spark, which 
 seemed about to burst into flame and yet was 
 stifled by the ashes. 
 
 " And I stand so high in the estimation of my 
 wife that she cannot even believe my word ?" said 
 he, this time with a decided touch of bitterness. 
 
 Eugenie's beautiful face, which she now turned to 
 her husband, wore an expression of the deepest 
 scorn, and the same expression was in her voice as 
 she replied : 
 
 "You must forgive me, Arthur, if I place no
 
 36 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 great confidence in you. From that day when you 
 for the first time entered our house, and for a pur- 
 pose of which I am only too well aware, until now, 
 I have only known you from the speech of the 
 Residence, and this - " 
 
 " Painted my picture in no flattering way ! I can 
 imagine that. Will you have the goodness to tell 
 me what the Residence was really pleased to say 
 about me ?" 
 
 The young wife fixed her large eyes reproachfully 
 upon her husband's face. 
 
 " They said that Arthur Berkow indulged in a 
 princely expenditure, squandered thousands upon 
 thousands to purchase the society and friendship of 
 the young nobility, and thereby make the world 
 forget his plebeian birth. They said that in the 
 wild, unbridled life of a certain circle his life was 
 wildest and most unbridled of all. What else they 
 said about him does not lie within the range of a 
 woman's criticism." 
 
 Arthurs hand, still resting on the arm of the 
 fauteuil against which he leaned, had during these 
 last words involuntarily clutched at the velvet up- 
 holstery. 
 
 " And you naturally do not deem it worth your 
 while to attempt the reformation of a reprobate 
 over whom public opinion has already broken its 
 staff?" 
 
 It rang icy cold, this no. A slight quiver 
 passed overthe young man's face, but he quickly 
 subdued it.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 37 
 
 " You are more than open-hearted ! Yet it is 
 always a good thing to know how people stand in 
 relation to each other ; and as we now stand so we 
 must remain. The step taken yesterday cannot be 
 recalled, at least not immediately, without exposing 
 us both to ridicule. If you provoked this scene to 
 show me that I, in spite of the plebeian presump- 
 tion which won your hand by force, must keep 
 myself as far as possible aloof from the Baroness 
 Windeg and I fear this alone was your intention 
 you have won your goal; but" here Arthur 
 again relapsed into his old drawling, blase tone 
 " but I beg you let this be the first and last of 
 that sort of thing between us. I detest all kinds of 
 scenes ; my nerves cannot endure them ; and life 
 may be regulated so as to avoid these unnecessary 
 echauffements. For the present, I believe I best 
 carry out your wishes by leaving you alone. You 
 will excuse me if I withdraw." 
 
 He took the silver candlestick which stood lighted 
 upon the table and left the room, but outside he 
 paused a moment and turned back his head. The 
 spark now more than glimmered in the young man's 
 eyes ; it flamed luridly, but only for a moment ; 
 then all again became void and dead. But the 
 candle flickered as he walked through the anteroom : 
 was it from the draught or because the hand that 
 held it trembled ? 
 
 Eugenie remained alone, and a deep sigh of relief 
 escaped her breast as the door closed behind her 
 husband. She had attained her wish. As, after this
 
 38 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 scene, she felt a need of the open air, she stepped 
 to the balcony, drew aside the curtain, and half- 
 opening the window gazed out into the partially 
 overcast, but balmy spring night. The stars glim- 
 mered faintly through the light veil-like clouds 
 which covered the whole sky, while the contours 
 of the landscape, already enveloped in shadows, 
 were scarce distinguishable. From the terrace 
 arose the perfume of flowers and the light mur- 
 mur of a fountain. Over all lay deep repose and 
 peace over all but the heart of the young wife 
 up there who to-day for the first time had crossed 
 the threshold of her new home. 
 
 It was now at an end the dumb, anguished 
 struggle of the last two months ; and she had borne 
 up through all. To heroic natures there is always 
 something great in the thought of sacrificing their 
 whole future for others in purchasing freedom, in 
 giving themselves an offering to inexorable destiny 
 for those they love. But now when the sacrifice 
 was consummated, when its object was achieved, 
 when there was nothing more for which to struggle, 
 nothing more to overcome, the romantic illusion 
 with which Eugenie had hitherto surrounded her 
 filial love was dispelled, and the terrible emptiness 
 and dreariness of the life before her opened to her 
 view. 
 
 On the soft, odorous breathings of this spring 
 night arose again the long-restrained anguish cry 
 of this young girl who had demanded her full share 
 in the happiness and love of life and had been so
 
 GOOD LVCK 39 
 
 cruelly defrauded of all. She was young and 
 beautiful more beautiful than so many other more 
 fortunate ones. She was from an old, noble race ; 
 and the daughter of the Windegs had ever adorned 
 the hero of her youthful dreams with all the shining, 
 chivalrous qualities of her ancestors. That he 
 must be her equal in name and rank was self- 
 evident ; and now 
 
 Had the husband forced upon her acceptance 
 possessed that character and energy she most prized 
 in man, she might perhaps have forgiven his ple- 
 beian birth ; but this weakling, whom she had de- 
 spised even before she knew him ! 
 
 Why, the insults she had deliberately and inten- 
 tionally hurled at him, and which would have made 
 any other man beside himself, had not for a mo- 
 ment roused him from his stolid indifference. Even 
 the bitterest expressions of her contempt had only 
 for one brief instant awakened him from his apathy. 
 And to-day noon, in the danger which had threat- 
 ened them both, he had not so much as lifted his 
 hand to rescue himself or her. Another, a stranger, 
 must fling himself before the raging horses and 
 curb them at the risk of his own life. 
 
 Before Eugenie's sight arose the image of that 
 young man with the scornful blue eyes and the 
 bleeding forehead. Her husband did not even know 
 whether the wound was dangerous or perhaps mor- 
 tal ; and yet both he and she would have been lost 
 but for that energetic, lightning-winged deed. 
 
 The young wife sank into a chair and buried her
 
 40 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 face in both hands. All through which in thes-r 
 last months she had fought and suffered pressed 
 with tenfold weight upon her soul, and found ex 
 pression in this one wild, despairing cry : " Oh, my 
 God, my God ! How shall I endure this life?"
 
 GOOD LUCK 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE very extensive Berkow mines lay at some 
 distance from the capital and in a remote part of 
 the province. There was little attractive about this 
 region. For miles around lay wooded hills and 
 mountains, the monotonous dark green of the firs 
 covering vale and upland alike ; and here and there 
 was a village or hamlet, a farm or country-seat. 
 
 The soil was of small account : its treasures lay 
 buried within the earth ; and all the life and ac- 
 tivity here centered around the Berkow mines, 
 whence in prodigal abundance these treasures were 
 brought up to the light of day. 
 
 The Berkow possessions lay solitary and quite 
 cut off from the business marts, the nearest town 
 being some hours distant ; but these giant and com- 
 plex mining interests had of themselves called into 
 existence a town in the midst of this wooded valley. 
 Hither had been summoned all those aids which in- 
 dustry and science could afford, all that the power 
 of machinery or the strength of human hands could 
 offer, to wrest their wealth from the malicious 
 spirits of the mountains. A great retinue of officers, 
 machinists, inspectors, and overseers followed the 
 lead of the director-in-chief and formed a colony of 
 themselves ; while the workmen, numbering several 
 thousands, dwelt in the adjoining villages.
 
 42 GOOD LUCK:. 
 
 This business, which the proprietor had from 
 small beginnings expanded to its present magni- 
 tude, seemed almost too great for the means of a 
 private citizen, and was, indeed, carried on only by 
 the most colossal expenditure. It was by far the 
 greatest mining interest in the province, and in 
 large measure controlled all other industries of the 
 kind. This colony, with its boundless outlays in 
 machinery and wages, with its business and dwell- 
 ing houses, its officers and workmen, was in a cer- 
 tain sense a state in itself, and its owner as much a 
 sovereign as the ruler of a small principality. 
 
 It seemed strange that a man who stood at the 
 head of such vast concerns should always be denied 
 the honor of a title that honor for which beyond 
 all others he strove, and which is bestowed upon 
 many who do far less for the industry of their coun- 
 try ; but here, as everywhere, when the decision 
 comes from those highest in authority, the charac- 
 ter and personality of the aspirant were called in 
 question ; and Berkow did not possess the sympathy 
 of the government. There were many dark spots 
 in his past life which his wealth might, indeed, 
 partially efface, but could not wholly obliterate. 
 
 He had certainly never come in conflict with the 
 laws, but often enough he had gone to the utmost 
 limit the law allows. His transactions in the prov- 
 ince, vast as was their magnitude, were in many 
 respects not such as honest men would care to imi- 
 tate. There was much talk of a system of un- 
 principled speculations, calculated only to enhance
 
 GOOD LUCK. 43 
 
 the wealth of the proprietor and having no regard 
 to the weal or woe of the workmen. There were 
 also rumors of the irresponsible tyranny of the 
 officers and the increasing discontent of the miners ; 
 but the colony was too distant for the reports to be 
 verified, and they remained mere rumor. One 
 thing, however, was certain : these mines continued 
 to be an inexhaustible fountain of wealth for their 
 owner. 
 
 It must be confessed that the persistence and in- 
 dustrial genius of this man were at least as great as 
 his lack of principle. From the humblest circum- 
 stances, borne upward on the wave of life and then 
 dashed down, he had once more risen, and had at 
 last succeeded in reaching those sunny heights 
 where he had for years held his undisputed place 
 of millionaire. 
 
 For the last few years Fortune had proved his 
 steadfast friend. Often as he had put her constancy 
 to the test, she had remained true ; and whether he 
 dealt with moderate ventures or embarked in the 
 most daring speculations, all he touched seemed to 
 turn to gold. 
 
 Berkow had earjy become a widower and had 
 contracted no second marriage. His restless char- 
 acter, his ivild passion for gain, had little in com- 
 mon with a domestic life : such a life he had always 
 felt a fetter rather than a solace. His only son and 
 heir had grown up in the Residence. No pains or 
 expense had been spared in his education. He had 
 had private teachers in all branches, a university
 
 44 GOOL LUCK. 
 
 course, and much foreign travel, but nothing had 
 been done to qualify him for his future career as 
 chief and director of a great industrial establish- 
 ment. Mr. Arthur showed a decided aversion to 
 learning anything beyond the absolute require- 
 ments of fashionable culture, and the father had 
 been much too weak and too vain to Insist on a 
 more serious or deeper education than that which 
 would fit his son to play a brilliant role in society. 
 For the attainment of this goal he cheerfully 
 lavished thousands. He knew that in an extremity 
 Arthur would always find enough capable officers, 
 whose mechanical and business services could be 
 bought with money, and why need the young man 
 trouble himself to learn such things ? 
 
 And so the elder Berkow, who lived alternately 
 at the Residence and upon his estates, took upon 
 himself the entire business management, while the 
 son, who scarce visited the mines once a year, was 
 during his brief sojourn always ennuyed to death. 
 
 The weather thus far had not been propitious to 
 the newly wedded pair. The sun had seldom shone 
 this spring, but at last, after a long succession of 
 rainy days, he came out as if to greet the Sabbath. 
 The shafts were empty, the works deserted ; but 
 despite the Sudnay rest and the laughing sunshine, 
 something of the melancholy, constrained atmos- 
 phere of this region seemed to rest upon the whole 
 colony. 
 
 In all these numerous business and dwelling 
 houses, not the slightest idea of beauty or of the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 45 
 
 comfort of their inmates was visible. They had 
 been built solely for use. But that this sense of 
 beauty was not wanting in the proprietor, his own 
 country-house gave ample proof. It stood at some 
 little distance from the works, on a magnificent 
 site, with a full view of the wooded hills and dis- 
 tant mountains. Outside and in, this dwelling was 
 adorned with more than princely luxury, and with 
 its balconies, terraces, and flower-gardens lay like 
 an oasis full of perfume and poesy in the midst of 
 this domain of industry. 
 
 The small house of Overseer Hartmann stood 
 midway between the mansion house and the mines 
 and its aspect showed that its owner enjoyed a most 
 favorable position. Hartmann, when a young, ac- 
 tive miner, had married a girl in the service of Frau 
 Berkow and an especial favorite of her mistress. 
 
 After her marriage the young wife remained more 
 or less in her old relations to the family, and in con- 
 sequence her husband received many favors, being 
 advanced from post to post, until at last he was 
 appointed under-overseer. These relations and the 
 favors also had ceased after the lady's death, for 
 Herr Berkow was not a man to give himself much 
 trouble about any former member of his household. 
 Hartmann's wife died soon after, and there was no 
 more intimacy at the master's house ; but during 
 these years the overseer had formed a strong attach- 
 ment to the Berkow family, and he was allowed to 
 keep the easy position he had then attained a po- 
 sition in which he had no personal experience of the 
 usual hard work and poor pay of the miners.
 
 46 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 He had some years ago adopted Martha Ewers, 
 the orphan daughter of his sister. Martha kept his 
 house, but his secret wish that she and his son 
 should marry seemed to have no prospect of fulfill- 
 ment. 
 
 On this Sunday morning the once quiet little 
 house was the theater of a rather exciting scene, 
 such as had got to be of no rare occurrence between 
 this father and son. The overseer, standing in the 
 center of the small sitting-room, was very excited ly 
 talking to Ulrich, who had just returned from the 
 director's, and now, silent and morose, leaned against 
 the door, while Martha, standing a little aside, gazed 
 at both with an anxiety she could not conceal. ' 
 
 " Have I lived to see this ?'' cried the overseer. 
 " Have you not enemies enough among the gentle- 
 men over there already but } 7 ou must needs offend 
 them still more ? Our proprietor offers you a sum 
 large enough to found a household of } T our own, and 
 you, stubborn fellow, without the least hesitation 
 say no! But what do you care, indeed, about a 
 household or any such thing ? What do you think 
 about ever taking a wife ? Whenever you come 
 from work, your head is stuck in a newspaper ; and 
 half the night through you sit over your books and 
 stuff your brains full of all that new-fashioned stuff 
 an honest miner has no need to know his whole life 
 long. Among your comrades you play the master ; 
 so that next thing they will be asking no longer the 
 Herr Director, but Herr Ulrich Hartmann, wnat 
 must be done upon the works. And if they should
 
 GOOD LUCK. 47 
 
 chance to be reminded that you were once only a 
 common miner, then they would speak of this re- 
 ward and bring the whole story again to the remem- 
 brance of our superiors. I should think if ever a 
 man honorably earned money it was you in this 
 affair ! 
 
 Ulrich, who had hitherto listened in silence, now 
 stamped angrily. 
 
 " But I tell you I will accept nothing from that 
 set over there. I have declared to you that I want 
 no reward, will receive none, for my so-called act 
 of heroism they are making such a fuss about ; and 
 I stand by my w r ord." 
 
 The old man started up anew, and was just about 
 to give his son another and more angry lecture 
 when Martha stepped between. 
 
 " Let him be, uncle," she said : " he is right." 
 
 The overseer, quite disconcerted by these unex 
 pected words, looked at her with open mouth. 
 
 " Ah ! he is right ?" repeated he angrily. " Well 
 I might suppose that you would again take his part.' 
 
 " Ulrich cannot bear to have this offer made 
 through the director and without other acknowl- 
 edgment." continued the girl decidedly, " and it is 
 not at all the proper way. If Herr Berkow had 
 only himself spoken a word of thanks or something 
 of the kind ; but really he gives himself no trouble 
 about anything in the world. He always looks as 
 if he had just wakened from sleep, and as if it gave 
 him a painful effort even to look at one ; and if he 
 really does not sleep he lies all day on his sofa and 
 stares up at the ceiling "
 
 48 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Leave the young gentleman alone !" interrupted 
 the overseer hastily. " His father is responsible for 
 all. In childhood he allowed him his own way and 
 was pleased even with his naughtiness. Every day 
 he would tell the boy how rich he was going to be 
 and drive away tutors and servants if Arthur did 
 not agree with them. As he grew up he must asso- 
 ciate with counts and barons ; money was given him 
 in heaps ; and the wilder he was the better his father 
 was pleased. Certainly such a young fellow must 
 lose some of his goodness of heart. And Arthur 
 was good : I hold fast to that. How often when a 
 little fellow did he ride upon my knee ! He had a 
 heart too. After his mother died and they were 
 about to take him to the city, I remember how he 
 hung about my neck and, weeping bitterly, begged 
 not to be sent away. 
 
 " Herr Berkow flattered him and promised him 
 ever so many fine things when they got out into the 
 great world ; but I had to carry him to the coach. 
 After he had been in the city awhile with bonnes 
 and tutors all this was over ; but the next time I 
 met him he shook hands with me. Then he grew 
 colder and more aristocratic, and now An ex- 
 pression of pain passed over the old man's face, but 
 he shook otf this weakness. "Well, in the long 
 run it will all be the same to me, but I cannot bear 
 that you, Martha, at every opportunity should go 
 on in this way about our young gentleman. Ulrich, 
 as we know, has a real hatred against him. But 
 supposing that obstinate boy there had been left to
 
 GOOD LUCK. 49 
 
 have his own way and some hundred thousands 
 besides, we may well imagine what he would have 
 made." 
 
 " Perhaps something worse, father, but certainly 
 not such a weakling as he," replied Ulrich bitterly. 
 " You may rely upon that." 
 
 The conversation, which threatened to take an 
 unpleasant turn, now happily ended. There was a 
 knock at the outside door, and directly after entered 
 a servant in the rich but somewhat over-ornamented 
 liverv of the Berkow house. 
 
 " Good-day !" he said to the overseer. " My lady 
 sends me on an errand to your Ulrich. Ah ! there 
 you are, Hartmann. Her ladyship wishes to speak 
 with you this evening, at seven precisely, I am to 
 introduce you to her." 
 
 " Me /" 
 
 " Ulrich r 
 
 Both exclamations came with equal surprise from 
 the lips of the overseer and his son, while Martha, 
 just as astonished, gazed at the servant, who indif- 
 ferently added : 
 
 " It must be something the director is concerned 
 in, Hartmann. Yery early this morning he was 
 with our lady, who is not in the habit of troubling 
 her husband about business matters, and right away 
 after I was dispatched to you, although we really 
 have enough to do to-day. All the officers are in- 
 vited to dine, and I don't know how many are 
 coming from the city to pay their respects but I 
 haven't a moment's time. Be punctual at seven, 
 after dinner,"
 
 50 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The man gave a hasty nod as his parting saluta- 
 tion and hurried away. 
 
 " Now we are in for it !" exclaimed the overseer 
 angrily. " All this has something to do with your 
 senseless refusal. Now see how you will arrange 
 matters with them !" 
 
 " Will you go, Ulrich ?" asked Martha, with a 
 quick, eager expression. 
 
 " What are you thinking of, girl ?" replied the 
 uncle. " Do you imagine he could say ' No ' when 
 her ladyship summoned him ?" 
 
 Martha did not notice the interruption. She ap- 
 proached her cousin and laid her hand on his arm. 
 
 " Will you go ?" she repeated softly. 
 
 Ulrich stood there, gazing morosely at the floor, 
 as if in conflict with himself. All at once he pas- 
 sionately threw back his head. 
 
 "Certainly I will. I want to know what her 
 ladyship may be pleased to want of me, when for a 
 whole week she has not even given herself the 
 trouble to inquire ' 
 
 He paused suddenly, as if he had already said too 
 much. Martha's hand had glided down from his 
 arm and she stepped back, but the overseer said 
 with a sigh : 
 
 " Now God help us if you are going over there ! 
 Unluckily old Berkow came home last evening. If 
 you have a talk together, then you will no longer 
 be a master-miner here and I no longer overseer. I 
 know the man." 
 
 A scornful expression played around the young 
 man's lips.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 51 
 
 {i Be calm, father ! You know too well how 
 much you depend upon the Berkows and how much 
 need that untaught son may have of you, for he 
 will never submit to taking the control here. The} r 
 will have no other in your place, and I " here, 
 with scornful self-consciousness, Ulrich drew him- 
 self up to his full height "I, before all others, 
 shall remain here. They dare not send me away : 
 they fear me too much." 
 
 He turned his back to his father, flung open the 
 door, and went out into the open air. The over- 
 seer clasped his hands and seemed inclined to give 
 his rebellious son another severe lecture, but he was 
 prevented by Martha, who anew, and this time 
 much more decidedly, took Ulrich's part. Weary 
 of contention, the old man at last took his pipe and 
 was about to leave the house. 
 
 " Listen, Martha," he said, turning at the door : 
 " I see you think no obstinacy so great as his, but 
 there is yet one which surpasses it. You have 
 found your master in Ulrich, and he will also find 
 his master, so true as my name is Gotthold Hart- 
 mann." 
 
 Up at the country-house all were busied in prep- 
 arations for the great dinner. The servants ran 
 upstairs and downstairs; in the work-rooms bustled 
 around cooks and maid-servants ; everywhere there 
 was something to change or to arrange ; and the 
 whole house showed that picture of restless activity 
 usual in preparing for a feast. 
 
 So much the more profound was the stillness
 
 52 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 which ruled in the apartments of young Berko\\\ 
 The curtains were closely drawn, the portieres 
 closed, and in the adjoining room, with noiseless 
 step, a servant glided up and down over the thick 
 carpet, arranging this and that. His master, 
 above all things, liked to lie the greater portion of 
 the day, lazily dreaming, upon the sofa, and would 
 not be disturbed by the slightest sound. 
 
 The young heir, with half-closed eyes, lay out- 
 stretched upon a sofa. He held a book in his hand, 
 in which he read, or at least seemed to have been 
 reading, although for quite a whi,j the same page 
 had lain open before him. Apparently it cost him 
 too much effort to turn the leaves, and now the 
 carelessly held volume slipped out of the small 
 white hands upon the carpet. J ' would have been 
 but slight effort to bend forward and pick up the 
 book, still slighter to call the servant to do this ; 
 but neither effort was made. The book remained 
 lying upon the carpet, and for the next quarter of 
 an hour Arthur did not make the least motion, but 
 his face plainly showed that he was neither think- 
 ing over his reading nor lost in dreams: he was 
 simply ennuyed. 
 
 A rather reckless opening of the door which led 
 from the corridor into the adjoining room and a 
 loud, domineering voice made a speedy end of this 
 most interesting employment. In entering the 
 ahteroom old Berkow asked if his son was within, 
 and receiving an affirmative answer he dismissed 
 the servant, shoved back the portiere^ and stepped
 
 GOOD LUCK. 53 
 
 up to Arthur. His face was flushed, either with vexa- 
 tion or anger, and the cloud which already lay upon 
 his forehead grew darker at sight of Arthur. 
 
 " Are you really here, lying upon this sofa, just 
 as you lay three hours ago ?" 
 
 Arthur seemed not to be accustomed to show his 
 father even the outward forms of respect. He had 
 not taken the least notice of his entrance, and now 
 it did not occur to him to change his negligent 
 position in the least. 
 
 The furrows upon the father's brow grew still 
 deeper. 
 
 " Your apathy and laziness really begin to be 
 past all conception ! It is more vexatious here 
 than in the Residence. I thought you would pay 
 some small regard to my wishes, at least take some 
 share in carrying forward the arrangements I was 
 making on your account, but 
 
 " My God, papa !" interrupted the young man, 
 "do you really ask me to trouble myself about 
 workmen, machines, and such things 2 I have 
 never done it, and I really cannot understand why 
 you have sent us here. I am ennuyed to death in 
 this desert." 
 
 The words indeed showed the deepest ennui, but 
 they had none the less the tone of the spoiled 
 darling son who had been wont to see his whims 
 regarded at all times and in all places, and who took 
 even the least hint of any discomfort as an offense. 
 But something must have happened to enrage the 
 father, for this time he was not yielding as usual.
 
 54 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "I am accustomed to see you ennuyed in all 
 places and under all circumstances, while I alone 
 must bear all the care and burden. Just now I am 
 beset on every side. Your expenses in the capital 
 have at last begun to go beyond even my means. 
 To release the Windegs from their obligations has 
 cost me dear enough, and here I find nothing but 
 endless trouble and vexation. I have this morning 
 had a conference with the director and the higher 
 officers, and am compelled to hear complaints and 
 nothing but complaints. Extensive repairs are de- 
 manded in the mines better wages, new buildings : 
 nonsense ! As if I had time and money for all 
 this !" 
 
 Arthur listened unsympathetically, as usual. If 
 his face expressed anything at all, it was the wish 
 that his father would go away. But this did not 
 happen. He began to walk excitedly up and down 
 the room. 
 
 " Trust to one's officers and their advice ! For 
 half a year I have not been here personally, and all 
 is going to rack and ruin. They speak of secret 
 conspiracies among the workmen, of grave symp- 
 toms, of threatening danger ; as if they had not full 
 power to draw the reins as tightly as possible. Be- 
 fore all, a certain Hartmann is pointed out to me as 
 rebel-in-chief, who among his comrades passes for 
 a new sort of Messiah and secretly throws all the 
 works into insurrection, and when I ask why they 
 did not send him away long ago, what do I receive 
 for my answer ? They dare not ! There is no fault
 
 GOOD LUCK. 55 
 
 to be found with his work and his comrades cling 
 to him with blind idolatry : there would be a revo- 
 lution in the works if he were sent away. I took 
 the liberty to inform the gentlemen that they were 
 all cowards and that I would take the matter into 
 my own hands. The mines remain as they were 
 and the wages will not be raised one iota. The 
 slightest insubordination will be met with the utmost 
 severity, and this head mutineer I will myself dis- 
 miss this very day." 
 
 " You cannot do that, papa," said Arthur hastily 
 and half-rising from his seat. 
 
 " And why not ?" asked Berkow in great surprise. 
 
 " Because it was this very Hartmann who caught 
 our horses and saved our lives." 
 
 Berkow gave a repressed exclamation of anger. 
 
 " And must it really be this man ? Certainly he 
 cannot be sent away without some further reason : 
 we must wait for an excuse. Besides, Arthur " 
 and here he glanced frowningly at his son " it was 
 rather vexatious that I had first to hear of this acci- 
 dent through strangers. You did not think it worth 
 your while to write me even a word about it." 
 
 " Why should I ?" The young man wearily rest- 
 ed his head upon his hand. " The thing all turned 
 out fortunately, and besides, they almost over- 
 whelmed us with expressions of sympathy, congrat- 
 ulations, questions, and orations over the matter. I 
 do not think life worth enough to make such an ado 
 about its rescue." 
 
 " Is that your honest opinion ?" asked the father,
 
 5tf GOOD LUCK. 
 
 with a fixed gaze upon his son's face. " I thought 
 you had been married only the day before." 
 
 Arthur did not answer : he only yawned. Ber- 
 kow's eyes fastened themselves still more search- 
 ingly upon his son's face. 
 
 "To come to the point, what is the trouble 
 between you and your wife ?" he asked quickly, 
 bluntly, and without the least circumlocution. 
 
 " Between me and my wife ?" repeated Arthur, 
 as if he just began to comprehend the drift of 
 the conversation. 
 
 " Yes, between you two. I thought to surprise a 
 young married pair in the first week of their 
 honeymoon, and I find a state of things here of 
 which I certainly did not dream. You ride alone ; 
 you drive out alone; neither of you enters the 
 other's apartments. You evidently avoid each 
 other, and when you meet you do not speak half a 
 dozen words. What does all this mean ?" 
 
 The young man had risen and now stood opposite 
 his father, but he still retained his sleepy air. 
 
 "You show a wonderful knowledge of details, 
 papa, which you could not possibly have gained 
 from our half-hours interview }^esterday evening. 
 Have you been questioning the servants ?" 
 
 "Arthur!" Berkow would have flown into a 
 passion, but his usual deference to his son allowed 
 him to overlook this rudeness. He kept his temper 
 under full control. 
 
 " Here, it seems, they are not accustomed to the 
 aristocratic mode of life," continued Arthur coolly.
 
 GOOD LUCK 57 
 
 "We are in this respect particularly aristocratic. 
 And you love aristocracy so much, papa!" 
 
 " Have done with this raillery !" said Berkow 
 impatiently. "Is it with your free consent that 
 your wife allows herself to ignore you in a way that 
 is even now the talk of the whole colon}^ ?" 
 
 " I give her the freedom to do exactly what I 
 permit myself." 
 
 Berkow sprang passionately from his chair. 
 
 " This is going altogether too far. Arthur, you 
 are 
 
 " Not like you, papa," interrupted the son. " With 
 the promissory notes of her father in my hand I 
 certainly would have forced no girl's consent." 
 
 The hot flush in Berkow's face at once changed 
 to ashy paleness. He started back involuntarily as 
 he asked in a trembling voice : 
 
 " What what do you mean by that ?" 
 
 Arthur was fully roused from his lethargy, and 
 his eyes had some life as he fixed them on his 
 father. 
 
 " Baron Windeg was ruined : all the world knew 
 that. Who had ruined him ?" 
 
 " Do / know ?" asked Berkow sneeringly. " His 
 extravagances, his desire to play the great hereditary 
 gentleman when he was head over ears in debt. 
 He would have been lost without my help." 
 
 " Keally ? And did you follow no plan in offering 
 this help ? Was not this alternative placed before 
 the baron to give up his daughter or be driven to 
 extremities ? Did he decide upon this union of his 
 own free will C
 
 58 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Berkow laughed constrainedly. 
 
 "Naturally! "Who has told that it was other- 
 wise 3" 
 
 But despite the confident tone his glance sank. The 
 man had perhaps never yet cast down his eyes when 
 accused of an unprincipled act : here, before his son, 
 he did it. An expression almost of bitterness passed 
 over the young man's listless features : if he had 
 hitherto cherished a doubt, now he knew. 
 
 After a momentary pause Arthur resumed the 
 conversation. 
 
 " You know that I never was inclined to mar- 
 riage ; that I only yielded to your persistent urging. 
 I was indifferent to Eugenie Windeg, as to all 
 others ; I did not even know her ; but I took her 
 own and her father's consent, aware that she would 
 not be the first who had sacrificed freely an old 
 name for riches. It did not please you to tell me 
 what passed before my betrothal or what followed 
 it. From Eugenie's lips I first heard of the business 
 arrangement you had made for us both. We will 
 let that rest; the thing is done and cannot be 
 undone ; but you will now well understand why I 
 decline to expose myself to new humiliations. I 
 have no desire to stand a second time before my 
 wife as upon that evening when she flung the full 
 weight of her scorn against me and my father, and 
 I had to be silent." 
 
 Berkow, who had stood by silent and with half- 
 averted gaze, at these last words quickly turned 
 and measured his son with an astonished glance.
 
 GOOD LUCE. 59 
 
 "I did not believe that anything could enrage 
 you to such a degree," he said slowly. 
 
 " Enrage me ? You are in error. There was no 
 such thing as getting enraged between us. My 
 wife from the first placed herself so high upon the 
 pedestal of her exalted virtues and her aristocratic 
 birth tha.t I, who in both these respects was un- 
 worthy to stand before her, could only admire her 
 from a respectful distance. Seriously, I advise you 
 to do the same if you should once in a while chance 
 to enjoy the pleasure of her company." 
 
 With contemptuous indifference he again threw 
 himself on the sofa, but in his scorn there was a 
 deep exasperation Berkow had never before re- 
 marked in him. The father felt too painfully the 
 role he had played in this wily transaction in behalf 
 of his son, and wished to dismiss the subject as soon 
 as possible. 
 
 " We will speak of this at a more convenient 
 time," he said, drawing out his watch. " Let it rest 
 to-day. There are still two hours before the arrival 
 of our guests. I must drive out to the upper works. 
 Will you not accompany me ?" 
 
 "No," replied Arthur, again relapsing into his 
 wonted indolence. 
 
 Berkow made no attempt to urge his son. The 
 refusal just now gratified him. He turned and 
 went, leaving the young man to silence and apathy. 
 
 Outdoors the first sunny spring day smiled down 
 on the earth ; the hills breathed forth incense ; the 
 forests glowed in the splendor of the sunbeams; but
 
 60 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 there lay Arthur Berkow, in that half-darkened 
 room, with drawn curtains and closed doors, as if 
 he alone, of all living things, was not created for 
 the free mountain air and the golden sunshine. The 
 air was too rough for him ; the sun too bright ; the 
 prospect dazzled him ; a ramble outdoors would have 
 made him inexpressibly nervous and exhausted. 
 The young heir, at whose command stood all this 
 world and life can give, felt to-day, as he often had 
 felt before, that this world and this life were hor- 
 ribly empty and dreary that it was really not 
 worth the while to have been born.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 61 
 
 CHAPTEK Y. 
 
 THE brilliant dinner, with its prodigal magnifi- 
 cence, was at an end. It had been an especial 
 triumph for Herr Berkow. The nobility of this 
 region were in the highest degree exclusive, and 
 had hitherto never allowed themselves to enter the 
 house of a parvenu whose doubtful past had thus 
 far excluded him from aristocratic society. 
 
 But the invitations bearing the name of Eugenie 
 Berkow, nee Baroness Windeg, were accepted on all 
 sides. She was and would remain the daughter of 
 one of the oldest noble families, and they could and 
 would not w r ound her by declining the invitation, so 
 much the less as what had forced her to this mar- 
 riage was no secret. 
 
 But if they met the young wife with the fullest 
 respect and sympathy, they could not possibly be 
 otherwise than polite to her father-in-law, in whose 
 house the entertainment was given. And they were 
 polite to him. Barkow was triumphant; he well 
 knew that this was only the prelude to what must 
 next winter be repeated in the Residence. They 
 certainly would not drop the Baroness Windeg 
 from their circle, because she had sacrificed herself 
 out of love for her father ; they would as formerly
 
 62 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 regard her their equal in birth, in spite of the ple< 
 beian name she now bore. And so far as this name 
 was concerned, the goal so ardently longed for he 
 hoped lay not far distant. 
 
 If the ambitious millionaire felt himself newly 
 indebted to his daughter-in-law, although she had 
 to-day more than ever put on the airs of a princess 
 and remained wholly unapproachable to him and 
 his circle, on the other side the behavior of his son 
 had as much surprised as vexed him. Arthur, who 
 had moved exclusively in aristocratic circles, now 
 seemed all at once to have lost his taste for this 
 kind of society. He had treated his distinguished 
 guests with such an icy politeness, maintaining even 
 toward the officers of the garrison, with whom dur- 
 ing his residence here he had always been on a most 
 intimate footing, such an intentional reserve that he 
 more than once passed those bounds which a host 
 cannot allow himself to pass without giving offense. 
 Berkow did not understand this new mood. What 
 could his son mean ? Did he design to offend his 
 wife by this almost scornful neglect of her guests ? 
 
 The gentlemen and ladies from the town had 
 been obliged to leave early, as the long-continued 
 rains had rendered the drive of several miles scarce 
 safe after dark. Their departure gave the lady of 
 the house liberty to withdraw, a privilege of which 
 she at once availed herself. Leaving the reception- 
 rooms, she went to her own apartments, while 
 her husband and father-in-law remained with the 
 gueste.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 63 
 
 At the appointed hour Ulrich Hartmann appeared. 
 Since his early childhood, since with the death of 
 Frau Berkow the connection of his parents with her 
 house had ceased, he had not entered it. For the 
 workmen, the country-seat of their chief, with its 
 terraces and gardens, was a closed Eldorado, which 
 only the officers might enter now and then, when 
 summoned by especially important business or on 
 invitation. The young man strode through the 
 lofty vestibule, richly adorned with blooming plants, 
 up the carpeted stairs, and through the brilliantly 
 lighted corridors, until in the last the messenger of 
 the morning met him and showed him into one of 
 the apartments. " Her ladyship will soon appear," 
 he said, and closing the door behind him left Ulrich 
 alone. 
 
 It was a large, richly decorated anteroom, the 
 beginning of a suit of state apartments, which at 
 this moment were quite empty. The company was 
 in the dining-hall opening upon the garden. But 
 the emptiness, voidness, and silence of these rooms 
 only made their magnificence more apparent. 
 Through all the wide-opened portieres Ulrich could 
 with unobstructed glance survey the long suits of 
 splendid rooms, each seeming to surpass the other 
 in magnificence. 
 
 The heavy dark velvet carpets seemed to absorb 
 the light, but so much the more brightly it played 
 around the silk and satin covering of the furniture, 
 the richly gilded ornamentation of the doors and 
 windows, upon the mirrors, reaching to the ceiling,
 
 64 GOOD L UCE. 
 
 which reflected it in flashing rays; so much the 
 more brilliantly did it illuminate the paintings, 
 statues, and vases which in costly and lavish profu- 
 sion adorned these rooms. All that wealth and 
 taste could give was gathered here in a fullness of 
 beauty and splendor that might well dazzle an eye 
 accustomed to the dark labyrinths of the mines. 
 
 But this magnificence, which certainly would 
 have bewildered any of his comrades, failed to make 
 the slightest impression upon Ulrich. His eyes, 
 indeed, glanced sullenly over the brilliant apart- 
 ments, but no admiration beamed from them. As 
 if he would quarrel with every one of the costly 
 things, he surveyed them all, then suddenly, as if 
 in flaming hatred, he turned his back upon the 
 whole suit of rooms, stamping violently in his im- 
 patience that no one yet appeared. Ulrich Hart- 
 mann evidently was not the man to wait patiently 
 in antechambers until some one condescended to 
 receive him. 
 
 At last there was a rustling behind him. He 
 turned and started back involuntarily, for a few 
 steps from him, under the chandelier, stood Eugenie 
 Berkow. He had seen "her only once, when he bore 
 her from the carriage: she was then in a simple 
 traveling-dress of dark silk, while her face was 
 half-thrown in shadow by riding-hat and veil ; and 
 from this meeting he had taken but one remem 
 brance the large, dark eyes which had been so 
 steadfastly fixed upon his face. This figure before 
 him was quite another from any that had ever ap-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 65 
 
 peared to the young man's sight. Rare, delicate 
 lace fell in light ripples over the white silk dress, 
 which like a silvery cloud enveloped the tall, slender 
 form. Here and there lay white roses amid the 
 airy woof, and a wreath of roses was twined in the 
 rich blond hair, whose pale glitter seemed to vie 
 with the luster of the pearls which adorned the 
 lovely neck and arms. 
 
 The full glow of the wax candles poured a flood 
 of light over the beautiful apparition, which 
 seemed created for the gorgeous flame of these sur- 
 roundings. And there the young bride stood before 
 the miner, LTlrich Hartmann, as if nothing of the 
 common, working, e very-day world could come in 
 contact with her. But vividly as her whole appear- 
 ance indicated the aristocratic salon daine, in which 
 role she had appeared before her guests, her eyes 
 betra\ r ed that she could be something better as in 
 undisguised satisfaction the\ T rested upon the young 
 man whom she now approached with a cordial, 
 friendly air. 
 
 "I am glad you answered my summons. I 
 wished to speak with you to explain a misunder- 
 standing. Please follow me." 
 
 She opened a side door and entered an adjoining 
 room. Ulrich followed. It was her own parlor, 
 which lay between her chamber and the reception- 
 rooms; but what a contrast it bore to them ! Here 
 the pale subdued light of the lamp floated over the 
 delicate blue of the walls and the silk upholstery; 
 soft carpets deadened every foot-fall ; flower per- 
 fumes, delicate and sweet, pervaded all the air.
 
 66 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Ulrich, as if spell-bound, paused upon the thresh- 
 old. He felt no timidity ; but things here were so 
 different from what they had been in the glittering 
 state apartments so much more beautiful, so 
 dreamily silent. He could not recall the hatred 
 with which he had gazed upon the magnificence 
 outside. Instead of this, other emotions swayed 
 him emotions he had never before experienced and 
 to which he could give no name, but they were in 
 unison with these new surroundings. 
 
 And yet at this very moment a passionate tide of 
 anger passed over him. He drew back instinctively, 
 as from some scarce-defined danger, and his whole 
 nature rose in dumb, deadly hostility against this 
 atmosphere of beauty and perfume with its enticing 
 spell. Eugenie had remained standing, as with 
 some surprise she remarked that the young miner 
 did not follow her. She now sank down on a lounge 
 near the door, while her eyes critically scanned his 
 face. The curling blond hair quite covered the 
 fresh scar, but the wound, which for any other 
 would have been dangerous, had scarce been able to 
 affect this robust nature. Eugenie vainly sought in 
 his features a trace of recent suffering. Still, her 
 first question was in relation to the injury. 
 
 " Have you fully recovered ?" she asked. " Does 
 the wound really give you no more pain ?" 
 
 " No, my lady : it was not worth mentioning." 
 
 Eugenie seemed not to have noticed the short, 
 bitter tone of the answer. Kindly as at first she 
 continued :
 
 GOOD LUCK 67 
 
 " I heard the very next day from the physician 
 that there was no danger, otherwise we should have 
 shown greater anxiety for you. After his second 
 visit to you the doctor repeatedly assured me that 
 there was nothing to fear, and Herr Wilberg, who 
 on the evening of that eventful day I sent to you, 
 brought me the same intelligence." 
 
 At the first words Ulrich had lifted his eyes and 
 looked fixedly at her ; his gloomy forehead slowly 
 cleared and his voice had a milder tone as he at 
 length answered : 
 
 " I did not know that you had troubled yourself 
 so much, gracious lady. Herr Wilberg did not tell 
 me that he came from you, or -" 
 
 " Or you would have received him more kindly," 
 added Eugenie with a light tone of reproach. " He 
 complained of your rudeness to him that evening, 
 and still he was full of sympathy for you, and with 
 the most friendly satisfaction offered to obtain for 
 me the desired intelligence. What have you against 
 Herr Wilberg ?" 
 
 " Nothing. But he plays the guitar and makes 
 verses." 
 
 Eugenie laughed involuntarily at this rather 
 singular, but still exhaustive description of the 
 blond young officer. 
 
 " That seems to be no especial recommendation 
 in your eyes," said she half-jestingly ; " but I be- 
 lieve that even you might be guilty of such things 
 if you held Herr Wil berg's place in life. But let 
 that pass. It was for something else I sent for you.
 
 68 GOOD LUCK.. 
 
 As I hear" the young woman, somewhat embar- 
 rassed, played with her fan " as I hear from the 
 director, you have rejected the token of our thanks 
 we proposed to offer you." 
 
 " Yes /" declared Ulrich sullenly, without soften- 
 ing the roughness of this " yes " by a single word. 
 
 " I regret if the offering or the manner of mak- 
 ing it has offended you. Herr Berkow" a slight 
 blush overspread Eugenie's face as she uttered this 
 falsehood "Herr Berkow certainly intended to 
 express to you personally his thanks and my own, 
 but he was prevented and chose the director to rep- 
 resent him. It would deeply grieve me if you saw 
 in this any ingratitude on our side toward the pre- 
 server of our lives. We both know how deeply we 
 are indebted to you, and you could not refuse if I 
 begged you to accept from my hands 
 
 Ulrich started up. The first words had softened 
 him, but the last spoiled all. His face became white 
 and in reckless passion he exclaimed : 
 
 " No more of this, lady ! If you offer me a re- 
 ward, even YOU, I shall wish I had let the carriage 
 and all within it go to destruction!" 
 
 Eugenie started back at this sudden outbreak of 
 that unrestrained savagery which had made IJlrich 
 Hartmann feared throughout the works. Such a 
 tone and glance had never before come near the 
 daughter of Baron Windeg. She replied in an 
 offended tone : 
 
 " I would not press my thanks upon you. If. the 
 expression of them is so unpleasant to you, I regret 
 having sent for you."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 69 
 
 She turned and made a motion as if to leave the 
 room, and this brought Ulrich to his senses. He 
 made a hasty step toward her. 
 
 " Gracious lady I forgive me ! I would not do 
 harm to you /" 
 
 There lay in the outcry such sudden, passionate 
 remorse that Eugenie paused and gazed at him in 
 great perplexity, as if in his face she sought some 
 clew to the character of this enigmatical being, but 
 the wild entreaty had disarmed her anger. 
 
 " Not to me f" repeated she. " Is it, then, in- 
 different to you that you wound others by your 
 rudeness the director, for instance, and Herr 
 Wilberg?" 
 
 " Yes /" returned Ulrich sullenly " as indifferent 
 as they would be toward me. There can be no talk 
 of friendship between the officers and me." 
 
 " Can there not ?" asked Eugenie in surprise. " I 
 did not know that the relations here between offi- 
 cers and workmen were so unpleasant ; and Herr 
 Berkow seems to have no suspicion of it, otherwise 
 he would act as arbitrator between you." 
 
 " Herr Berkow," said Ulrich cuttingly, " has for 
 twenty years done everything possible for the 
 works, but nothing for the workmen, and this has 
 gone on so long that we are beginning to take 
 affairs into our own hands ; and then ah, my lady, 
 I quite forgot that you are the wife of his son. 
 Pardon me." 
 
 The young woman was silent, almost confounded 
 at this hard, reckless candor. What she now heard
 
 70 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 was indeed nothing other than she had now and 
 then incidentally heard of her father-in-law ; but 
 the terrible bitterness in the words taught her the 
 whole depth of the gulf which lay between him 
 and his underlings. Whoever complained of Herr 
 Berkow could be sure of the sympathy of his 
 daughter-in-law. She had herself the bitterest 
 proof of this man's utter want of principle, but 
 the wife of his son must not, even by gesture, be- 
 tray this. She must seem not to have heard the 
 remark or reprove it. She preferred the former. 
 
 " And so you will receive no token of recognition 
 from my hands?" she asked, turning quickly from 
 this dangerous subject to the former topic. " Well, 
 then, it only remains for me to express my thanks 
 to the man whose hand rescued me from certain 
 death. Will you also reject this? I thank you, 
 Hartmann !" 
 
 She reached him her hand. It was only a few 
 seconds that this hand, white and delicate as a rose- 
 leaf, lay in the rough, toil-hardened fist of the miner, 
 but the light touch seemed to strangely thrill him. 
 All the bitterness vanished from his features, the 
 malignity from his glance ; the scornful head, the 
 stiff neck, bowed ; and he bent over the lady's hand 
 with an expression of mildness and compliance none 
 of his superiors could boast of ever having seen in 
 Ulrich Hartmann. 
 
 " Ah, you are giving audience, Eugenie, and to 
 one of our miners," said Berkow's voice behind 
 them as he at this moment entered with his son.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 71 
 
 Eugenie drew back her hand, and Ulrich quickly 
 rose to his full height. It needed only this voice to 
 bring back to his manner its dumb hostility, and 
 this was but increased when Arthur, with a sharp- 
 ness in strange contrast with his usual languid tone, 
 asked : 
 
 " Hartmann, how came you here ?" 
 
 " Hartmann !" repeated Berkow as he caught the 
 name and drew a step nearer. " Ah ! so we have 
 here our Sir Agitator, who " 
 
 " Curbed our frightened horses and in so doing 
 received a wound while he saved our lives," inter- 
 rupted Eugenie calmly but emphatically. 
 
 "Ah! is that so?" exclaimed Berkow, embar- 
 rassed as much through this reminder as by the 
 very decided tone of his daughter-in-law. < Ah, in- 
 deed ! I had heard of this already, and the director 
 also told me that you and Arthur had rewarded 
 him. The young man is here, I suppose, to return 
 thanks for his present. Were you satisfied, Hart- 
 mann ?" 
 
 The cloud upon Ulrich's forehead grew threaten- 
 ing, and the reply which trembled on his lips might 
 have had the heaviest consequences for him ; but 
 Eugenie stepped nearer her protege, and giving him 
 a warning look touched lightly his arm with her 
 fan. He understood the warning; he looked at her, 
 saw the expression of unconcealed anxiety in her 
 eyes, and spite and hate again sank powerless as he 
 calmly, almost coldly, replied : 
 
 " Certainly, Herr Berkow. I am content with 
 my lady's thanks."
 
 ?2 GOOD LUCK 
 
 "That delights me," returned Berkow curtly. 
 Ulrich turned to Eugenie : 
 
 " I may now go, gracious lady ?" 
 
 She bowed her head in silent acquiescence. She 
 saw only too well with what effort this obstinate 
 man controlled his anger. A nod to the chief and 
 his son a nod in which haughty restraint was 
 plainly visible and the young man left the room. 
 
 " Well, we must confess, Eugenie, that your pro- 
 tege has not much affability," remarked Berkow 
 sneeringly. " He left without ceremony, without 
 even waiting for permission. But where, indeed, 
 should such people learn manners ? Arthur, you 
 seem to regard this Hartmann as an especial curi- 
 osity. Have you gazed at him long enough ?" 
 
 Arthur had indeed kept his glance fixed upon the 
 retreating form, and now gazed at the door which 
 had closed behind him. The young man's brows 
 were contracted, his lips compressed ; but at his 
 father's question he turned around. 
 
 Berkow, with great urbanity, approached his 
 daughter-in-law. 
 
 " I regret, Eugenie, that your ignorance of exist- 
 ing circumstances has allowed you to go too far in 
 your condescension. You could naturally have no 
 suspicion of the role this fellow plays among his 
 comrades, but he must in no event enter this house, 
 and least of all your parlor, even under the pre- 
 tense of returning thanks for gifts received." 
 
 The voung woman had seated herself, but her 
 
 wi 
 
 face wore an expression which made her father-in-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 73 
 
 law deem it inadvisable to take his place by her 
 side, as he had at first intended. He remained 
 standing opposite her. She allowed him to admire 
 her only from a distance. 
 
 "I see they have told you only half the story. 
 May I ask when you last spoke with the director?" 
 
 "This morning; and he told me that he was 
 about to take to Hartmann a sum which I think 
 quite too large. Why, it will be a fortune for such 
 people! But I set no limitations before you and 
 Arthur, if you really believe in this extravagant 
 way of expressing your gratitude." 
 
 " And do you not know that the young man has 
 rejected the whole sum !" 
 
 " Reject ed /" cried Berkow, starting back. 
 
 " Possibly because it offended him to be sent a 
 sum of money through a third person, while those 
 he rescued from death did not think it worth their 
 while to offer him a word of thanks. I have tried 
 to atone for the latter incivility, but I could not 
 persuade him to accept the smallest sura. It does 
 not appear as if the director had so ' excellently 
 arranged ' this matter." 
 
 Arthur bit his lips. He knew to whom these last 
 words were directed, although they had been 
 spoken to his father. 
 
 " It seems, then, that you sent for him of your 
 own accord 2" he asked. 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " I wish you had not done this!" said Berkow 
 excitedly. "This Hartmann is on all sides rec-
 
 74 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 ognized as the revolutionary element among the 
 workmen, and I was about to deal with him with 
 the utmost severity. I now see plainly that too 
 much has not been told me. It is evident that this 
 man rejected the money because in paying it we 
 did not enter into those extravagant formalities his 
 pride demands. Yes, he is capable of all this. I 
 must remind you, Eugenie, that my daughter-in-law 
 must pay regard to certain considerations, even 
 when she would give a proof of her generosity." 
 
 Upon Eugenie's haughty lips again lay that 
 scornful expression with which already she had 
 o'ften enough met her father-in-law. The remem- 
 brance of that to which he had driven her was 
 certainly not in the least calculated to make her 
 accede to his wishes, and the anger, newly flaming 
 up at this recollection, made her overlook the 
 justice of his demand. 
 
 "I regret, Herr Berkow, that other considera- 
 tions must still have weight with me besides that of 
 being your daughter-in-law," returned she icily. 
 " This was an exceptional case ; and you must allow 
 me in all such cases for the future to make my own 
 judgment the sole guide of my actions." 
 
 It was again every inch the Baroness Windeg 
 who sent back the plebeian millionaire to his 
 prescribed limits. But angered past endurance, or 
 excited by the wine he had taken at dinner, he did 
 not this time show his usual unlimited respect to his 
 daughter-in-law. He replied excitedly : 
 
 "TCeally ! "Well, then, I must beg you to remem- 
 ber "
 
 GOOD LUCK. 75 
 
 Further he did not go, for Arthur, who had 
 hitherto remained quietly in the background, now 
 came to his wife's side and said calmly : 
 
 "Above all things, I implore you, papa, to let 
 this troublesome affair rest. I have given Eugenie 
 the fullest liberty in all such matters ; and I do not 
 wish that any one should seek to restrict her in 
 this." 
 
 Berkow looked at his son as if he had not heard 
 aright. He was accustomed to see Arthur allow all 
 events, weighty or trifling, to pass by him with the 
 same passive indifference, and he knew not what to 
 think of this sudden interference. 
 
 " You appear to be in a rebellious mood to-day," 
 he said sarcastically. " I think I may as well take 
 flight from this united opposition, especially as I 
 have business matters to attend to. I hope to find 
 you somewhat less quarrelsome to-morrow, Eugenie, 
 and my son rather more tractable than he has been 
 to-day. I wish you both a good-evening." 
 
 As with illy repressed rage he left the room, Ber- 
 kow had no suspicion that by this sudden departure 
 he had thrown the newly married pair into an 
 embarrassment they had not known since the even- 
 ing of their arrival, namely, that of being left alone 
 together. They had since then met only in the 
 company of strangers or at table in the presence of 
 the servants, and this unexpected tete-d ttee was un- 
 welcome to both. Arthur might well feel that he 
 could not at once follow his father without address- 
 ing a few words to his wife, but several moments
 
 76 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 passed before he could force himself to say a word, 
 and he did not speak until Eugenie said coldly : 
 
 "It was not necessary for you to come to my 
 help. I could very well alone have maintained my 
 independence of your father." 
 
 " I doubt not in the least your independence," re- 
 plied Arthur in an equally cool tone, " but I doubt 
 my father's delicacy of feeling in regard to certain 
 things. He was just about to bring to your re- 
 membrance some facts which I did not wish you to 
 hear. That was the sole reason of my inter- 
 ference." 
 
 The young woman was silent. She leaned back 
 in her chair, while Arthur, who stood at the table, 
 seized the fan lying there, and apparently with the 
 deepest interest studied the arabesques upon it. 
 After another uncomfortable silence he said at 
 length : 
 
 "As to that Hartmann affair, I wonder at your 
 self-delusion. Such circles and such persons must, 
 of all others, be your antipathy." 
 
 Eugenie's large eyes opened wide, and in their 
 dark depths lay a world of contempt. 
 
 "I have an antipathy to weakness and vulgari- 
 ty," she said, " but to nothing else. I respect 
 every one who fully and energetically maintains his 
 place in life, whether upon the heights or down in 
 the valleys." 
 
 There was a hard tone in her voice. Arthur's 
 hand still played carelessly with the fan, but there 
 was something nervous in this play and in the
 
 GOOD LTTCK. 77 
 
 tremor of his lips. He had started involuntarily 
 when she spoke of weakness and vulgarity, although 
 his face preserved through all the most perfect in- 
 difference. 
 
 "A very exalted sentiment," he said negligently. 
 "Only I fear you would suffer some disillusion 
 should you form nearer acquaintance with that 
 wild, rough creature who rules down there in the 
 valley." 
 
 " But this young miner is no common individual," 
 declared Eugenie very decidedly. " He may be wild 
 and uncontrollable, as a man of such native strength 
 is in danger of becoming under untoward circum- 
 stances ; but rough I have not found him." 
 
 Unconsciously to herself, her voice was somewhat 
 excited. Arthur's eyes had again that half-smoth- 
 ered fire in their glance as he fixed them upon her. 
 
 " You seem to have won strange power over this 
 wild, uncontrollable strong man," he said. "He 
 was about to attack my father ; } r ou only touched 
 his arm with your fan, and the raging lion became 
 gentle as a lamb." The young man's slender white 
 hand here shut the fan so violently that the costly 
 toy was in serious danger, while he mockingly 
 went on : " And how chivalric was his manner as he 
 bowed over your hand! If we had not come I be- 
 lieve he would, like a true cavalier, have begged to 
 kiss that hand." 
 
 With a passionate gesture Eugenie rose. 
 
 " I fear, Arthur," she said, " that this man will ere 
 long give you and your father something more than
 
 78 GOOD LUGK. 
 
 sport ; and I do not know but your father would do 
 well to drive his underlings into a yet fiercer op- 
 position. The consequences might fall back on 
 himself." 
 
 Her husband looked at her with a quiet, unmoved 
 glance as she thus stood before him. To him this 
 rustling silk dress, this fleecy cloud of lace strewn 
 with roses, this glitter of pearls was nothing new, 
 any more than the beautiful blond head with the 
 proud features and the dark eyes now flashing with 
 anger. Perhaps the lively partisanship she showed 
 for her protege was new to him. He still retained 
 the careless, mocking tone he had maintained dur- 
 ing the whole interview, but behind this lay con- 
 cealed something like raging passion ; and the fan 
 met with sad misfortune in his hands. The del- 
 icate, artistically carved ivory was broken as he 
 hurled rather than threw it on the floor. 
 
 " Did our ' deliverer' give you a lecture upon 
 social matters ? I regret to have missed the lecture. 
 But at any rate this Hartmann is a curiosity. He 
 has brought about what no other could possibly 
 have done : he has caused an animated conversation 
 between us. But the interest in this theme is now 
 quite exhausted. Don't you think so ?" 
 
 The entrance of a servant with a message ended 
 the conversation. Arthur at once availed himself 
 of this excuse to withdraw ; he parted from his 
 wife coldly and ceremoniously, as was their usual 
 custom. Hardly had Eugenie found herself alone 
 before, in an excitement she could not repress, she
 
 GOOD LUCK. 79 
 
 began to pace up and down the room. She was 
 enraged at the coldness and heartlessness they 
 showed toward Ulrich's deed, but it was not this 
 alone which made her step so hasty and drove the 
 flush of anger to her cheeks. 
 
 Why could she never meet her husband with that 
 perfect contempt it was so easy to show to his 
 father? Was he any more worthy of respect? 
 There lay in his boundless indolence something 
 which parried every thrust and frequently gave 
 him a secret superiority to the proud, passionate 
 woman who only too often allowed temper to gain 
 the mastery. It had been present in the deep 
 humiliation of that evening when, with such over- 
 whelming frankness, she had revealed to him the 
 whole truth ; it had been present in that heaviest 
 offense of to-day when she had shown him how 
 falsely he had dealt with his and her rescuer : and 
 both times he had met her in a manner which 
 proved that he could not speedily be killed or 
 annihilated by contempt. 
 
 She would not acknowledge this ; she would not 
 confess it even to herself how it wounded her 
 that since that first explanation he had not made 
 the slightest effort to dissolve the truly icy relations 
 between them by one single word. Certainly she 
 would have repelled every such effort with the dis- 
 dainful pride always at her command ; but that he 
 never gave her the opportunity to do this, that he 
 never took the trouble to go a step beyond what 
 etiquette demanded that enraged her against her
 
 80 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 will. Eugenie was a woman strong in both her 
 loves and hates, and her aversion to her husband 
 was decided even before she gave him her hand ; 
 but, like his father, he did not permit her to look 
 down upon him from an unapproachable height. 
 The young wife dimly felt this, although she could 
 give no reason why he compelled this sentiment in 
 her. 
 
 As Arthur was passing through the corridor he 
 met the director and the chief engineer, who both, 
 having been detained for an interview with Berkovv, 
 were about to leave the house. Young Berkow 
 suddenly paused. 
 
 'May I ask, Herr Director," he said sharply, 
 " why Hartmann's refusal to accept that money was 
 first communicated to my wife, while I did not 
 hear a word of it ?" 
 
 " Good heavens!" replied the director, somewhat 
 embarrassed. " I did not know you thought it of 
 any consequence, Herr Berkow. You so emphatic- 
 ally declined all personal interference in the matter, 
 while her ladyship showed such interest, that I be- 
 lieved myself bound " 
 
 " Ah !" interrupted Arthur, while there was a 
 slight nervous quiver around his lips. " "Well, her 
 ladyship's wishes must certainly be followed ; but 
 still I must beg you in such business matters" he 
 emphasized that word business " not so fully to 
 ignore me as in this case. And I should wish in 
 future to be first informed, I request this most 
 decidedly,"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 81 
 
 "With these words he left the nonplussed officers 
 and went to his chamber. The director looked at 
 his colleague. 
 
 " What say you to that ?" 
 
 The chief engineer laughed. 
 
 " Signs and wonders are frequent in our day. 
 Ilerr Arthur begin to concern himself about busi- 
 ness affairs ! Herr Arthur demand anything em- 
 phatically ! This certainly has not happened before 
 in my remembrance." 
 
 " But this is not at all a matter of business," said 
 the director excitedly. " It is a purely private 
 affair, and I can just imagine the whole story. 
 Hartmann must have treated her ladyship in his 
 own peculiarly amiable way. Just imagine him in 
 a lady's salon ! He probably said to her face what 
 he said to me this morning, and her ladyship is 
 angry, the young heir also. I shall doubtless bear 
 some polite phrases from old Berkow because I 
 allowed the audience." 
 
 " Well, it is the first time Herr Arthur has been 
 angry at anything that concerned his young wife," 
 said the chief engineer as they went together down 
 the steps. "I find that the glacial atmosphere 
 which prevails in this marriage begins to pervade 
 the entire surroundings. One perceives the ice 
 region as soon as he comes near them. Do you not 
 think so ?" 
 
 " I think that Frau Berkow to-day looked 
 enchantingly beautiful. She was certainly very
 
 82 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 cold and very aristocratic, but entirely, bewilder- 
 ingly beautiful !" 
 
 The chief engineer made a comic gesture of 
 terror. 
 
 " Heaven help us ! You are falling into Wilberg's 
 style. It is a good thing for you that you are past 
 fifty. Apropos of Wilberg, he already swims in a 
 sea of romantic adoration, but I do not believe that 
 this or his inevitable verses will awaken any great 
 jealousy in Herr Arthur's breast. He seems as 
 little inclined to bestow admiration on his beautiful 
 wife as she to receive it. Amid all these daily con- 
 venances, I cannot help feeling that things will not 
 take their usual course. I suspect that under this 
 ice lies buried something like a Vulcan, who one of 
 these fine days will break loose with thunder and 
 lightning, to give us a bit of an earthquake and a 
 worldly overthrow." 
 
 " Then there would be a flavor of poesy in 'this 
 barren steppe of commonplace life,' as Wilberg 
 would say, provided the eruption only spared him 
 and his guitar. But here we are below. Pleasant 
 dreams to you, my friend. Gliick auf"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOKE than four weeks had passed since the bridal 
 festivities on the Berkow estates. Herr Berkow, 
 having found little of his anticipated pleasure in the 
 very early visit which he had designed as an agree- 
 able surprise to his children, had after a few days 
 returned to the Residence, where urgent business 
 affairs demanded his attention. Now he was ex- 
 pected for a longer sojourn. 
 
 Meantime there had been no change in the life 
 of the young married pair, save that, if possible, it 
 had become more estranged, colder, and more aris- 
 tocratic than at first. Both seemed to long for the 
 end of the " honeymoon" which they had under- 
 taken to pass in this country solitude. But here 
 they must remain until summer made possible a 
 longer journey, from which they were to return to 
 their fixed abode, the Residence. Herr Berkow 
 had already arranged the future household, which 
 was to be on a scale of the most prodigal expen- 
 diture. 
 
 His day's work had ended early and Ulrich Hart- 
 man n was returning to his father's house, but he 
 was forced to moderate his usually rapid step, for 
 Herr Wilberg was at his side. This young gentle-
 
 4 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 man had literally taken him prisoner and would 
 not let him go. It was a strange thing to see one 
 of the officers in such confidential relations with the 
 miner Hartmann, and stranger yet was the fact 
 that the advances all came from Herr Wilberg. 
 But there was something more in this than the well- 
 known law that opposites attract. The chief 
 engineer had no presentiment as to what his idle jest 
 would lead. His sportive hint that Hartmann and 
 his heroic deed would form the subject for a ballad 
 just in Wilberg's style had fallen upon an all too 
 susceptible soil. Wilberg had seriously decided to 
 work up this material into a poem ; only he was in 
 doubt whether the proposed masterpiece should be 
 ballad, epic, or drama. He never for a moment 
 doubted that the varied excellences of these three 
 modes of poetic art were all united in his own 
 genius. 
 
 Unhappily for Ulrich, his energetic and coura- 
 geous deed had fully impressed this rising poet with 
 the idea that he was especially designed for a tragic 
 hero, and Wilberg followed him around like his 
 shadow, so as to study so interesting a character. 
 When our poet learned that Ulrich had haughtily 
 refused the proffered recompense, the romantic 
 nimbus before his eyes grew to a radiance nothing 
 could dispel not even the rudeness of the idolized 
 hero nor the cutting remarks of the officers, who 
 were displeased with an intimacy with one so un- 
 fitted for their higher circle. 
 
 Ulrich showed little inclination for being thus
 
 GOOD LUCK. 85 
 
 made a " study " of by the would-be poet : often 
 enough, and most impatiently, he sought to shake 
 off the intrusive companionship, as one would shake 
 off a troublesome fly, but with small success. Wil- 
 berg was determined to see a hero in him a rough, 
 wild, untamable hero, to be sure ; but the more un- 
 amiable he grew the more delighted was our poet 
 at this clear development of the character he sought 
 to depict, and studied him with all the more ardor. 
 The young master -miner at length, with a shrug of 
 the shoulders, yielded to the inevitable. At last, 
 each becoming wonted to the other's society, a sort 
 of intimacy really sprang up between them ; in 
 which, however, there was little of respect on Hart- 
 mann's side. 
 
 The wind blew rather cold from the north. Herr 
 Wilberg carefully buttoned his paletot and drew his 
 thick woolen shawl around him, while he said with 
 a sigh : 
 
 " You are a happy man, Hartmann, with your 
 giant nature and your giant health. You go up and 
 down the mines in heat and cold ; you stand unpro- 
 tected in the biting wind ; while 1 must carefully 
 guard myself from every change of temperature. 
 And I am so nervous, so sensitive, so excitable ! 
 That comes from the intellect being all too much 
 for the body. Yes, Hartmann, it arises from a pre- 
 ponderance of thought and feeling." 
 
 "I think it comes, Herr Wilberg, from your 
 eternal tea-drinking," replied Ulrich, with a half- 
 sympathetic glance upon the little sickly officer.
 
 86 GOOD LUCE. 
 
 " If every morning and evening you gulp down that 
 thin, hot stuff, you can never be strong." 
 
 Wilberg, with a consciousness of infinite mental 
 superiority, gazed up to his adviser. 
 
 "You do not understand, Hartmann," he said. 
 " I could not possibly endure your rough diet : my 
 constitution is not fitted for it. And then tea is a 
 highly aesthetic drink. It enlivens me ; it inspires 
 me when the commonplace work of the day is ended ; 
 and in the silent evening hours the Muses draw 
 nigh 
 
 " You mean when you make verses ?" interrupted 
 Ulrich dryly. " And you need tea for that ? Yes, 
 I should think so." 
 
 Happily just at that moment a rhyme passed 
 through the head of the insulted poet, and he must 
 hold it fast : so he scarce heard Ulrica's words. The 
 next moment he said good-humoredly : 
 
 " I have a request to make of you, Hartmann. 
 Yes, an entreaty, a demand," he added, mounting to 
 a regular climax. " You must grant it at any price. 
 You are in possession of an object which to you is 
 entirely worthless and which would make me 
 the happiest of mortals. You must vield it to 
 me." 
 
 " What must I yield to you ?" asked Ulrich, who, 
 as usual when Wilberg spoke, had only half- 
 listened. 
 
 Herr Wilberg blushed, sighed, glanced at the 
 ground, sighed a second time, and then thought 
 proper to explain.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 81 
 
 "You remember the day when you saved her 
 ladyship's life ? Ah, Hartmann ! it is an eternal 
 shame that you have no sensibility for the poetry 
 of that situation. If / had only been in your place ! 
 But enough of that. Our lady offered you her own 
 handkerchief to stay the blood of your wound. 
 You kept it in your hand because help at once came 
 from another source. My God ! you cannot pos- 
 sibly have forgotten such an occurrence." 
 
 "Well, what about the handkerchief?" asked 
 Ulrich, all at once aroused to attention. 
 
 " I wish to possess it," murmured Wilberg, cast- 
 ing down his eyes with a melancholy air. "De- 
 mand from me whatever you will, but give me this 
 dear souvenir of a woman I adore." 
 
 " You r cried Ulrich in a tone which made his 
 companion recoil and gaze anxiously around to see 
 if any one was near. 
 
 "Do not scream so, Hartmann! You have no 
 need to be horrified because I adore the wife of our 
 future chief. It is something entirely different from 
 the common acceptation of love ; that is ah ! but 
 you certainly do not know what Platonic love 
 means." 
 
 "No I " returned the young miner curtly, hasten- 
 ing his pace and evidently determined to break off 
 the conversation. 
 
 " You could not possibly understand that," de- 
 clared Herr Wilberg with infinite self-satisfaction, 
 " for you never could or would soar to that exalted 
 purity of feeling of which only the highest culture
 
 88 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 is capable ; of feeling which, without any hope ay, 
 without even a wish contents itself with a mute, 
 blessed, distant adoration. Otherwise what think 
 you a man could do who loved a woman belonging 
 to another ?" 
 
 " One must conquer this love," said Ulrich grimly, 
 
 QJ. 
 
 "Or what?" 
 
 "Kill his rival." 
 
 Herr Wilberg with wonderful celerity retreated 
 to the other side of the road, where he paused in 
 horror. 
 
 " What barbarity ! With murder, with the death- 
 blow, would you attest your love ? You are a 
 terrible man, Hartmann ! And you say this with a 
 tone, with a glance Our gracious lady was 
 quite right when she called you an untamable 
 nature, who 
 
 " Did she call me that ?" interrupted Hartmann 
 excitedly. 
 
 " ' A wild, untamable nature !' those were her 
 words a highly intellectual expression and per- 
 fectly appropriate in this case. Hartmann" the 
 young officer slowly and timidly ventured nearer 
 " Hartmann, I might forgive you all this, all you 
 have just said ; but what I never can forgive is your 
 detestable behavior to our lady. Have you, then, 
 no eye for that grace and beauty which disarm 
 even the roughest of your comrades that you shun 
 her glance as if it would bring you calamity? 
 When you see her carriage in the distance you turn,
 
 GOOD LUGS:. 89 
 
 away ; when she drives by you retreat into the first 
 house that offers. You make a daily circuit around 
 the director's house when you go to your daily 
 work, for fear you may meet her at the park gate 
 and bo obliged to salute her. O this obstinate 
 class-hatred which spares not even women ! I re- 
 peat it, you are a terrible man !" 
 
 Ulrich was silent. Contrary to his habit, he let 
 this reproach pass without a syllable in reply, thus 
 strengthening Herr Wilberg in the happy illusion 
 that his words at last were of some avail. Greatly 
 encouraged, he began anew. 
 
 "And now, returning to the main object the 
 handkerchief " 
 
 " How do I know where the thing is?" interrupt- 
 ed Ulrich roughly. " It may be lost ; or Martha 
 may have returned it. I know nothing about it." 
 
 Wilberg was almost beside himself at such indif- 
 ference to a treasure in his eyes so infinitely pre- 
 cious, when, on glancing up, he chanced to see 
 Martha coming out of the overseer's house, which 
 they had meantime approached. Like a sparrow- 
 hawk the young officer shot to her side and began 
 to question her about the handkerchief whether it 
 had been given back or whether it might not pos- 
 sibly be somewhere around the house. At first the 
 girl did not seem to understand him, but as she 
 comprehended a shadow passed over her face. 
 
 "The handkerchief is still here," she said. "I 
 thought one day I would return it, so I took it and 
 Washed out the blood ; but Ulrich stormed like a
 
 90 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 savage because I had meddled with the handker- 
 chief. He has it now in his chest." 
 
 " Ah ! and this was only an excuse to deny me 
 the desired object !" cried Wilberg with a reproach- 
 ful glance at Ulrich, who had listened with bitter 
 vexation and now scornfully said : 
 
 " You may as well be content, Herr Wilberg. The 
 handkerchief you cannot have." 
 
 " And why not, may I ask ?" 
 
 " Because I shall keep it," replied Ulrich dryly. 
 
 " But, Hartmann 
 
 " When I once say ' no ' I keep my word. You 
 know that, Herr Wilberg." 
 
 Wilberg raised eyes and hands to heaven, as if 
 he would call upon the celestial powers to witness 
 these repeated insults ; but all at once his arms sank 
 powerless and he gave a sudden start as a voice be- 
 hind Martha said : 
 
 " Can you tell me, dear child Ah, Herr Wil- 
 berg, do I intrude ?" 
 
 Herr Wilberg stood speechless, as much from 
 despair as from ecstasy at this unexpected meeting ; 
 for he was quite overcome by the annihilating con- 
 sciousness that, in a blue paletot and a green shawl, 
 with a nose reddened by the sharp winds, he must 
 now appear before this high-born lady, who had 
 hitherto seen him only in the most elegant society 
 dress. He knew how very unbecoming to him was 
 this array of colors, and only an hour ago he had 
 made a solemn vow to exchange the green shawl 
 for one more suitable ; but now untoward destiny
 
 GOOD LUCK. 91 
 
 had brought him before the very eyes of his ideal. 
 Herr Wilberg wished himself in the lowest shaft of 
 the mines, but still in his embarrassment he had 
 sense enough to be vexed with Ulrich, who. in 
 clothes all covered with the dust of his work, stood 
 right before the lady motionless as a statue. 
 
 Eugenie had been walking along the road leading 
 past the overseer's house, and had, unremarked, en- 
 tered the garden, where she saw only Martha. She 
 had received no answer to her half-finished ques- 
 tion, for both men were silent until Martha said : 
 
 " We were speaking of the handkerchief you gave 
 us for a bandage, and which has not yet been re- 
 turned." 
 
 "Ah, yes! my handkerchief," replied Eugenie 
 indifferently. " I had entirely forgotten it ; but if 
 you have been so careful about keeping it, child, 
 you can hand it back to me." 
 
 " It is Ulrich who has it, not I," said Martha, her 
 searching glance resting upon Ulrich ; and Eugenie 
 now gazed somewhat surprised upon the young 
 man, who had not even greeted her. 
 
 "Ah! you, Hartraann? Will you then return it 
 to me ?" 
 
 Herr Wilberg had new occasion to be vexed at 
 Ulrich's " detestable behavior," for he stood there 
 immovable, his brow contracted, his lips com- 
 pressed, with an expression of that dogged ob- 
 stinacy with which he had armed himself upon his 
 entrance into the lady's salon. It was evident that 
 he must really fight down his hatred against the
 
 92 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 young wife of his chief, but this time his better 
 nature conquered. 
 
 Herr Wilberg remarked how the first tones of 
 his voice trembled with shame at his behavior, how 
 the glowing red mounted to his forehead, how the 
 hostility and obstinacy of his manner vanished. 
 The lecture he had just given must be having its 
 effect : how else could this iron-headed Hartmann, 
 over whom persuasion and coercion were alike 
 without avail, have yielded a dumb obedience to 
 that one request as now, when he went into the 
 house and after the lapse of a few minutes came 
 back with the handkerchief in his hand ? 
 
 " Here, your ladyship." 
 
 Eugenie indifferently took the handkerchief, upon 
 which she did not seem to set the slightest value. 
 
 "And now, Herr Wilberg, as you are here you 
 can give me some information. I came this way 
 for the first time, and find the bridge leading to the 
 park closed by a gate. Can it not be opened ? And 
 must I take the circuitous route back through the 
 entire works?" 
 
 She pointed to the bridge only a few steps distant, 
 which led to the park on this side and which was 
 protected by an iron gate. Herr Wilberg was in 
 despair. The bridge was closed. They wished to 
 make it impassable to the workmen who had their 
 dwellings on this side, but the gardener had the 
 key. Wilberg would run, yes, fly, to fetch it if her 
 ladyship could wait so long. 
 
 "Oh, no, indeed !" replied Eugenie a little impa-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 93 
 
 tiently. " Then you would have twice to go the 
 whole distance I seek to shun ; and the waiting 
 would be rather too long. I prefer to go around." 
 
 Wilberg would not consent to this. He begged 
 and entreated the lady to grant him the pleasure of 
 this knightly service, but in the midst of his well- 
 arranged speech a loud crash was heard. 
 
 Ulrich had approached the gate and grasped it 
 with both hands. He shook the iron bars with such 
 violence that the fastenings groaned. But as they 
 did not yield at once an angry flush passed over 
 the miner's face ; an energetic kick broke bolt and 
 lock ; the gate flew open. 
 
 " For God's sake, Hartmann, what are you 
 doing ?" cried Wilberg in affright. " What will 
 Herr Berkow say ?" 
 
 Ulrich gave him no answer. He opened wide 
 the gate and turning around coolly said : 
 
 " The way is open, your ladyship." 
 
 Eugenie did not look so thunder-struck as the 
 young officer. She laughed as she entered the way 
 so violently opened. 
 
 " I thank you, Hartmann," she said ; " and as for 
 the spoiled lock, Herr Wilberg, give yourself no 
 uneasiness. I will be answerable for that. But as 
 the gate is open will you not also take the short 
 way leading through the park ?" 
 
 What a condescension ! Herr Wilberg did not 
 hasten : he rushed, he flew to the lady's side, and 
 began to rack his brains for some topic of conversa- 
 tion, interesting and intellectual as possible. But
 
 94 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 he was forced to content himself with something 
 
 O 
 
 very prosaic, for Eugenie turned back her head with 
 that same earnest, thoughtful glance which had 
 once before vainly sought to penetrate the contra- 
 dictory, enigmatical ways of this man. 
 
 " This Hartmann has a real Berserker strength 
 and a Berserker violence. Without hesitation he 
 shivered lock and bolt, only " 
 
 " Only to open a more convenient path for me," 
 added Eugenie in a slightly ironical tone as she 
 glanced at her companion. " You would not have 
 been guilty of so stormy a piece of politeness, Herr 
 Wilberg ?" 
 
 Herr Wilberg protested warmly against such a 
 supposition. Her ladyship surely could not believe 
 that he would so violently assail the property of 
 another, and in her very presence ! But her lady- 
 ship heard this assurance with an absent air, and 
 during the whole walk Herr Wilberg, with all his 
 efforts, could not once fetter her attention. 
 
 Hartmann had again closed the gate and was 
 slowly turning back to the house, but before the 
 door he paused and gazed steadily at the park in 
 whose alleys the two figures had vanished. 
 
 " I thought when you once said * no,' Ulrich, no 
 it remained." 
 
 The young man turned hastily around and his 
 sullen glance fell upon Martha, who stood at his 
 side. 
 
 " What is that to you ?" he asked roughly. 
 
 " To me ? Nothing. Do not look so cross, Ulrich,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 95 
 
 You are angry with me because I reminded our 
 lady of her handkerchief; but it belonged to her. 
 And what would you do with that delicate white 
 thing ? You could not even touch it w r hen you came 
 home from work, and you had really gazed at it 
 enough." 
 
 There lay a light, but still unconcealed tone of 
 irony in the girl's voice, and Ulrich must have felt 
 this, for he said hastily : 
 
 " Leave me alone with your jeers and your spy- 
 ing. I tell you, Martha " 
 
 / ' 
 
 "Well, well! what is the matter outside there? 
 Are you quarreling ?" interrupted the overseer, who 
 now stood in the doorway. 
 
 Ulrich turned sullenly away. He seemed to have 
 no desire to continue the quarrel, while Martha, 
 without answering her uncle, hurried past him into 
 the house. 
 
 "What is the matter with the girl?" asked the 
 overseer ; " and what is it between you both ? 
 Have you again been talking roughly to her?" 
 
 Ulrich, with a scornful gesture, threw himself on 
 a bench. 
 
 " I am not going to be dictated to as to what I 
 shall do, and least of all by Martha." 
 
 " She surely would do nothing to grieve you" 
 said the father calmly. 
 
 " And why not me?" 
 
 The overseer looked steadily at his son and said : 
 
 " Have you no eyes in your head or will you not 
 see it ? But you really have never troubled your-
 
 96 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 self about this girl, and it is no wonder you do not 
 at all understand her." 
 
 "What am I to understand then?" asked the 
 young man, all at once growing attentive. 
 
 The father took the pipe out of his mouth and 
 blew forth a cloud of smoke. 
 
 " That Martha loves you," he replied. 
 
 "Martha! Me!" 
 
 " I really believe he did not know it before !" said 
 the overseer in unfeigned astonishment. " And his 
 old father must first tell it to him ! But that comes 
 from having one's nose forever stuck in things that 
 bewilder the brain. God knows, Ulrich, that it is 
 time you had done with all this stuff and nonsense 
 and took a sensible wife who would bring you to 
 better thoughts." 
 
 Ulrich glanced over to the park, and his eyes 
 again took on their former sullen, gloomy expres- 
 sion. 
 
 " You are right, father," he said slowly : " it is 
 time !" 
 
 The old man almost let fall his pipe from as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Boy, this is the first reasonable word I have 
 heard from you. Are you really coming to your 
 senses ? Yes, indeed it is time ! You could long 
 ago have supported a wife ; and, far and near, you 
 will find no prettier, better, or more sensible girl 
 than Martha. I need not tell you how glad I should 
 be to have you marry. Now think the matter 
 over."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 97 
 
 The young man had sprung from his seat and 
 was now hastily walking up and down. 
 
 "Perhaps it would be best. There must be an 
 end to all this that I have again seen to-day and 
 the sooner the better." 
 
 " What is it ? With what must an end be made ?" 
 
 "Nothing, father, nothing! But you are quite 
 right. If I only had a wife I should know where I 
 and my thoughts belonged. Do you really believe 
 that Martha likes me?" 
 
 " Go and ask her yourself," cried the overseer, 
 laughing. " Do you think the girl would still be in 
 our house if she cared to marry another? She 
 certainly has wooers a plenty. I know enough 
 who want her ; and Lorenz for a year and a day has 
 wooed in vain. He has won no yes ; but you, if 
 you will, can receive one this very day." 
 
 Ulrich listened intently, but in spite of this flat- 
 tering assertion his face showed little happiness 
 or content. He looked as if he was forcing down 
 a rebellious something that would not let him come 
 to a decision, and there was a wildness and con- 
 vulsiveness in the sudden resolution with which he 
 now said : 
 
 " Very well, if you think I shall not receive a 
 refusal I will speak with Martha." 
 
 " Must it be right away ?" asked the overseer, 
 perplexed. " Ulrich, people do not woo in this 
 headlong manner, especially if a quarter of an hour 
 before they have had no idea of it. First reflect 
 upon the matter."
 
 98 GOOD LUCK 
 
 Ulrich made an impatient gesture. 
 
 " Why this long delay ? 1 must know where I 
 stand. Let me go in, father !" 
 
 The father shook his head ; but he had too much 
 fear lest his son might waver in this sudden res- 
 olution to place any serious obstacle in his way. 
 In his joy of heart, it troubled him little that this 
 union for which he had so ardently longed was to 
 be brought about in a somewhat unusual way, so he 
 concluded to remain outside and let the young 
 people arrange matters undisturbed ; for he knew 
 Ulrich well enough to be aware that any untimely 
 interference on his part might spoil all. 
 
 The young man meantime, as if he would not 
 allow himself a moment for reflection, strode quickly 
 through the hall and opened the door of the sitting- 
 room, where Martha was. Martha sat at a table, 
 the hands usually so busy idly folded on her lap. 
 She did not glance up as he entered, and seemed 
 not to notice that he stood close by her chair, but 
 he saw that she had been weeping. 
 
 " Does it still grieve you, Martha, my just speak- 
 ing so unkindly ? I am sorry. Why do you look 
 at me in that way ?" 
 
 "Because it is the first time you have been 
 grieved or sorry on my account. You have never 
 before asked whether I was glad or sorrowful. 
 Let it be so to-day." 
 
 The tone sounded cold and repellent enough, but 
 Ulrich did not allow himself to be frightened away. 
 His father's revelation must have had a powerful
 
 GOOD LUCK. 99 
 
 effect upon his stormy nature, for his voice was un- 
 usually mild as he answered : 
 
 " I know that I am a greal deal worse than the 
 others, but I cannot change at once. You must 
 take me just as I am, and perhaps you will make 
 something better out of me." 
 
 The girl had at his first tone glanced up surprised. 
 Something unusual must have been in his face, for 
 she made a hasty movement to rise. Ulrich held 
 her fast. 
 
 " Eemain, here, Martha ! I have to speak with 
 you. I want to ask you well, I cannot make 
 many words, and between us that is unnecessary. 
 We are brother and sister's children ; we have for 
 years lived together in the same house. You best 
 know what you have to expect from me, and you 
 know that I have always liked you in spite of all 
 our quarrels. Will you be my wife, Martha ?" 
 
 The wooing came so hastily, so rashly, so stormily, 
 and was so like the nature of the wooer ! He drew 
 a deep breath, as if with the decisive words a bur- 
 den had rolled from his heart. Martha still sat 
 un movable before him, a deep pallor on her usually 
 blooming face ; but she did not waver or delay an 
 instant before giving her answer, a low, half-stifled 
 No. n 
 
 Ulrich could not believe his senses. 
 
 " Will you not ?" he asked. 
 
 " No, Ulrich, I will not !" repeated Martha in a 
 hollow but decided voice. 
 
 The young man sprang angrily to his feet.
 
 100 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Well, then, I might have saved myself this long 
 speech," he said. "My father erred and I also. 
 Do not be offended, Martha." 
 
 Bitterly wounded in his manly pride, he was 
 about to leave the room, when a glance from 
 Martha forced him to remain. She had risen and 
 with both hands grasped the arm of her chair, as if 
 she must have this support. No word of reply or 
 of explanation passed her lips, but those lips 
 trembled so violently and in her pale face was such 
 unutterable woe that Ulrich felt his father must be 
 right in spite of all. 
 
 " I believed you love me, Martha," he said in a 
 slightly reproachful tone. 
 
 With a passionate gesture she turned from him 
 and buried her face in her hands, but he heard a 
 sound, which was as of sobs, with difficulty re- 
 pressed. 
 
 " I might have reflected that I am too wild, too 
 rough for you. You are afraid of me : you think 
 that after marriage it might be even worse. In 
 Lorenz you certainly will find a better man, who 
 will do in all things as you wish." 
 
 The girl shook her head and slowly turned her 
 face to his. 
 
 " I do not fear you," she said, " even if you are 
 rough and violent. I know you cannot be other- 
 wise. I would have taken you just as you are, 
 perhaps gladly, but I will not accept you as you 
 now are, as you have been since the day her lady- 
 ship came."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 101 
 
 Ulrich trembled. A flaming red shot up into his 
 face. He knew he ought to fly into a passion, to 
 angrily command her silence, but not a syllable 
 broke from his lips. 
 
 " Uncle thinks that you care for no one, that you 
 have other thoughts in your head," continued Mar- 
 tha, still more excitedly. " Ah, yes ! quite other 
 thoughts ! You have never cared for me, and now 
 you come all at once and ask me to be your wife ! 
 You need some one who will drive away those 
 thoughts ; do you not, Ulrich ? And for this, the 
 first one at hand will do ; for this I am good enough. 
 But I am not deceived. If I loved you more than 
 all the world and if it would cost me my life to let 
 you go rather Lorenz, rather any other now, than 
 you !" 
 
 It was an outbreak of fearful passion in this usu- 
 ally quiet girl. In this storm which had broken 
 loose within her Ulrich might have learned how 
 strong a hold he had upon her heart. Perhaps he 
 did learn this, but it did not remove the cloud from 
 his forehead nor that flaming glow from his face, 
 which grew deeper at every word. He had no reply to 
 make, and as she now broke into a loud weeping he 
 stood by her dumb, without one consoling or paci- 
 fying word. Some minutes passed thus. Martha 
 sat with arms folded over the table and her head 
 resting on them. No sound was heard save her 
 low, convulsive sobs and the ticking of the clock on 
 the wall. At last Ulrich bent down to her. His 
 voice was no longer rough and passionate, but yet
 
 102 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 it was not mild. There lay in it only a hollow tone 
 of sympathy. 
 
 " Never mind, Martha ! 1 thought things would 
 be better if you helped me. Perhaps they would 
 only have been worse, and you are quite right to 
 venture nothing for my sake. Let all remain as it 
 was with us both." 
 
 He went without further adieu, but at the thresh- 
 old he paused and looked back at Martha. She did 
 not raise her head and he passed quickly out. 
 
 " Well ?" asked the overseer eagerly, coming to 
 meet his son. " Well ?" he repeated more slowly, 
 for Ulrich's face did not look like that of a success- 
 ful wooer. 
 
 " It was of no use, father," said Ulrich gloomily. 
 " Martha would not have me." 
 
 " Would not have you ? Not you ?" cried the old 
 man in a tone as if the most incredible thing in the 
 world had just been told him. 
 
 " No ! And now don't torment us with questions 
 and speeches about it. She very well knows why 
 she has refused me, and so do I : a third person 
 need know nothing about it. And now let me go, 
 father. I must go !" 
 
 Hastily, as if he would shun all explanation, the 
 young man walked away. The overseer seized his 
 pipe with both hands, and in his vexation was almost 
 tempted to dash it on the floor. 
 
 " It's precious little one understands about these 
 young women," he growled. " I thought the girl 
 loved him, and now she sends him off with a no.
 
 GOOD LUCE. 103 
 
 And he I really did not think the lad would lay it 
 so to heart. He looked quite confounded and was 
 off like a madman. For my life I cannot account for 
 it, much as I know of him and just as little of 
 Martha." 
 
 The overseer began hastily to pace up and down 
 the garden, until his anger gave place to a more 
 resigned mood. What could he do about it ? The 
 two could not be forced to marry, and if they would 
 not it was of no use to rack one's brains over the 
 question why they would not. With a deep sigh 
 the old man bade farewell to the darling plan of his 
 life. 
 
 While he yet stood in troubled thought by the 
 garden gate he saw young Herr Berkow coming 
 along the road which led past his little house to the 
 rear of the park. Arthur seemed better acquainted 
 with the way than his wife had been. He took a 
 key from his pocket, which fitted the lock Ulrich 
 had forced open. The overseer bowed low and 
 respectfully as the young heir passed, but he, with his 
 usual indifference, scarce gave back a side glance, 
 and with a haughty, careless nod was passing on. 
 The old man's features quivered. He stood with 
 cap in hand and gazed after the future chief with a 
 silent, mournful glance which seemed to say : "And 
 even you have become so !" 
 
 Whether Arthur remarked this glance or whether 
 it occurred to him now for the first time that the 
 old friend and companion of his childhood years 
 stood before him he paused suddenly.
 
 104 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Ah, is it you, Hartmann ? How do you do ?" 
 
 In his lazy, indifferent way he put forth his hand 
 and seemed somewhat surprised that it was not 
 grasped at once, but the overseer had not for years 
 indulged in such a familiarity. He hesitated ; and 
 as he at last took the proffered hand it was 
 timidly and carefully, as if he feared that delicate 
 white hand might suffer harm in his own hard fist. 
 
 "I thank you, I am well, Herr Arthur I beg 
 your pardon, I should say Herr Berkovv." 
 
 " Call me by the old name," said the young man 
 kindly. " You are more accustomed to it and I like 
 it better than the other. Are you content, Hart- 
 mann ?" 
 
 "Yes, thank God ! Herr Arthur, I have what I 
 need. There must be a bit of care and anxiety in 
 every house, and I am having some just now with 
 my children ; but that is neither here nor there.'' 
 
 The overseer, with surprise, saw that the young 
 gentleman drew nearer and rested both arms upon 
 the wooden gate, as if he intended a longer conver- 
 sation. 
 
 " With your children ? I thought you had but 
 one a son." 
 
 " You are quite right ray TJlrich ; but I have a 
 sister's child also in the house Martha Ewers." 
 
 " And does she cause you anxiety ?" 
 
 " God forbid !" cried the overseer hastily. " The 
 girl is noble and good, and I had thought she and 
 Ulrich would marry and " 
 
 " And Ulrich will not ?" interrupted Arthur with 
 a quick upward glance from his heavy eyes.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 105 
 
 The old man shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " I do not know whether he really would not or 
 began his wooing in the wrong way. Enough, all 
 is over between them ; and this was my last hope, 
 that he would marry a sensible woman who would 
 set his head right." 
 
 It was strange that the old miner's simple and 
 uninteresting family recitals did not seem to weary 
 the young gentleman. He did not once yawn as 
 usual, and his face showed a sort of interest as he 
 asked : 
 
 " Is his head not right now ?" 
 
 The old man gave the questioner a timid side 
 glance ; then his eyes fell to the ground. 
 
 " Herr Arthur," he said, " I am not the first to 
 tell you of this. You must already have heard 
 enough about Ulrich." 
 
 " Yes, I remember : my father spoke to me of 
 him. Your son is not on good terms with the 
 officers." 
 
 The father sighed. 
 
 " I cannot change matters," he said. " Ulrich 
 obeys me no longer : in fact, he never has obeyed 
 ine. He must always have his own way, let who 
 will oppose. I have allowed this lad to learn a 
 great deal more than other lads of his station, per- 
 haps more than was good for him. I thought he 
 would rise the more rapidly, and he is now master- 
 miner and might be an overseer ; but all this trouble 
 comes from his learning. He bothers his head 
 about all sorts of histories, wants to know every-
 
 106 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 thing, sits the whole night at his books, and is all 
 in all with his comrades. How he got to be first 
 everywhere I do not know ; but when he was a 
 little fellow he had the other lads all under his con- 
 trol, and it is now worse than ever. What he says 
 they believe blindly : where he stands they all 
 stand together. If he should lead them into a 
 living hell they would follow. But this is not as it 
 should be, especially on the works." 
 
 "And why not?" asked Arthur, while, as if in 
 deep thought, he drew figures with the key upon 
 the wooden gate. 
 
 " Because the people here are too badly off al- 
 ready," burst out the overseer. " Do not be angry, 
 Herr Arthur, because I say it to your face ; for it 
 is even so. I cannot complain. I have always had 
 more than my deserts, because your dead mother 
 liked my wife; but the others! It is work and 
 anxiety day in and day out, and then scarce the 
 barest necessaries for wife and child. It is, God 
 knows, bitter bread and sour bread we earn ; but 
 we must all work, and the most are heartily glad to 
 work if they can have only their rights as upon the 
 other mines. But here they are oppressed. Every 
 penny possible is taken from their scanty earnings, 
 and things are so bad in the mines that every man 
 on going down says his prayers, because he thinks 
 he is likely never to come up again. But there is 
 never any money for repairs, and if any of the 
 miners is in need and sickness there is no money to 
 help him ; and still we must see how hundreds of
 
 GOOD LUCK. 107 
 
 thousands are sent away to the Residence, so 
 that- 
 
 The old man suddenly paused and in mortal 
 terror laid his hand upon his gossiping mouth. He 
 had spoken in such excitement that he had quite 
 forgotten who stood before him. The deep flush 
 which at these last words had passed over the 
 young man's face first recalled him to remembrance. 
 
 "Well?" asked Arthur as he became silent. 
 " Speak on, Hartmann ; you see that I listen." 
 
 " Heaven help me !" whispered the old man in the 
 greatest embarrassment. " I did not think I had 
 entirety forgotten " 
 
 " Who had used up the hundred thousands? You 
 need make no excuses. Speak out freely whatever 
 yru have to say. Or do you believe that I will be- 
 tray you to my father ?" 
 
 "Oh. no! you certainly would not do that!" re- 
 plied the overseer. " You are not like your father. 
 An indiscreet word to him would cost a man his 
 place. Well, I was only going to say that all this 
 causes bad blood among the workmen. Herr 
 Arthur" with a timid, supplicating air the old man 
 drew a step nearer " if you would only concern 
 yourself about these matters. You are the son of 
 the proprietor and some day will inherit all. No 
 one can be so nearly concerned as you." 
 
 "/?" asked Arthur with a bitterness which 
 happily quite escaped his unsuspecting listener. 
 " I understand none of the wants and necessities of 
 the works. All this has been kept entirely remote 
 from me."
 
 108 GOOD LUCK 
 
 The old man shook his head sadly. 
 
 " God knows there is not much to understand. 
 For this you need not study the machinery or the 
 mines ; you need only to see and listen to the work- 
 men as you now listen to me ; but really no one 
 does that. Whoever complains is sent away for ' in- 
 subordination' so it is called ; and the poor miner, 
 dismissed for this cause, finds another place only 
 with great difficulty. Herr Arthur, I tell you there 
 is bitter misery here, and this it is which Ulrich 
 cannot bear to see. It corrodes his heart, and 
 though I am all the time talking and preaching 
 against his ideas, I know that in many respects he 
 is right. Things cannot go on in this way. But 
 Ulrich's plans for righting matters are godless and 
 wicked ; they will yet bring him and us all to rui r . 
 Herr Arthur" sorrowful tears stood in the old 
 man's eyes as he now unhesitatingly took the hand 
 of the young heir " Herr Arthur, in God's name I 
 implore you take this matter in hand. There is 
 danger for you, for your father, and for us all. 
 There is rebellion everywhere among the miners ; 
 but if it once breaks loose here among as, then 
 Heaven help us, for it will be terrible !" 
 
 During this whole speech Arthur had stood silent, 
 with a far-off, vacant gaze. Now he lifted his eyes 
 and fixed them sadly on the speaker. 
 
 " I will mention this to my father," he said 
 slowly. " You may rely upon that, Hartraann." 
 
 The overseer let fall the hand he held and started 
 back. Now that he had laid bare his whole heart,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 109 
 
 he certainly expected some other result than this 
 barren promise. Arthur, with a somewhat offended 
 air, turned to go. 
 
 " One thing more, Hartmann," he said. " Your 
 son saved my life and may well feel wounded in 
 having received no word of thanks from me. I 
 place little worth upon life, and possibly I may 
 have undervalued the service rendered me ; but I 
 should not have been guilty of such neglect if" the 
 young heir frowned and his voice assumed a sharp 
 tone " if your Ulrich had not been just the man he 
 is. I have no desire to have my acknowledgments 
 repulsed, as my late proffered reward was. But yet 
 I would not be deemed ungrateful. Say to him 
 that I allow you to present him my thanks. As for 
 the rest, I will take counsel with my father. Good- 
 day !" 
 
 He took the way to the park. The overseer 
 gazed mournfully after him and with a deep-drawn 
 sigh said softly to himself : . 
 
 " God grant his intercession with his father may 
 help us 1 but I do not believe it will."
 
 110 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 UP at the Berkow place the family equipage was 
 brought out of the coach-house and the coachman 
 set about harnessing the horses. 
 
 " This is something entirely new," he said to the 
 servant who had brought the order to harness. 
 " The young master and mistress going to drive out 
 together? This day must be marked red in the 
 calendar." 
 
 The servant laughed. 
 
 " Yes, and little of a pleasure drive it will be ; 
 but it can't be avoided. Return visits are to be 
 made in town to those aristocratic people who \vere 
 lately here to dine, and it wouldn't look well for 
 the husband and wife each to go alone. They'd 
 rather, I've no doubt." 
 
 " A curious couple," said the coachman, shaking 
 his head. " And they call this being married ! 
 God deliver everybody from such a marriage !" 
 
 A quarter of an hour later the coach, with 
 Arthur Berkow and his wife, rolled along the road 
 leading to the town. The weather had been toler- 
 able during the forenoon, but was now quite threat- 
 ening. The sky was overcast, the wind, increased 
 to a gale, drove the gray clouds before it, and every
 
 GOOD LUCK. HI 
 
 now and then a shower fell upon the already rain- 
 soaked earth. 
 
 It had been an exceedingly rough, stormy spring 
 one of those springs to make city people shun a 
 sojourn in the country. Although May had come, 
 the trees of the Berkow park were bare and leaf- 
 less ; the sharp winds and cold gusts of rain, to the 
 despair of the gardener, had destroyed the flowery 
 array he had so carefully nursed on the terrace and 
 in the garden-beds, and pitilessly rent out and 
 killed every blossom that dared expand in the open 
 air. The bottomless roads, the rain-soaked forests, 
 made every carriage-drive as unpleasant as danger- 
 ous an undertaking. 
 
 Da} T after day of wind and rain, a gray, overcast 
 sky, mist-wreathed hills and valleys, and worse than 
 all these a dreary, comfortless household, where no 
 sunbeam penetrated the fog which closed thicker 
 and thicker around, where every blossom that 
 sought to open was frozen in that icy atmosphere of 
 contempt and hatred, where a husband and wife 
 regarded as a kind of torture, which each would 
 escape as soon as possible, that undisturbed dual 
 life which newly married people are wont to con- 
 sider their highest happiness. All this might well 
 explain the deep pallor on the young wife's face ; 
 the expression of pain around the mouth which all 
 her self-control could not efface ; the somber, 
 melancholy glance with which she surveyed the 
 rainy landscape. 
 
 She had imposed more upon her strength than it
 
 112 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 could bear. In that first transport of courage and 
 filial love the sacrifice had been cheerfully made, 
 but it was the hours and days after the sacrifice, it 
 was this passive submission to the self-imposed 
 destiny, which demanded the real courage, the full 
 strength of will ; and much as Eugenie possessed of 
 both, it was only too evident how painfully this 
 " afterward" oppressed her. 
 
 Her husband, who reclined in the further corner 
 of the coach, so far removed that the folds of her 
 silk dress scarce touched his cloak, seemed none the 
 more cheerfully to endure his destiny. His face 
 had, indeed, always been as pale, his eyes always 
 as heavy, his manner always unsympathetic as 
 now ; but there was in his features an expression 
 Eugenie had never seen before and which the last 
 four weeks had engraven there a bitter, morose 
 expression which even that indifferent, blase air 
 could not conceal. 
 
 He gazed silently out of the coach window and 
 seemed as little inclined to converse as Eugenie her- 
 self. They had upon taking their seats met for the 
 first time to-day, and had exchanged some common- 
 place remarks about the weather, the journey, and 
 its object ; then an icy silence had ensued, which 
 seemed likely to continue until their arrival in the 
 town. 
 
 The jaunt was pleasant in no respect. Though in 
 this luxurious coach they felt nothing of the outside 
 discomfort, yet these soft cushions could not wholly 
 guard against the roughness of the road, over which,
 
 0002) LUCK. U3 
 
 in spite of the powerful horses, they dragged along 
 very slowly. They had gone nearly half the dis- 
 tance and were in the middle of the forest, when a 
 violent shock threw the carriage almost on its side. 
 The coachman, with a half-muttered oath, reined 
 in his horses; then he and the footman stepped 
 down from the box, and from the excited conversa- 
 tion between them it was evident that something 
 was the matter. 
 
 " What has happened ?" asked Eugenie, excitedly 
 springing from her seat. 
 
 Arthur showed far less interest to know what had 
 happened. He would, from all appearances, have 
 quietly waited until tidings were brought him, but 
 now he felt in duty bound to let down the window 
 and repeat his wife's question. 
 
 " Give yourself no uneasiness, Herr Berkow," said 
 the coachman, who, the reins in his hand, appeared 
 at the window. " We came within a hair's-breadth 
 of being upset, but luckily we have escaped. Some- 
 thing must be broken in the hind wheel. Franz is 
 looking to see what it is." 
 
 The intelligence Franz brought was not very con- 
 soling. The wheel was so badly injured that it 
 would be impossible to go on. Both servants in 
 perplexity looked at their master. 
 
 " I fear this accident will oblige us to give up our 
 visits," said Arthur indifferently to his wife. 
 " Franz will have to go to the house for another 
 carriage, and when he returns it will be too late." 
 
 " Nothing then remains for us but to get out and 
 return to the house."
 
 114 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " To get out ?" asked Arthur in astonishment. 
 " Do you really intend to return on foot ?" 
 
 "And do you really intend to remain in this car- 
 riage until Franz brings us another ?" 
 
 Arthur certainly had this intention. He thought 
 it far better to lie two hours in the corner of the 
 coach, where he would be shielded from wind and 
 weather, than venture on a foot-tramp through the 
 cold, wet forest. Eugenie saw this and smiled dis- 
 dainfully. 
 
 " For my part," she said, " I will go back on foot 
 rather than endure this tedious, aimless waiting. 
 Franz will accompany me, as he is obliged to go. 
 You, I suppose, will remain in the coach ? I would 
 on no account take upon myself the responsibility 
 of your catching cold." 
 
 The unconcealed irony of these words effected 
 what the accident could not have done : they drove 
 the young man from his corner. He rose erect, 
 burst open the door, and the next moment stood 
 outside, offering his hand to assist his wife down 
 the carriage steps. Eugenie hesitated. 
 
 " I implore you, Arthur 
 
 " I implore you at least not to make a spectacle 
 to our servants by choosing the company of Franz 
 in preference to mine. Shall I assist you down ?" 
 
 The young wife gave an almost imperceptible 
 shrug of the shoulders. Still, nothing remained to 
 her but to accept the proffered hand, for the coach- 
 man and servant stood very near. She stepped 
 from the coach and Arthur said to the attendants ;
 
 GOOD LUCK. 115 
 
 " I will accompany her ladyship home. Take the 
 coach to some pl^ce of shelter and follow with the 
 horses as quickly as possible." 
 
 The servants took off their hats, bowed, and then 
 set about executing the command. With a some- 
 what repellent gesture Eugenie refused her hus- 
 band's offered arm. 
 
 " I fear we shall be obliged to forego the prome- 
 nade step here," she said. "I can look out for 
 myself." 
 
 She in fact tried this, but it was only at the very 
 first step to sink ankle-deep in the mud, and when 
 in her fright she fled to the side of the road, it was 
 to sink deeper yet in the water. There she stood, 
 undecided what to do. The road seen from the 
 coach had not appeared half so bad as she found it. 
 
 " We cannot get on here," said Arthur, who had 
 tried the same experiment with like results. " We 
 must go through the wood." 
 
 "Without knowing the way? We shall get 
 lost." 
 
 "Oh, no! not at all. I remember a foot-path I 1 
 often trod when a boy ; it leads over the hill down 
 into the valley and has the recommendation of very 
 much shortening the route. We must seek it." 
 
 Eugenie still hesitated, but the absolute impossi- 
 bility of walking over the half -flooded highway, 
 rendered still more impassable by carriage ruts, left 
 her no choice. She followed her husband, who at 
 once turned to the left, and a few minutes later the 
 deep dark green of the firs embraced them both.
 
 116 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 There was a possibility of passing over the roots 
 and mosses of this forest floor, at least for unspoiled 
 feet. For a gentleman and a lady accustomed only 
 to the parquet of the salon, for whose use at every 
 little jaunt coaches and saddle-horses stood ready, 
 and whose only walks had been limited to a ramble 
 through the park in fine weather, this route offered 
 difficulties enough ; and besides this cloudy, 
 stormy day. The rain had ceased, but the whole 
 region dripped with moisture and the clouds threat- 
 ened at any moment to send down a new shower. 
 Over an hour's distance from home, in the midst of 
 the forest, -through which they must wander at 
 random like a pair of adventurers, without carriage 
 or servant, without the slightest protection against 
 wind and rain, it was indeed a situation strange as 
 desperate for Arthur Berkow and his high-born 
 consort. 
 
 The young woman, with her usual resolution, 
 yielded to the inevitable. After the first ten steps 
 she had seen the impossibility of rescuing her light 
 silk dress and white burnous, and quietly yielding 
 both a prey to the wet moss and dripping trees, she 
 marched courageously onward. But her toilet, 
 little designed for an excursion like this, was slight 
 protection from the weather. Shivering, she drew 
 the white cashmere wrap about her and shuddered 
 involuntarily as the cold blasts swept past. 
 
 Her husband remarked this and paused. In his 
 effeminacy he had thrown a cloak around him for 
 protection, even in the close carriage. Now he
 
 GOOD LUCK. 117 
 
 silently took off the cloak to place it around his 
 wife's shoulders, but with a very decided gesture 
 she drew back. 
 
 " I thank you, I do not need it." 
 
 " But you are taking cold." 
 
 " Oh, no ! not at all. I am not so susceptible to 
 the weather as you are." 
 
 Without a word Arthur took back the cloak, but 
 he did not put it on again ; he threw it negligently 
 over his arm and in his light society dress walked 
 by her side. Eugenie repressed her rising vexation. 
 She scarce knew herself why this conduct so wound- 
 ed her, but she would far rather have seen Arthur 
 carefully guard his precious health by enveloping 
 himself in the cloak she had so disdainfully rejected 
 than thus recklessly expose himself to wind and 
 weather. 
 
 A calm, deliberate submission to the inevitable 
 was her business. She could not comprehend how 
 her husband had assumed this right, and least of all 
 could she comprehend how he, who had at first been 
 horrified at the bare idea of this forest promenade, 
 now seemed not at all to feel its inconveniences, 
 while she already half-repented her resolution. 
 
 A gust of wind tore the hat from Arthur's head 
 and blew it down a declivity from whose depths he 
 could not recover it. Unmoved he gazed after the 
 fugitive, and with an almost defiant gesture threw 
 back his long brown hair. His feet at every step 
 sank deep in the wet moss, and yet to Eugenie his 
 step had never before seemed so firm and elastic.
 
 118 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The further he pressed into the green forest re- 
 cesses the more his manner lost its wonted listless- 
 ness. His usually drooping eyes glanced sharply 
 around to find the path they sought. The damp, 
 gloomy forest really seemed to have an enlivening 
 influence upon him, in such deep draughts did he 
 inhale the strong aromatic odor of the firs, so 
 rapidly did he lead his young wife under their rus- 
 tling tops. Suddenly he paused and cried out almost 
 triumphantly : 
 
 " There is*the path !" 
 
 They saw before them a narrow foot-path which 
 led straight through the forest, seeming to lose it- 
 self in the distance. Eugenie gazed in surprise at 
 her husband. She certainly had not believed that 
 he would prove a safe guide, and had quite made 
 up her mind that they should be lost in the wood. 
 
 "You seem well acquainted with this region," 
 she said as she trod the path by his side. 
 
 Arthur smiled, but this smile was not for her ; it 
 was for the surroundings, which he now carefully 
 scanned. 
 
 " I ought to know my woods," he said. " We are 
 old friends, though it is a long, long time since we 
 have met." 
 
 Eugenie lifted her head in astonishment. This 
 tone she had never heard from his lips : there lay 
 within it deep, repressed feeling, which as it were 
 betrayed itself in his voice. 
 
 " Do you love the forest so much ?" she asked, 
 involuntarily prolonging a conversation which
 
 GOOD LUCK. 119 
 
 would otherwise have ended in the usual silence. 
 "Why, then, during this whole four weeks have 
 you not entered it?" 
 
 Arthur did not answer. He se'emed to be dream- 
 ing, and his glance lost itself in the green, mist- 
 veiled depths. 
 
 " Why /" he at length replied sullenly. " I do 
 not know. Perhaps I was too lazy. One at length 
 unlearns all in your Residence, especially the long- 
 ing for his woodland solitudes." 
 
 " In my Residence ? I thought you were the 
 same as reared there." 
 
 " Certainly ! only with this difference : my life 
 ended when my so-called education began. All 
 that had any value in life for me I left behind me 
 when I entered those walls ; for my early, sunny 
 boyhood years were the only ones worth living." 
 
 It was a half-sad, half-resentful tone in which he 
 uttered the words. But in Eugenie's soul the old 
 bitterness again welled up. How dared he speak of 
 sacrifice and renunciation? What could he know 
 of these? For her, too, all happiness had ended 
 with her childhood years ; for her, with her en- 
 trance into society had begun that ascending scale 
 of cares, humiliations, and despair which to her, as 
 the confidante of her father, the one initiated into 
 all the family secrets, had been the bitter school 
 that, while it had steeled her character, had also 
 robbed her of all the joys of youth. How different 
 had been her husband's position his past life ! 
 And he spoke of these as of misfortunes !
 
 120 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Arthur seemed to read these thoughts in her face 
 as he turned to push aside a hanging bough which 
 would have brushed against her. 
 
 " You think I, of all, have least reason to com- 
 plain. Very likely. At least, I have always been 
 
 told I have an enviable existence. But I assure 
 
 * 
 
 you it is sometimes desperately barren and comfort- 
 less such a life, where Fortune showers all her 
 gifts at your feet and where you tread these gifts 
 under your feet because you really do not know 
 what else to do with them ; so barren and comfort- 
 less that you sometimes feel as if, at any price, you 
 would break away from this gilded happiness, even 
 though it were to go out into storm and tempest !" 
 
 Eugenie's dark eyes hung in speechless astonish- 
 ment upon his face, and a sudden fiery glow 
 mounted to his forehead. The young husband 
 seemed all at once to realize that he had been 
 guilty of the unpardonable crime of betraying emo- 
 tion in the presence of his wife. He frowned and 
 threw a malicious glance upon the forest, which 
 had led him to this outbreak of feeling ; but the 
 very next second he fell quite back into the old 
 llase manner. 
 
 " We really have more of storm and tempest than 
 is agreeable," he said carelessly, turning his back to 
 Eugenie as he strode onward. " The winds rage 
 fearfully on that bare hill up there. We must wait 
 until the worst is over : we cannot go down now." 
 
 In fact, as they emerged from the wood the storm 
 met them, and so terrible was its might that they
 
 GOOD LUCK. 121 
 
 could scarce stand upon their feet. It was evidently 
 impossible to go on in the path, which now led ab- 
 ruptly down into the open valley ; there was dan- 
 ger of being seized by the wind and hurled into the 
 depths below. So nothing remained but to wait 
 here in the protection of the trees until there should 
 be a lull in the tempest. 
 
 They stood under a giant fir which towered up 
 at the forest's edge. The storm shook those green 
 arms the tree outspread to protect these two who 
 had sought its shelter, and they swayed sighing up 
 and down ; but the firm gray trunk still offered a 
 stay and a refuge for Eugenie, who leaned against 
 it. In case of need there might have been room- 
 for two persons, but they would have had to press 
 close together ; and it was probably this considera- 
 tion which decided Arthur to remain standing some 
 steps from her, although he was only partially 
 shielded, and the swaying branches rained down 
 
 .- o 
 
 upon him abundant drops from the last shower. 
 His hair fluttered in the wind and the drops ran 
 down from his uncovered forehead. Still he did 
 not make the slightest effort to change his place, 
 
 " Will you would you not rather come here T 
 asked Eugenie hesitatingly, while she moved a little 
 to one side to give him room upon the only dry 
 place. 
 
 " Thank you ! I would prefer not to annoy you 
 by my nearness." 
 
 " Well, at least put on your cloak." 
 
 This time there was a sound as of entreaty in her 
 voice.
 
 122 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " You will be quite wet through." 
 
 "Never mind. I am not so susceptible to the 
 weather as you suppose." 
 
 The young woman bit her lips. It is not pleas- 
 ant to be repulsed with your own weapons, but 
 more than all else it angered her this contempt 
 with which he let the whole fury of the storm break 
 over him, just to give her a lesson. She really 
 thought this contempt indescribably ridiculous. 
 She certainly could not suffer from it, and it was a 
 matter of indifference to her whether he took cold 
 and got sick or not ; but it enraged her to see him 
 stand there so calmly and maintain his place in the 
 midst of the storm, perhaps with difficulty, but still 
 to maintain it he who half an hour ago, sleepy 
 and shivering, had reclined amid the cushions of 
 the luxurious coach and seemed to recoil from every 
 breath of air that passed through the glass win- 
 dows. Did he really need storm and tempest to 
 prove to her that he was not quite the weakling 
 she had deemed him ? 
 
 Arthur meantime did not look as if he cared to 
 prove anything ; he seemed to have quite forgotten 
 her presence. With folded arms he stood there and 
 gazed up to the wooded mountains, the greater por- 
 tion of which were visible from this height. Slowly 
 his eyes swept from one summit to another, and as 
 they did so Eugenie made the surprising discovery 
 that her husband had very handsome eyes. This 
 was indeed a surprise, for hitherto she had only 
 known that there, under those half-closed lids, rested
 
 GOOD LUCK. 123 
 
 something indolent and sleepy, and she had never 
 taken the trouble to observe. 
 
 If he chanced to look up it had always been 
 slowly, lazily, as if the glance cost him infinite 
 trouble and was not worth the exertion. And yet 
 this glance was well worth seeing. Judging from 
 the expression of the face, one would have supposed 
 that under those sunken lids lay a dull, cold blue 
 eye, but in truth there glowed an eye of a deep 
 dark brown, indolent and lifeless as yet ; still one 
 knew that these eyes could flame up in energy and 
 passion. It was as if a world, long-since sunken 
 and forgotten, lay imprisoned beneath this veiled 
 glance, awaiting only its appointed hour to again 
 emerge from the abyss. 
 
 Again in this young wife's soul rose tremulously 
 the consciousness she had already felt while in the 
 forest the certainty that the father had sinned 
 infinitely in the education of this son sinned past 
 all atonement. 
 
 They stood, both solitary, up there on the hill. 
 A veil of mist la} 7 over the forest, enveloping it in 
 dense gray shadows, which now climbed up the 
 dark firs, now in fluttering streamers waved from 
 their tops, and now, ghost-like, flitted along the 
 ground. And the same cloudy veil swayed and 
 fluttered around the mountains yonder ; the mists 
 now dissolving, now rolling themselves together, 
 afar up on those dusky summits and down in the 
 steaming valleys. There was an endless ebbing 
 and flowing, a falling and rising : one moment it
 
 124 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 seemed as if mountain and forest would open to 
 their lowest recesses ; the next as if they would 
 veil their secrets from every mortal eye. 
 
 All around raged the storm, plowing into these 
 century-old firs as into a corn-field. Groaning, the 
 giant trunks swayed to and fro ; sighing, their 
 stately tops bowed and bent, while above them lay 
 the gray clouds in yawning, shapeless masses or 
 swept onward in wild, disorderly flight. It was a 
 storm such as has birth only in the bosom of the 
 mountains ; and yet it was a spring storm which 
 raved and roared around those far-off heights. 
 
 Upon these blustering pinions come the spring. 
 Not sunny and smiling as down in the valleys, but 
 rough, grim, and terrible. But it was still the 
 spring's breath which swayed the storm, the spring's 
 salutation which rang out above all this riot. 
 
 In a spring storm, wild even as this, there lies a 
 promise of sunny days to come of the flowers and 
 perfume that will ere Jong gladden the earth ; a 
 presage of that mighty creative life already 
 struggling to bring up its thousand germs to the 
 light. And they hear the call and answer it these 
 roaring forests, these rushing brooks, these steaming 
 valleys. In this roaring and foaming and raging 
 still rings out the triumph shout of Nature, who 
 has now thrown off the last fetters of winter her 
 cry of joy that hails the approaching deliverer: 
 " The spring is coining /" 
 
 It is something mysterious, such an hour of 
 spring, and the myths of the mountains lend it their
 
 GOOD LUCK. 125 
 
 own romantic spell. They tell of the mountain 
 spirit who then strides on through his kingdom and 
 whose might in such an hour, blessing or cursing, 
 passes into the life of the mortal who lingers in this 
 kingdom. Whatever there unites is united forever ; 
 whatever there separates is separated for all 
 eternity. They needed no outward union, ,hese 
 two up on the hill yonder ; they were united by the 
 strongest bond that can make two mortals one ; 
 and yet they stood so far apart! They were as 
 much strangers to each other as if a world lay 
 between them. 
 
 The silence had endured a long time. Eugenie 
 was the first to break it. 
 
 "Arthur!" 
 
 He started as if from awakening and turned to 
 her. 
 
 " What is your wish ?" 
 
 " It is so cold up here ! Will you not lend me 
 your cloak ?" 
 
 A flush passed over the young man's face as in 
 speechless surprise he glanced up to her. He knew 
 that this proud woman would rather have frozen in 
 the icy blasts than thus condescend to ask for the 
 covering she had scornfully rejected, and yet she 
 did so in a hesitating tone, with downcast eyes, as 
 if confessing a wrong. 
 
 The next moment he was near her with the cloak. 
 She stood silent while he wrapped it around her 
 shoulders, but as he was about to turn back to his 
 place she gave him a mute, reproachful glance.
 
 126 GOOD LUCK 
 
 Arthur seemed to hesitate for a moment, but con- 
 scious that this glance had been almost the same as 
 an entreaty, he conquered his obstinacy and re- 
 mained at her side. 
 
 From the valley rose a dense cloudy wall, shut- 
 ting closely around these two as if it would rivet 
 them to this spot. Mountain and forest vanished 
 in the gray vapor ; but the fir rose giant-like above 
 it and gazed down at these two mortals who 
 had fled for protection to its arms. Over them 
 swayed and rustled the dark boughs with their 
 thousand strange, mysterious voices, between which 
 resounded the fuller accords of the forest. It was 
 fearfully oppressive in this fog : this swaying and 
 rustling had an unearthly tone. Eugenie started 
 up suddenly, as if she must break loose from a 
 danger whose meshes were tightening all around 
 her. 
 
 " The fog keeps growing thicker," she said, as if 
 oppressed by its weight, " and the weather more 
 uncomfortable. Do you believe that any danger is 
 at hand ?" 
 
 Arthur glanced up at the swaying masses of 
 vapor and stroked the drops from his hair. 
 
 " I am not enough acquainted with our mountains 
 to know how dangerous these storms may be," he 
 said. "And even if there were danger, would you 
 fear?" 
 
 " I am not timid ; and yet one always fears when 
 life is in peril." 
 
 "Always? I thought the life we. had been
 
 GOOD LUCK. 127 
 
 leading for these four weeks was not of that sort 
 to cause one to tremble when it was in danger 
 least of all you /" 
 
 The young wife cast down her eyes. 
 
 ' So far as I am aware, I have not troubled you 
 with any complaints," she said softly. 
 
 "Oh, no! You certainly give utterance to no 
 complaints. If you could only as well keep back 
 the pallor from your cheeks as the complaints from 
 your lips ! You would like to do so, but there your 
 strength of will founders. Do you believe that it 
 gives me such great pleasure to see my wife silently 
 fading at my side because destiny has forced her to 
 this side ?" * 
 
 Now it was Eugenie's face that was covered 
 with deep, glowing lushes ; but it was not the 
 reproach in his words which had sent this glow to 
 her cheeks it was the strange words he for the first 
 time had used in speaking of her. " My wife" he 
 had said. Yes, she was indeed married to him, but 
 it had never yet occurred to her that he had the 
 right to call her his wife. 
 
 " Why do you again touch upon this topic ?" she 
 asked evasively. '' I hoped that with that first 
 necessary explanation all was forever arranged 
 between us." 
 
 " Because you seem to cherish the delusion that I 
 will all your life keep you in these fetters, which 
 surely are quite as oppressive to me as they can 
 possibly be to you." 
 
 His voice was icy cold, and yet Eugenie glanced
 
 128 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 quickly up to him without being able to read the 
 slightest thing in his face. Why did he always veil 
 those eyes when she strove to look into them? 
 "Would they not answer her or did they fear her ? 
 
 " You speak of a separation ?" 
 
 " Do you think I could regard a lasting marriage 
 between us as possible after that expression of 
 high esteem which that first evening I was forced to 
 hear from your lips ?" 
 
 Eugenie was silent. Over her head swayed and 
 rustled still the green arms of the fir tree; the 
 forest voices warningly and threateningly called 
 down to this wedded pair about to utter the word 
 of life-long separation ; but neither would heed the 
 warning. 
 
 " We are not at liberty to v aive all outward con- 
 siderations," continued Arthur in the same tone. 
 " Your father and mine are too well known in their 
 circle, our marriage caused too great a sensation, to 
 be dissolved at once, without giving the Residence 
 inexhaustible material for gossip, of which we 
 should be the ridiculous hero and heroine. People 
 do not without scandal separate after a twenty-four 
 hours' marriage ; neither after a week or a month. 
 For the sake of the proprieties they endure a year 
 of each other's society, and then, with some ap- 
 pearance of truth, declare that their characters are 
 incompatible. I hope we too shall be able to live 
 together that length of time, but our strength for 
 the task does not seem to be increasing. If things 
 go on as they are we shall both sink beneath it."
 
 GOOD LUCK 129 
 
 The arm which the young woman had twined 
 around the trunk of the tree slightly trembled, but 
 her voice was very firm as she replied : 
 
 "When I have once undertaken a task I do not 
 succumb so easily ; and as for you, I do not believe 
 you have any special sensibility to the miseries of 
 this life we live together." 
 
 His eyes flashed. It was again that quick, 
 lightning-like coruscation which came and went, 
 leaving no trace behind. The eyes were dead and 
 expressionless as ever when, after a brief pause, he 
 answered : 
 
 " You really do not believe that ? Ah ? "Well, 
 my sensibilities have nothing to do with the matter. 
 I should not have touched upon this subject if I 
 had not seen the necessity of giving you the satis- 
 faction of knowing that our marriage will be dis- 
 solved as soon as, with a due regard to the world, 
 will be possible. Perhaps I shall not now see you 
 so pale as in these last days, and perhaps you will 
 now believe, what you have hitherto regarded as a 
 falsehood, that I had no suspicion of those machina- 
 tions which won for me by force a hand which I 
 supposed freely given." 
 
 " I believe you, Arthur," said she softly ; " now I 
 believe you." 
 
 Arthur smiled, but it was a smile of infinite bit- 
 terness with which he received this first proof of 
 the confidence of his wife in the moment when he 
 renounced her. 
 
 "The fog begins to clear," he said, "and the
 
 130 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 storm, for a few minutes at least, seems to have 
 subsided. We must hasten down into the valley. 
 There we are sheltered and can very soon reach the 
 farm, where it is to be hoped we can procure a car- 
 riage. Will you follow me ?" 
 
 The path was steep and slippery, but Arthur to- 
 day seemed determined to belie his whole nature. 
 He strode firmly and securely down the hill, while 
 Eugenie, in her thin shoes and long dress and still 
 more hindered in her motions by the cloak, made 
 but slight progress. Arthur saw that he must come 
 to her help, but a mere offer of the arm would not 
 answer. To really aid her he must carry her ; and 
 this would not do. 
 
 This husband hesitated about offering his wife an 
 attention he would at once have offered to any 
 other lady, and what any stranger under the cir- 
 cumstances would have accepted unhesitatingly, this 
 wife hesitated to accept from her husband. She 
 trembled slightly as, after a brief delay, he took her 
 in his arms. 
 
 Neither spoke a word during the ten minutes' 
 walk, but Eugenie's face grew paler at every step. 
 It seemed as if she could not endure that this arm 
 should be around her; that she must lean against 
 this shoulder, so near that his breath touched her ; 
 and yet as much as possible he lightened the pain- 
 fulness of the situation. Not a single glance did he 
 give her; his whole attention seemed engrossed by 
 the path ; and certainly great care and circumspec- 
 tion were demanded to avoid slipping down. But
 
 GOOD LUCR. m 
 
 in spite of all this repose the young man's lips 
 again showed that treacherous quiver, and as, when 
 they arrived at the foot of the hill, with a deep 
 breath of relief he set down his unwilling burden, 
 one could have plainly seen that during this strange 
 descent he had been anything but calm. 
 
 The farm buildings already glimmered through 
 the trees, and hastily, as if at any price they must 
 cut short this time of being left to themselves, both 
 took the path thither. Above them still raged the 
 spring storm, and up on the hill the mists lay thick 
 around the fir at the forest's edge, the tree which 
 had protectingly folded its arms around them in 
 that hour, of which the old myth of the moun- 
 tain says : " What here unites is united forever, 
 and whatsoever here separates is separated for all 
 eternity i
 
 132 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 HERB BERKOW having arrived while Arthur and 
 his wife were in the forest met them on their return. 
 He seemed to have lost that exultant mood which 
 he had brought with him on his former visit, when 
 in his first flush of triumph over the new aristo- 
 cratic relationship. 
 
 He was, as usual, exceedingly polite to his 
 daughter-in-law and boundlessly indulgent to his 
 son, but his manner was hasty, restless, and absent. 
 This manner, although plainly visible that first 
 evening, was still more noticeable the next morning 
 when Arthur entered his apartment and requested 
 an interview. 
 
 " At some other time, Arthur," he said evasively. 
 " Do not annoy me now with trifles when my head 
 is full of serious things. Money and business mat- 
 ters in the Residence are giving me endless trouble : 
 all is loss and stagnation. But you understand 
 nothing of this and it cannot interest you. I shall 
 bring things back to the old routine, but I must beg 
 you just now to spare me a recital of your private 
 affairs." 
 
 " It is no private affair ; the matter is of the 
 deepest importance to you. I am sorry that when
 
 GOOD LVVK. 133 
 
 you are so overwhelmed with business I really must 
 claim an hour of your time, but it cannot be other- 
 wise." 
 
 "Well, then, after dinner!" exclaimed Berkow 
 impatiently. " You can wait, and I have no time 
 now. The officers already await me in the con- 
 ference chamber, and I have promised the chief 
 engineer to drive out with him after the con- 
 ference." 
 
 " To drive out ?" asked Arthur. " You will then 
 inspect the mines ?" 
 
 " No. I will inspect the alterations which have 
 been made in the elevators during my absence. 
 What could I do in the mines ?" 
 
 " I believed that you would some time personally 
 convince yourself if things are really as bad down 
 there as they say." 
 
 Berkow, who was just ready to go, turned sud- 
 denly and gazed at his son in utter astonishment. 
 
 " What do you know about the mines ? Who has 
 put this into your head ? It seems that the director, 
 finding I would not listen to his demand for money 
 for repairs, turned to my son. He went to the 
 right person, truly !" 
 
 He laughed aloud, without noticing the expression 
 of displeasure in Arthur's face as he returned 
 sharply : 
 
 " But still an examination must be made as to how 
 far these repairs are necessary ; and if you would 
 only go down with the engineer you could give the 
 shafts a passing inspection."
 
 134 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " I shall be careful not to do that," replied Ber- 
 kow. "Do you think I want to risk ray life \ 
 There is no doubt that things are dangerous in their 
 present state." 
 
 '' And still you send hundreds of workmen down 
 daily r 
 
 The tone of the question was peculiar so pe- 
 culiar that the father frowned. 
 
 " Would you give me a moral lecture, Arthur ? I 
 think this must sound rather strange from your 
 mouth. You seem, in the dullness of your stay in 
 the country, to have taken to philanthrop}^. Have 
 done with that : in our circumstances it is a very 
 expensive passion. I certainly shall take care that 
 in case of accident no loss may accrue to me, which 
 would be very inconvenient just now. What is 
 absolutely necessary will be done, but I have no 
 money for extensive repairs. And besides, I cannot 
 allow the works to stop even for the shortest time. 
 To enable me to do this you must want far less 
 money than in those days just before your mar- 
 riage. I really cannot understand why you all at 
 once begin to trouble yourself about matters of 
 which you are entirely ignorant. Give your mind 
 rather to the furnishing of your parlors, to your 
 winter soirees in the Residence, and leave to me the 
 care and responsibility in matters of which you do 
 not know the slightest thing." 
 
 "No, papa, not the slightest!" emphasized the 
 young man, with rising bitterness. " For that you 
 certainly have cared. "
 
 GOOD LUCK. 135 
 
 " I really believe you would reproach me !" cried 
 Berkow excitedly. " Have you not tasted all the 
 joys of life ? Have I shunned any sacrifice to se- 
 cure you these in fullest measure ? Shall I not leave 
 you riches I who began the world without a penny ? 
 Have I not through this marriage to the Baroness 
 Windeg gained you admission to the circles of the 
 nobility, to which you will sooner or later belong ? 
 I would like to see the father who has done so much 
 for his son as I !" 
 
 During this whole speech Arthur had gazed 
 silently out of the window. Now he turned to go. 
 
 " You are quite right, papa," he said ; " but I see 
 that you have neither time nor patience to listen to 
 what I intended to say to you. Let it be after 
 dinner, then." 
 
 He went ; and Berkow, shaking his head, gazed 
 after him. His son of late had sometimes become 
 quite incomprehensible to him. But he had no time 
 to think of this, so he hastily closed his writing- 
 desk, took his hat, and passed over to the confer- 
 ence chamber with an air that foreboded no good 
 to the waiting officers. 
 
 Meantime the miners had gathered at the shaft, 
 ready to descend to the second stint for the day. 
 All were waiting for the overseer-in chief, who had 
 not as yet made his appearance. They were men 
 of all ages men skilled in every sort of work that 
 miners know, but most were grouped around Ulrich 
 Hartmann, who, with his foot planted upon the lad- 
 der and his arms folded, though he was for the
 
 136 GOOD LUCK 
 
 moment silent, seemed undeniably the leader of all. 
 He could not have been making a formal ha- 
 rangue ; for this neither time nor place were suited ; 
 but even in this short chance interview the speech 
 seemed to be of matters which now formed the 
 principal topic among the workmen. 
 
 " Give it up, Ulrich ; they will not join us from 
 the other works," said the young miner Lorenz, 
 who stood near Hartmann. " They think it is too 
 soon for them ; they are not prepared ; in short, 
 they have no wish to join us, but will wait and see 
 how matters turn out." 
 
 Ulrich threw back his head in scorn. 
 
 " Well, for all I care we will go on alone. We 
 have no time to lose." 
 
 There was a movement of surprise among the 
 workmen. 
 
 " Alone ? " asked some. " Without our com- 
 rades ?" added the others ; and the majority, with 
 an anxious expression, repeated, " Now f Right 
 away ?" 
 
 " Now, say I !" cried Ulrich emphatically and im- 
 periously, while he threw a defiant glance around 
 him. "If any of you is of another opinion, say 
 so!" 
 
 Not an inconsiderable portion of those present 
 seemed to be of another opinion, still none ventured 
 any decided opposition ; but Lorenz said gravely : 
 
 " But you yourself think it would be better if all 
 the works around us stopped at once." 
 
 "Is it my fault that they wait and wait until our
 
 GOOD LUCK. IS? 1 
 
 patience is at an end ?" asked Ulrich hastily. "If 
 they are determined to wait, we cannot : that they 
 know right well. They want to send us on ahead 
 into the fire, to see how the battle turns out with 
 us. True comradeship that! Well, we will fight 
 it out without them." 
 
 "And do you reallv believe that he" Lorenz 
 
 / v 
 
 glanced in the direction of the chiefs house " that 
 he will yield ?" 
 
 " He must" replied Ulrich decidedly, " or he is 
 ruined. Even now some of his speculations are 
 turning out badly. Besides, he must pay all his 
 son's debts, and the new city residence will cost 
 well on to the hundred thousands. If the works 
 should lie idle now, just now, when the large con- 
 tracts are closed, then there would be an end to his 
 magnificence. Two years ago, perhaps, he might 
 have borne up through all : now he cannot. We 
 shall win the day if we threaten him." 
 
 " God grant that we may really win the day !" 
 sighed one of the miners, an elderly man, with pale, 
 shrunken face and troubled air. " But it would be 
 dreadful if we took all this want and anxiety upon 
 us for nothing, and for weeks long starved with our 
 wives and children, only at last to have things re- 
 main as of old. If we should wait until our com- 
 rades " 
 
 " Ah, yes, if we wait for the others," here and 
 there a voice ventured to suggest. 
 
 " Senseless babble, and no end !" broke out Ulrich 
 wildly. " I tell you that now, right away, is the
 
 138 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 best time ; and we will go on. Will you go with 
 me or will you not ? Answer !" 
 
 " But do not be so hasty," said Lorenz appeas- 
 ingly. " You know we all go with you, no matter 
 how far it is ; let them on the other works do as 
 they will. We are united ; no one will leave you 
 in the decisive hour." 
 
 " I would advise no one to remain behind if things 
 become serious," said Ulrich, darting a morose, 
 threatening glance to that corner whence the oppo- 
 sition had come. " Then we could endure no cow- 
 ardice ; then each must stand by the other, and 
 woe to him who does it not !" 
 
 The young leader, in this despotic manner, seemed 
 to possess the most effective weapon with his com- 
 rades, to stifle every rising germ of contradiction. 
 His few opposers, without exception elderly men, 
 were silent ; while the others, especially the young- 
 er, with loud cheers pressed around Hartmann, who 
 more calmly added : 
 
 " But now there is no time to discuss matters. 
 This evening we will 
 
 " The overseer !" interrupted several voices, 
 while all eyes turned to the door. 
 
 " Disperse !" commanded Ulrich, and obedient to 
 the order the crowd dispersed. Each took his 
 miner's lamp, which he had just laid aside. 
 
 The chief overseer, who rather unexpectedly en- 
 tered, must have seen the hastily dispersing throng ; 
 perhaps he had heard the command, for he gazed 
 searchingly around.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 139 
 
 " You seem to hold your comrades under excel- 
 lent control, Hartmann," he said coolly. 
 
 "Rather so, Herr Overseer-in-chief," replied 
 Ulrich in the same tone. 
 
 To the chief overseer, as well as to the other 
 officers, the plots of the workmen were no longer a 
 secret, but he pretended to have seen and heard 
 nothing and continued indifferently : 
 
 " Herr Berkow is coming with the engineer to 
 inspect the elevator. You and Lorenz are to re- 
 main at the foot-way shaft until the gentlemen 
 again emerge to the light of day. Steiger Wilm 
 can attend to your men until they return." 
 
 Ulrich gave a silent acquiescence to the order 
 and remained back with Lorenz, while the others, 
 under the lead of the chief overseer, went down. 
 But as the last of his comrades vanished the young 
 miner turned resentfully away. 
 
 " Cowards they are, the whole of them !" he 
 muttered fiercely, " who cannot stir from their place 
 by reason of their irresolution and timidity. They 
 know as well as I that we ought to avail ourselves 
 of this very hour ; and yet they will not go for- 
 ward because they are alone because the others 
 will not stand by them. It is a lucky thing that we 
 have Berkow against us and no other. If he were 
 a politic man, who at the right time showed us his 
 teeth and at the right time gave us good words, we 
 could bring nothing to pass."' 
 
 " Do you think he will do nothing, then?" asked 
 Lorenz somewhat distrustfully.
 
 140 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " No ; he is cowardly like all tyrants. He swag- 
 gers and threatens while he has the upper hand, 
 but if his skin or his gold-sacks were in danger he 
 would crawl on his hands and knees. He has made 
 himself so thoroughly detested, he has so goaded 
 the miners to extremities, that at last not one will 
 remain behind. Then it will be well ; then we shall 
 have him in our hands." 
 
 " And the young gentleman do you think he 
 will take no part when the riot breaks loose ?" 
 
 An expression of undisguised contempt played 
 around Ulrich's mouth as he scornfully replied : 
 
 " He counts for nothing. At the very first alarm 
 he will run back to the city for safety. If we had 
 to do with him it would be sooner over. He says 
 yes to all if one threatens not to let him sleep on. 
 The father will give us more to do." 
 
 "He will inspect the elevator," said Lorenz 
 thoughtfully. " Will he also go into the mines ?" 
 
 Ulrich laughed bitterly. 
 
 " What are you thinking of ? We must daily risk 
 our lives down there : it is well enough for us, but 
 the chief remains in the foot-way shaft. I wish I 
 could have him once alone with me, eye to eye : he 
 should teach me that trembling we must so often 
 go through with below/' 
 
 The young man's glance and tone were so wild, so 
 filled with the deepest hatred, that his far more 
 moderate companion was driven to silence, and for 
 a time the conversation ended. There was a long 
 pause. Hartmann had stepped to a window and
 
 GOOD LUCK. 141 
 
 was gazing out impatiently, when all at once he felt 
 a hand on his shoulder, and Lorenz stood at his side, 
 
 " I wish to ask you something, Ulrich," he began 
 hesitatingly. " You will tell me if I beg you to. 
 How do you stand with Martha ?" 
 
 Some moments passed before Ulrich answered. 
 
 " I with Martha ? Must you know that ?" 
 
 The young miner cast down his eyes. 
 
 " You know that long as I have followed the girl 
 she has never liked me, because she liked another. 
 Well, I cannot really blame her for it " his glance, 
 with a sort of painful admiration, rested upon bis 
 friend " and if it is really true that you stand in 
 my way, then I must drive the thing from my head. 
 But tell me frankly, are you lovers ?" 
 
 "No, Carl," replied Ulrich sullenly ; " we are not 
 lovers and never shall be. That we both know. I 
 do not stand in your way with the girl, and I be- 
 lieve she will marry you if you ask her." 
 
 A gleam of joy passed over the young man's face 
 as he asked quickly : 
 
 " Do you really mean it ? If you say it it must 
 be so, and I will try my luck that way this very 
 evening." 
 
 Ulrich frowned. 
 
 " This evening 9 Do you think it of no conse- 
 quence that we are to have a consultation to-night 
 and that you belong with us and not with the craft 
 of wooers ? But you are not a whit better than the 
 others. Now that we are about to go into the tight, 
 your head is full of your love-affairs ; when everv
 
 142 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 man should be glad he has neither wife nor child, 
 you think of marrying ! I am out of patience with 
 you all !" 
 
 " But I must ask Martha," declared Lorenz apolo- 
 getically, " and if she really says yes it will still be 
 a long while before our marriage. Hartmann, you 
 do not know how it is with one who loves that he 
 cannot possess how it wrings his heart day by day 
 to see another with his chosen one another who 
 has only to reach forth his hand after that for 
 which he would give his life and yet cannot grasp. 
 You " 
 
 " Stop, Carl !" interrupted Ulrich, with trembling 
 lips, while he let his clinched hand fall so violently 
 that it threatened the wood-work of the window. 
 " Go to Martha ; marry her if you will ; but speak 
 to me no more of such things. I will not, I cannot 
 hear it !" 
 
 The young miner gazed in astonishment at his 
 friend; he could not understand this agitation this 
 wild renunciation as he must have given up the 
 girl of his own free will. But there was no time to 
 ponder over the matter, for at this moment Ber- 
 kow's sharp voice was heard outside. In a most 
 ungracious voice he said to the officers who accom- 
 panied him : 
 
 " I beg most emphatically, gentlemen, to hear no 
 more of this. The old ventilators have done service 
 for a long time and no accident has happened; they 
 must still answer. I will have nothing to do with 
 these costly repairs you are pleased to declare
 
 GOOD LUCK. 143 
 
 necessary because they do not come out of your 
 pockets. Do you think I wish to found here a 
 model philanthropic institution ? The working ca- 
 pabilities must be increased, and the sum required 
 for that will be granted nothing more. If the 
 miners are in danger I cannot help it ; they earn 
 their bread in this way. 1 cannot throw away 
 money to secure a few miners and upstarts from 
 accident that may possibly happen to them, but 
 which up to this time has not happened. The re- 
 pairs in the mines will be limited to things abso- 
 lutely needed to increase their capabilities, and this 
 I tell you once for all." 
 
 He flung open the door of the shed and seemed 
 unpleasantly surprised to find the two miners, whom 
 he had not supposed to be here, and who must have 
 heard his last words. Still more unpleasant seemed 
 their presence to the chief engineer. 
 
 " Hartmann, what are you doing up here?" he 
 asked roughly as he entered. 
 
 " The chief overseer told us we must accompany 
 the gentlemen into the foot- way shaft," answered 
 Ulrich, without turning his glowing eyes from Ber- 
 kow. 
 
 The chief engineer shrugged his shoulders and 
 turned to Berkow with an air which plainly said, 
 " He might have chosen another for this service." 
 But he made no remark. 
 
 " Very well !" said Berkow curtly. " Go ahead 
 and we will follow. ' Glilck auff " 
 
 Both miners obeyed, but when out of sight of the 
 gentlemen Lorenz paused for a moment.
 
 144 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "Ulrich!" 
 
 " What do you wish 3" 
 
 "Did you hear?" 
 
 " That he cannot throw away a few thousands to 
 secure the lives of his miners, but that the working 
 capacity of the mines shall be increased by hun- 
 dreds of thousands ? Well, no one is safe here in 
 these depths, and he goes down to-day. We will 
 wait and see whose turn comes first ! Go on, Carl !" 
 
 It seemed as if, with the storm of the day before, 
 the long-awaited spring had won by force her king- 
 dom. There had been a magic change in the 
 weather during the night. Fog and clouds had 
 vanished, leaving no trace, and with them wind and 
 cold. The hills, now clearly visible, were flooded 
 with sunshine, and around them floated the breath 
 of the warm, delicious air. One could at last in- 
 dulge a hope that the incessant rain and tempest 
 of the last few weeks was over and would be fol- 
 lowed by a long, bright spring and golden summer. 
 
 Eugenie had stepped to the balcony and was gaz- 
 out into the now, at last, unveiled landscape. Her 
 eyes thoughtfully and dreamily rested upon the 
 hills yonder. Perhaps she thought of that dark 
 hour yesterday upon the height ; perhaps there yet 
 toned in her ears the rustling and sighing of the 
 green fir boughs ; but the remembrance was quickly 
 and forcibly broken by the sound of a post-horn very 
 near. Immediately after an extra post-chaise halted 
 below the terrace, and with a cry of jo} 7 and sur- 
 prise the young woman flew from the balcony.
 
 GOOD LUCK. U5 
 
 " My father !" 
 
 It was indeed Baron Windeg \vho quickly stepped 
 from the coach and entered the house. His daugh- 
 ter was already upon the steps to receive him. It 
 was their first meeting since her marmage, and in 
 spite of the presence of the two servants, who came 
 rushing in to receive the distinguished guest, the 
 father clasped his child in his arms just as passion- 
 ately as on the evening of her wedding-day, when 
 in her riding-dress she had bidden him adieu. The 
 young woman at length gently loosed herself from 
 his embrace and withdrew with him into her favor- 
 ite apartment, the little blue salon. 
 
 " What a surprise, papa !" said Eugenie, still beam- 
 ing with joy and excitement. " I had no presenti- 
 ment of this visit from you." 
 
 The baron, his arm still around her, sat down 
 with her on the sofa. 
 
 " It was not contemplated, my child. A journey 
 led me into this region, and I could and would not 
 shun the circuitous route of a few hours which would 
 bring me to you." 
 
 " A journey ?" Eugenie gazed questioningly into 
 her father's face, and his eyes rested searchingly 
 upon her features, as if he would there read the 
 history of the weeks since she left him ; but now, as 
 her glance fell upon the hat he still held in his left 
 hand, she turned pale with terror. 
 
 " For God's sake, papa, what means this mourn- 
 ing band ? My brothers ?" 
 
 " Are well and send you hearty greeting," said
 
 146 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 the baron consolingly. " Do not be alarmed, my 
 child ! For those you love you need not tremble. 
 A melancholy event has happened one which 
 nearly concerns our family ; and yet I may well say 
 that we can none of us lay it to heart. Soon I will 
 tell you all. But now you must relate to me " 
 
 " No, no !" interrupted Eugenie impatiently. " I 
 must first know what this crape means. Whom 
 have we to mourn ?" 
 
 Windeg set the hat with its mourning band to 
 one side and folded his arms close around his daugh- 
 ter. There was something painful, convulsive, in 
 the tenderness with which he pressed her to his 
 heart. 
 
 " I am on a journey to pay the lust honors to our 
 Cousin Rabenau. His estates lie in this province." 
 
 Eugenie started. " Count Rabenau ? The heir ?" 
 
 " Is dead," added the baron emphatically. "In 
 the fullness of life and of health, a few weeks be- 
 fore his intended marriage certainly no one could 
 have foreseen this." 
 
 Eugenie had become deathly white ; the tidings 
 did not touch her heart, and yet she was fearfully 
 excited. She said not a word, but her father seemed 
 to comprehend her emotion. 
 
 " You know we were for a long time estranged," 
 he continued sadly. " I could not tolerate Rabe- 
 nau's rough, wild ways, and I shall never forget the 
 cruel repulsion I was forced to receive from him six 
 months ago. He could have rescued us had he 
 wished ; it would have been an easy thing for him ;
 
 GOOD LUCK. 147 
 
 but he roughly and harshly repelled me. Now he 
 is dead dead without heirs. I succeed to the 
 property now when it is too late now when I have 
 sacrificed my child." 
 
 There lay a convulsive sorrow in these words. 
 Eugenie strove to control her feelings, and in a few 
 minutes she succeeded. 
 
 "Oh, papa, you need not think of me! I I 
 breathe lightly at the thought that you will have so 
 abundant a recompense for the humiliations you 
 have suffered, but the suddenness, the unexpectedness 
 of this news overcame me. We could never have 
 hoped for the heirship." 
 
 " Never !" said the baron mournfully. " Rabenau 
 was young and healthy ; he was about to marry. 
 Who could have dreamed that he would be stricken 
 down by a three days' illness? But if his death 
 was decreed, why, why could it not have happened 
 sooner ? Four weeks ago it would have helped us ; 
 a fourth part of the wealth now flowing in upon me 
 would have saved us. I could have given back his 
 money to that villain who plunged us into misfor- 
 tune his money which he demanded, with a 
 hundredfold usury, and have needed not that my 
 only daughter should be its price. I accepted your 
 sacrifice, Eugenie, God knows, not of my own free 
 will ; it was for my name, for the future of my sons. 
 But that this whole bitter sacrifice should have been 
 made in vain, when a chance delay of a few short 
 weeks might have spared it to me this mockery of 
 fate I cannot bear !"
 
 148 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 He clasped passionately her hand in his, but this 
 young woman had already won back all her pride, 
 all her self-control. Fearfully as this " too late " 
 might have moved her, one saw no further trace of 
 suffering. 
 
 " You should not speak so, papa !" she returned 
 firmly. "It would have been a wrong to your 
 other children. This death, which, knowing what 
 Count Rabenau was, we can mourn only formally, 
 frees you from many burdens. My marriage avert- 
 ed only the most threatening. There still remained 
 enough which pressed heavily upon us, which later 
 might perhaps have brought you into humiliating 
 dependence upon that man. This danger is now 
 forever averted. You can repay all you have re- 
 ceived from him. We owe him nothing more." 
 
 " But he owes you to us !" interrupted Windeg 
 bitterly, " and he will guard against ever paying 
 this debt. That is why this rescue galls me. A 
 short time ago I should have greeted it with trans- 
 port ; now it drives me to despair on your account." 
 
 Eugenie turned and bent low over the flowers 
 that sent up their perfume from a vase near her. 
 
 " I am perhaps not so unhappy as you and my 
 brothers believe," she said softly. 
 
 "Are you not? Do you think your letters 
 have deceived me ? I knew beforehand that you 
 would spare us, but if a doubt had remained to 
 me your paleness speaks plainly enough. You are 
 unhappy, Eugenie ; you must be unhappy by the 
 side of this man who "
 
 GOOD LUCK. 149 
 
 " Papa, you speak of my husband !" 
 
 The young wife, as she uttered these words, 
 started up so hastily, so passionately, that her fath- 
 er recoiled and gazed at her in surprise, as much 
 astonished at her manner as at the deep scarlet 
 glow which covered her face. 
 
 " Pardon me !" he said. " I can never accustom 
 myself to the thought that my daughter belongs to 
 Arthur Berkow, and that I am in his house which 
 I am forced to enter when I would see my child. 
 You are right. I must spare your feelings when I 
 speak of the man to whom you are married, even 
 though I see plainly enough how much you have 
 suffered through him and still suffer." 
 
 The deep flush had slowly died out from Eugenie's 
 face, but a treacherous glow still remained as she 
 answered : 
 
 " You err. I have no complaint to make of 
 Arthur. He has from the first maintained a dis- 
 tance for which I can but thank him." 
 
 The baron's eyes flashed. 
 
 " I would not advise him or his father to forget 
 the respect they owe you to fail in appreciating 
 the honor you have brought to their house, where 
 hitherto much honor has not been found. But, 
 Eugenie, I can at least offer you one consolation. 
 You will not long bear the name to which attaches 
 so much vulgarity, so much villainy against us and 
 others. None the less villainy because the law 
 cannot punish it. I have taken care that this 
 plebeian title shall not much longer annoy you."
 
 150 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Eugenie looked at her father in surprise. 
 
 "What do you mean by these words?" she 
 asked. 
 
 "I have entered upon the necessary steps for 
 your" the baron had to make a powerful effort at 
 self-mastery before he could utter that word 
 "your husband's elevation to the nobility. Only 
 his elevation not his father's. Berkow I would 
 not recognize, even formally, as belonging to our 
 rank. A change of name very often accompanies 
 such a dignity, and it will in this case. You can 
 choose among your estates whatever name seems to 
 you most fitting for the new, noble race." 
 
 " For the new, noble race !" repeated Eugenie in 
 a hollow voice. " Build no hopes upon that, papa ; 
 and if you wish this title of nobility on my account 
 you err still you are right, and in any event it is 
 best. The title of nobility will amply compensate 
 Arthur for all he must renounce." 
 
 There was an expression of overpowering bitter- 
 ness in these words, and yet through all this bitter- 
 ness pulsated a half-repressed sorrow ; for Windeg, 
 one was as incomprehensible as the other. His 
 daughter's words remained enigmatical to him. He 
 was just about asking an explanation, when a serv- 
 ant announced the young Herr Berkow, who had 
 come to greet the baron. 
 
 Arthur entered and approached his father-in-law 
 with some polite commonplaces in regard to this 
 agreeable but unexpected visit, and then he relapsed 
 into his usual languor and indifference. It was evi-
 
 GOOD LUCK 161 
 
 dent enough that he only sought to perform that 
 imperative duty of politeness which bade him wel- 
 come his father-in-law. The baron seemed to quite 
 ignore the necessity of this welcome. As now no 
 strangers were present, the formality of shaking 
 hands was omitted and gave place to a cold bow on 
 either side. The older gentleman then sat down by 
 his daughter, and the younger remained standing 
 by his chair, with the evident intention of leaving 
 as soon as possible. 
 
 Windeg, perfect man of the world that he was, 
 in spite of the exciting conversation he had just 
 carried on with Eugenie, at once resumed his society 
 manner. The usual questions and answers in regard 
 to the various members of the family followed. 
 The demise of Count Kabenau was announced, and 
 very formally deplored by Arthur, who certainly 
 had no suspicion of the change this demise had 
 made in the circumstances of his new relatives. 
 At length the baron passed to another theme. 
 
 " I bring other tidings from the Residence, which 
 for you, Herr Berkow, must be of the highest inter- 
 est," he said complacently. " I may well assume 
 that the wish of your father in regard to an eleva- 
 tion of rank has been no secret to you, and I can 
 assure you that its fulfillment is at hand. In one 
 point of view there are certainly insuperable ob- 
 stacles there are certain prejudices against the 
 elder Herr Berkow personally which can scarce be 
 surmounted ; but the powers that be are quite ready 
 to distinguish one of our first industrial proprietors
 
 152 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 by conferring a title upon his son. I hope in a 
 short time to be able to congratulate you." 
 
 Arthur had listened without the least change of 
 manner. Now he lifted his eyes, and immediately 
 Eugenie's glance, with an interest she herself could 
 not define, was fixed upon those eyes. And yet in 
 them one could not read the slightest thing. 
 
 " May I ask, Herr Baron, if in this transaction 
 you have been governed solely by the wishes of my 
 father or by consideration for your daughter ?" 
 
 Baron Windeg struggled with a slight embarrass- 
 ment. He had certainly reckoned upon thanks, 
 and instead came this strange question. 
 
 " When this union had been once decided upon 
 your father's wish and mine became the same," he 
 replied constrainedly. " But I did not at that time 
 conceal from Herr Berkow my opinion concerning 
 his personal claims to that dignity, and I received 
 from him the assurance that if necessit}^ required he 
 would renounce the honor in favor of his son, to 
 whom by this step only he could secure a brilliant 
 future." 
 
 " Then I regret that my father did not inform me 
 of the progress of an affair which I regarded only 
 as an undeveloped plan," said Arthur coolly. 
 " And I still more regret, Herr Baron, that you 
 have used your influence to secure for me an honor 
 which I must absolutely decline." 
 
 The baron sprang from his seat and gazed at his 
 son-in-law with staring eyes. 
 
 " Pardon me, Herr Berkow ! I might not have 
 heard distinctly. I thought you spoke of declining.' 1
 
 ooon LUCK. 153 
 
 " Of declining the title if offered me yes, Herr 
 Baron !" 
 
 Wind.eg .quite lost his self-possession, a thing 
 which very seldom happened. 
 
 " Well, then, I must entreat you to give me the 
 reasons for this, to say the least, strange refusal. 
 I have the greatest curiosity to know." 
 
 Arthur glanced over at his wife. She had 
 started involuntarily at his words, and a deep, hot 
 flush again overspread her cheeks. Their eyes met 
 and for an instant rested on each other, but the 
 young man did not seem to imbibe much humilit} T 
 from this glance, for his voice had a decided dash of 
 scorn as he replied : 
 
 " The strangeness lies less in my declining than 
 in the manner of the offering. If a title of nobility 
 had been decreed to my father on account of the 
 service he has undeniably rendered to industry, as 
 his heir I should, in any event, have accepted it. 
 It is, like any other title, a distinction, and as such 
 honorable. They have not thought best to confer 
 it on him, and I naturally am no judge of the prej- 
 udices they may have against him. But for my 
 own part I have not the slightest claim to such a dig- 
 nity, and I therefore deem it better not to let the 
 Residence assert that an alliance with the Windeg 
 family must, as a natural consequence, be followed 
 by a diploma of nobility." 
 
 He had thrown out these last words very indiffer- 
 ently, and yet Eugenie angrily compressed her lips ; 
 she knew that they were designed solely for her.
 
 154 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Would he really break free from all that could give 
 her the right to despise him ? And now more than 
 ever she felt the wish to despise him. 
 
 " I seem to have erred in regard to the reasons 
 which led you to desire this relationship," said the 
 baron deliberately, " but I must confess that I con- 
 sider these ideas of very recent date with you ; for 
 before your marriage your views were entirely 
 different." 
 
 " Before my marriage !" An endlessly bitter 
 smile played around Arthur's lips. " Then I had 
 not learned, Herr Baron, how your circle regarded 
 myself and my relations to that circle. Since, in 
 rather a merciless way, all this has been made clear 
 to me, and you cannot be surprised if I decline 
 henceforth and forever to be considered an unbid- 
 den intruder into that circle." 
 
 Eugenie's fingers here clasped so tightly the rose 
 she had taken from the vase that the delicate 
 flower suffered the same fate the fan had a little 
 time before met in Arthur's hands. It fell crushed 
 upon the carpet. Arthur did not remark this. He 
 had almost turned his back to her and was facing 
 her father, who gazed at him with an expression 
 which seemed to ask if this was really Arthur 
 Berkow, his son-in-law. 
 
 " I have no conceivable idea who has thus been 
 exaggerating matters to you," returned the baron 
 gravely, " but I must beg you to have some regard 
 for Eugenie. In the role which you expect to play 
 next winter in the Residence she cannot pardon
 
 GOOD LUCK 155 
 
 me, Herr Berkow wear your plebeian name. 
 That was neither your father's intention nor my 
 own." 
 
 Arthur fixed a long, lowering gaze upon his wife. 
 Much as she was naturally inclined to assert her 
 opinion and her will, she had taken no part in this 
 conversation. 
 
 " By winter circumstances may be entirely differ- 
 ent from what we now dream. Leave that to 
 Eugenie and me. For the present, nothing remains 
 to be said but that I persist in 1113' refusal. As the 
 honor was intended for me alone, I alone have the 
 right to accept or to decline it, and I decline abso- 
 lutely a distinction which pardon me, Herr Baron 
 I will not owe to the aristocratic name of my 
 wife!" 
 
 Windeg rose, deeply offended. 
 
 " Then nothing remains to me but to recall, hastily 
 as possible, the steps already taken in this affair, so 
 that I may become no more compromised than I 
 am at present. Eugenie, you are absolutely silent. 
 What have you to say in regard to the views you 
 have just heard expressed by your husband ?" 
 
 Answer was to be spared the young wife, for at 
 this moment the door opened not gently as usual 
 by a servant it was hastily flung open, and with- 
 out announcement, with an ashy white face and an 
 entire neglect of all those forms he was wont so 
 punctiliously to observe, in rushed Herr Wilberg. 
 
 " Is Herr Berkow here? I beg your ladyship's 
 pardon I must this moment speak with Herr 
 Berkow I"
 
 156 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " What has happened ?" asked Arthur, advancing 
 to meet the young man, whose agitated face be- 
 trayed him a messenger of ill. 
 
 " An accident !" gasped Wilberg breathlessly. 
 " Down in the foot-way shaft. Your father is badly 
 injured very badly the director sent me " 
 
 He had time to say no more, for Arthur had 
 already hurried past him and was outside the door. 
 The young officer was about to follow, when the 
 baron detained him in the outer corridor. 
 
 " Have you told the son the whole truth ?" he 
 asked gravely. "With me you need conceal 
 nothing. Is Herr Berkow dead ?" 
 
 "Yes," broke forth Wilberg. "He was coming 
 up with the Steiger Hartmann ; the rope broke. 
 Hartmann saved himself by a spring upon the last 
 platform but one. Herr Berkow fell to the bottom. 
 No one knows how the accident happened, but it 
 can no longer be kept secret. Inform her ladyship, 
 Herr Baron. I must go !" 
 
 He hastened after Arthur, while Windeg turned 
 back to the parlor, where, in breathless excitement, 
 Eugenie met him. 
 
 " What have you learned, papa? Wilberg's face 
 spoke of more than a mere injury. What has hap- 
 pened ?" 
 
 "The worst!" replied the baron, trembling. 
 " We have just been bitterly arraigning this man, 
 Eugenie. Now there is an end of hatred and 
 hostility between us and him. Death has can- 
 celed all,"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 15? 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE first week with its melancholy rites was over, 
 but that undefined oppression which lies upon 
 every house of mourning had not lifted ; it seemed 
 only the more heavy now that the excitement of 
 the funeral arrangements was over. 
 
 There had been no lack in manifestations of out- 
 ward sympathy. Berkow's position, his extensive 
 acquaintance and connection with various circles, 
 had made his death a notable event. The funeral 
 cortege, which naturally had included the officers 
 and the whole body of miners, had seemed inter- 
 minable. Visiting-cards and letters of condolence 
 in countless number covered the young heir's writ- 
 ing-table, while his wife received calls from all the 
 family acquaintances far and near. They were 
 shown every possible attention more than Berkow 
 in his lifetime could ever have dreamed of. In 
 their case, to use Baron "Windeg's diplomatic phrase, 
 people had no " prejudices" to overcome. 
 
 But this loss touched no living heart seemingly 
 not even that of the dead man' s only child, for 
 whom he had done so much. It is difficult to love 
 one for whom we feel no respect. None could tell, 
 however, whether Arthur Berkow had been deeply
 
 158 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 or only superficially moved by his father's death. 
 His entire composure seemed to indicate the latter, 
 and yet since this catastrophe he had been terribly 
 in earnest, and inaccessible to all save those with 
 whom he had the most urgent business. 
 
 None who knew the immediate circumstances 
 could wonder at Eugenie's entire composure. With 
 her, as well as with her father, hatred had ceased at 
 Berkow's death ; they had never pretended to any 
 other sentiment ; and this stand had unfortunately 
 been taken by many, for there was only too much 
 reason for it. 
 
 The officers had often been galled by the brutal, 
 haughty treatment of this parvenu, who regarded 
 their knowledge and capabilities only as a sort of 
 merchandise which stood at his absolute disposal 
 when he had paid its price too often to mourn a 
 chief who had shown no respect for ability or 
 character, but only for the capacity of studying his 
 advantage and doing the most to advance his inter- 
 ests. 
 
 Still worse had he been with the workmen. To- 
 ward them he had shown an utter want of feeling, 
 without one impulse of compassion, one spark of 
 sympathy. 
 
 But, as we have before said, Berkow was an 
 industrial genius of the first rank. He had raised 
 himself from poverty and obscurit}' to wealth and 
 influence. He had called into life business activities 
 which could rank among the first in the land. He 
 had won a place in which he might have been a 
 blessing to thousands.
 
 GOOD LUCK 159 
 
 He had not become this ; he had not willed to 
 become it ; and so his memory must be given over 
 to that execration which found vent in the deep 
 sigh of relief which at his sudden death passed over 
 all his estates, through all his works in that un- 
 spoken and yet deeply felt " God be thanked /" 
 
 Whether the heirship to such a life to all it had 
 sowed during these ten years past was really so 
 enviable a thing as outward appearances would 
 indicate, might well be doubtful. In any event, 
 this heirship rolled a burden of responsibility upon 
 the shoulders of the young heir, to which, accord- 
 ing to general opinion, he was quite unequal. 
 
 He had, it is true, officers of all grades, deputies, 
 and attorneys ready to his call ; but the father had 
 been accustomed to keep all these in dependence on 
 himself, to subject them to his absolute control ; 
 now the hand and eye of the master were wanting, 
 the master himself was wanting. 
 
 The son must take the reins into his own hand, 
 and while attempting to do this he must encounter 
 the judgment, or rather the prejudice, of his depend- 
 ents not audible, but he saw in their manner, in 
 many an expressive shrug of the shoulder, that they 
 did not at all count upon him. 
 
 In the conference chamber the assembled officers 
 were awaiting the chief, who had summoned them 
 for this hour; but their perplexed, anxious, and 
 agitated faces showed that the matter in hand was 
 something more than a formal greeting and in- 
 troduction, now that the first days of mourning 
 were over.
 
 160 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "This is a blow," said the director to Herr 
 Schaffer "the worst that could befall us. "We 
 knew long ago what the men were planning and 
 plotting among themselves. It is just the same all 
 over the neighboring works. We saw it coming; 
 we took precautions against it ; but that it should 
 be now, at this very moment ! That leaves us quite 
 at their mercy." 
 
 " Hartmann has well chosen his time," said the 
 chief engineer bitterly. " He very well knows what 
 he can do, even if he goes on without aid from the 
 other works. Our chief dead, all the business in 
 disorder, the young heir incapable of any energetic 
 measures now he comes with his demands ! I have 
 always told you this Hartmann was a thorn in our 
 flesh. The workmen are naturally honest and 
 good. We cannot blame them for demanding 
 security for their lives in the mines and wages that 
 will keep them and theirs from starvation. They 
 have long enough borne up under wrong and op- 
 pression, but they should have made sensible de- 
 mands, such as we could grant. What they dictate 
 under this leader is past belief ; it is the same as an 
 open insurrection." 
 
 "But what will the young chief do?*' asked Wil- 
 berg in a half-whisper. Among these perplexed 
 and anxious ones, he was the most perplexed and 
 anxious of all. 
 
 "What he must do under the momentary cir- 
 cumstances," returned Herr Schaffer gravely: 
 "grant their demands."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 161 
 
 " Begging your pardon, he cannot do that !" ex- 
 claimed the chief engineer. " That would subvert 
 all discipline and in a year and a day make him a 
 ruined man. I, at least, shall not remain upon the 
 works when this happens." 
 
 Schaffer shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " And still he has scarce any other alternative. I 
 have already told you that things with us are by no 
 means so prosperous as they seem. We have lat- 
 terly had losses, very serious losses ; we shall be 
 obliged to cover deficits on all sides; to make 
 sacrifices ; and then there are so many other obliga- 
 tions enough, for present returns, we are solely 
 dependent upon the works. Let them lie some 
 months idle, and we could not fulfill our contracts 
 for this year, and that would be our ruin." 
 
 "The miners must know how matters stand," 
 said the chief enigneer sullenly, " or they would not 
 dare go on in this way ; and we are very well aware 
 that concessions once made cannot be recalled. 
 Hartmann will use every effort to carry through 
 his plans, and when under the compelling force of 
 circumstances he has gained his point What did 
 Ilerr Arthur say when you informed him of the 
 state of affairs ?" 
 
 It was strange that none of the officers ever said 
 " Herr Berkow " or " our chief." It seemed impos- 
 sible to connect the young man's personality with 
 this title. They always spoke of him as " Herr 
 Arthur" or "the young gentleman." At this last 
 question all eyes turned to Schaffer.
 
 162 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " He said nothing," replied Schaffer. " i I thank 
 you, Schaffer ;' that was all. He only took the 
 papers I had carried with me for his better infor- 
 mation and shut himself up with them. Since then 
 I have not met him." 
 
 " I spoke with him last evening when I laid be- 
 fore him the demands of our miners," said the 
 director. " He grew pale as death at the evil 
 tidings ; then he listened dumbly, not returning 
 even a syllable. When I at length ventured upon 
 some words of advice and comfort, thinking this 
 would surely lead to a conversation between us, he 
 dismissed me, saying he would prefer to consider 
 the matter alone. Just imagine Herr Arthur con- 
 sidering anything ! This morning I received the 
 order to summon you all to a conference." 
 
 The old sarcastic expression again played around 
 Schaffer's mouth. 
 
 " I fear I can tell you beforehand the result of 
 this conference : ' Grant all, gentlemen ; yield un- 
 reservedly ; do what you will : only secure to me 
 the present activity of the works !' And then he 
 will announce to you that he and his lady are about 
 to return to the Residence, leaving things here to 
 go on as Heaven and Hartmann please." 
 
 "But blow on blow falls upon him now," inter- 
 posed Wilberg, who chivalrously took the part of 
 the absent. " Here even a stronger man might be 
 overpowered." 
 
 " Yes, it is natural you would sympathize with 
 the weak," said the chief engineer derisively. " But
 
 GOOD LUCK 163 
 
 of late you have shown decided sympathy for the 
 opposite. Herr Hartraann has been enjoying your 
 most especial friendship. Are you still an enthusi- 
 astic admirer of his ?" 
 
 " For God's sake, no !" cried Wilberg with a 
 horrified expression. "I shudder at the sight of 
 that man now since the death of Herr Berkow." 
 
 " So do I !" said the chief engineer emphatically ; 
 " and I believe we all do. It is terrible that we 
 must just now deal with him, but truly where there 
 are no proofs we do best to keep silent." 
 
 " Do you really believe in the possibility of a 
 crime ?" asked Schaflfer, lowering his voice. " The 
 inquest has only established the fact that the rope 
 was broken. It might have become broken of itself ; 
 whether this was really the case, Hartmann alone 
 knows. As I said, the inquest brought nothing to 
 light ; and in any other companionship there would 
 have been no suspicion. He is capable of any- 
 thing." 
 
 " But, then, reflect, he too was in the same danger 
 of losing his life. The spring with which he 
 rescued himself was a desperate venture which one 
 man in ten would not have dared, and in which the 
 tenth would not have succeeded. He must have 
 expected to also fall back and be dashed in pieces." 
 
 The chief engineer shook his head. 
 
 " You little know Ulrich Hartmann if you believe 
 he would for a moment hesitate to risk his life if he 
 undertook anything whereby that life was in peril. 
 You were present when he flung himself before
 
 164 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 those horses. At that time the whim seized him to 
 save life ; but if he wishes to destroy, it matters 
 little to him if his own destruction threatens. That 
 is just the dangerous thingf about this man : he has 
 no regard either for himself or others. In a case 
 of necessity he would sacrifice himself if " 
 
 He paused suddenly, for at this moment the 
 young chief entered. Arthur was much changed. 
 The deep mourning suit made his always pale face 
 seem paler, and his forehead and eyes indicated that 
 for these last nights he had not known sleep ; still 
 he calmly returned the greeting of the officers and 
 came into their midst. 
 
 " I had you summoned, gentlemen, to take counsel 
 with you in business matters which since my 
 father's death have fallen into my hands. There 
 is much to adjust and to change more, perhaps, 
 than we at first supposed. I have, as you kno\v, 
 hitherto stood remote from business circles, and 
 shall not at once see my way clearly ; although in 
 these last days I have sought to do so. I reckon, 
 therefore, in the fullest measure upon your good- 
 will and your readiness to sustain me. I shall be 
 obliged to lay much claim to both, and beforehand 
 assure you of my thanks." 
 
 The gentlemen bowed, and surprise was plainly 
 written upon all faces. The engineer threw a 
 glance over to the director, which seemed to say, 
 " So far that was very sensible." 
 
 " All other concerns," continued Arthur, " must 
 recede before the momentary calamity, the danger
 
 GOOD LUCK. 165 
 
 with which the demands of the miners and cessation 
 of their work in case of refusal threaten us. There 
 can be thought or mention here of but one decision." 
 
 This time it was Herr Schaffer who glanced at 
 the engineer, as if to say, " I told you so ! He yields 
 unreservedly. Now he is going to announce to us 
 his departure." 
 
 But the young chief seemed in no haste about 
 this. He said, on the contrary : 
 
 " Before all things, we must inform ourselves 
 how the men are organized and who leads them." 
 
 There was a momentary silence. Each officer 
 hesitated to utter a name which had such fatal con- 
 nection with the late accident, but at last the chief 
 engineer said : 
 
 "Hartmann leads them, and there is no doubt 
 that the organization is well led and perfect in all 
 respects." 
 
 Arthur glanced thoughtfully before him. 
 
 " That I also fear ; and then there will be a fight, 
 for there can naturally be no talk of granting these 
 demands in full." 
 
 " Naturally there can be no talk of it," repeated 
 the engineer triumphantly, and thereby gave the 
 signal for an exceedingly animated debate, in 
 which he stoutly maintained his former views. 
 Herr Schaffer, who took the opposite side no less 
 valiantly, exerted himself by all sorts of hints and 
 intimations, which the young chief only too well 
 understood, to make clear to him the necessity of 
 submission. The director took neutral ground.
 
 166 OOOD LUCK 
 
 He advised waiting and diplomacy. The other 
 officers let their superiors speak for them, only now 
 and then venturing some unimportant remark or 
 modest opinion. 
 
 Arthur heard all silently and attentively, without 
 taking one side or the other. But as Schaffer 
 closed a long argument with an emphatic "We 
 must" Arthur suddenly lifted his head and spoke 
 with such decision as to silence all other opinions. 
 
 " We must not, Herr Schaffer ! There are other 
 than moneyed considerations, the first of all being 
 that of my position umong the miners, which 
 would be forever insecure if I now yielded myself 
 to their mercy. Little as I understand such things, 
 I see that these demands go beyond the bounds of 
 possibility, and you must all agree with me in this. 
 There may be wrongs and inconveniences ; the 
 workmen may have reason for complaint " 
 
 "Ah, that they have!" interrupted the chief 
 engineer very decidedly. " They are right in de- 
 manding examinations and repairs in the mines and 
 an increase of wages. They may also well speak 
 of certain alleviations and of fewer working-hours. 
 But all beyond this is arrogant defiance, for which 
 their leader, Ulrich Hartmann, alone is responsible. 
 He is the leading spirit of the revolt." 
 
 " Then we will first hear him. I have already 
 sent him word to meet us here and bring some of 
 his comrades with him, adding that they should be 
 received as ambassadors. They have come already. 
 Will you call them, Herr Wilberg 2"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Herr "Wilberg went on his errand, but it was with 
 open-mouthed wonder and an air which, in its ex 
 pression of boundless admiration, seemed almost 
 idiotic. Herr Schaffer elevated his eyebrows and 
 looked at the director, who took a pinch of snuff 
 and looked at the other gentlemen ; and then they 
 all stared together at the young chief, who had all 
 at once begun to make arrangements and issue 
 commands in a manner which suited none of them 
 but the chief engineer. That gentleman had turned 
 his back to his colleagues and placed himself at- 
 Arthur's side, as if he now knew where he really 
 belonged. 
 
 Meantime Wilberg had returned, and close upon 
 his footsteps followed Ulrich Hartmann, Lorenz, 
 and another miner. But the two latter individuals, 
 as if that were a matter of course, remained in the 
 background, and let Hartmann advance alone. 
 
 " Gluck auf /' was his greeting, and " Gluck 
 auf 7" also that of his two comrades ; but the tone 
 of the old joyous miner's salutation seemed here to 
 belie its meaning. In Ulrich's manner there had 
 always been something lordly and' defiant, but it 
 had never seemed so arrogant, so really insulting, 
 as to-day, when he for the first time met the chief 
 and his officers ; no more as an underling to receive 
 directions and commands, but as an ambassador 
 who would not lay his demands before them no, 
 who would dictate to them. This was, indeed, no 
 vulgar pride which spoke from his bearing, but 
 rather a scornful insolence rooted in the conscious-
 
 1(58 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 ness of his own strength and others 5 weakness. He 
 let his sullen blue eyes slowly sweep the entire 
 circle until at last they rested upon the young 
 chief, and his lips curled disdainfully while he 
 silently awaited Arthur's words. 
 
 Arthur, during the conference just ended, had 
 not sat down. He now remained standing, and 
 gravely faced the man who, as they told him on all 
 sides, was the prime mover in the threatened out- 
 break. Of that far heavier crime, that participa- 
 tion in his father's death, of which many accused 
 him, the son happily had no suspicion ; for with 
 the utmost calmness he entered upon the business 
 in hand. 
 
 " Steiger Hartmann, you yesterday through the 
 Herr Director laid before me the demands of the 
 miners upon my works, and in case of their not 
 being granted you threaten a general cessation 
 from work." 
 
 " That is so, Herr Berkow !" was the short, de- 
 cided, ringing answer. 
 
 Arthur rested his hand upon the table, but his 
 tone was cool, business-like; he betrayed not the 
 slightest emotion. 
 
 " Above all things, I want to know what you 
 really intend by these proceedings. This is no de- 
 mand ; it is a declaration of war. Even you must 
 say to yourself that I cannot grant such things and 
 will not grant them." 
 
 " Whether you can grant them I do not know, 
 Herr Berkow," said Ulrich coolly, " but I believe
 
 GOOD LUCK. 169 
 
 you will grant them, for we are determined to let 
 the works lie idle until you yield to our demands. 
 Substitutes you will not find in the whole prov- 
 ince." 
 
 This argument was so conclusive that not much 
 could be said against it, but the tone in which it 
 was advanced was so disdainful that Arthurs brow 
 grew dark. 
 
 " It is b} 7 no means my intention to refuse all 
 your demands," he declared firmly. " There are 
 among them some whose justice I recognize and to 
 which I will also yield. The examination and re- 
 pairs of the mines for which you ask shall be 
 granted ; the wages will, at least partially, be raised. 
 To do this I shall be obliged to make heavy sacri- 
 fices, more perhaps than in a business point of view 
 are justifiable at present ; but it shall be done. But 
 you must relinquish the other points, whose sole 
 and only aim is to take the management out of the 
 hands of my officers, to relax the discipline, which 
 in an enterprise like this is a question of life or 
 death." 
 
 The disdainful curl vanished from Ulrich's lips 
 and gave place to a look of surprise and suspicion. 
 First he glanced at the officers, then at the young 
 chief, as if to inquire whether he had not learned 
 all this by heart, whether he was not repeating 
 some lesson they had stored in his memory. 
 
 " I am sorry to tell you, Herr Berkow, that these 
 points will not be abandoned," he said defiantly. 
 
 " I really believe that these minor points are the
 
 IfO GOOD LUCK. 
 
 main thing with you," replied Arthur, gazing 
 steadily at Ulrich ; " but I repeat to you they must 
 be abandoned. In my concessions I will go to the 
 utmost limits of possibility, but there I stand and 
 take no step beyond. What I concede shall and 
 must content every one who seeks honorable, re- 
 munerative work. Whoever it does not content 
 seeks something different, and with him no concord 
 can be hoped for. I give you my word of honor 
 that- everything necessary for the safety of the 
 workmen in the mines, for the raising of their 
 wages, shall be done ; and now, on my side, I de- 
 mand from you confidence in my word. But before 
 we speak of this matter you must renounce the sec- 
 ond part of your demands. Their fulfillment is im- 
 possible and I enter into no agreement on that 
 score." 
 
 He still retained the calm business tone, but his 
 speech was too widely different from the usual tone 
 and manner of the young heir not to have aston- 
 ished Ulrich. He could not believe his own ears ; 
 but the more unexpectedly this opposition came 
 from a quarter where he had confidently reckoned 
 upon a timid, cowardly yielding, which should be 
 but a prelude to unconditional surrender, so much 
 the more did this opposition enrage him ; and his 
 untamable nature only too soon burst these un- 
 wonted barriers. 
 
 " But you shall not refuse in this way, Herr Ber- 
 kow," said he threateningly. " There are two thou- 
 sand of us, and the works are just as good as in our
 
 GOOD LUCK. 171 
 
 hands. The time is past when we allow ourselves 
 to be enslaved and trod upon just as it pleases you. 
 We now demand our rights ; and if we cannot win 
 them by fair means we will take them by force." 
 
 A half-angry, half-anxious movement passed 
 through the circle of officers. They saw that a 
 scene was at hand which, from the well-known un- 
 governable temper of Ulrich, might end in violence. 
 Arthur's face had become deep red ; he advanced 
 some steps forward and stood right before Ulrich. 
 
 " Before all things, change the tone, Hartmann, 
 in which you speak to your chief ! If you would 
 be received here as ambassador and as such would 
 claim a sort of equality, then behave as is custom- 
 ary in such transactions, and do not hurl your 
 threats of force and insurrection into one's face. 
 You demand discipline from your men and I de- 
 mand it from you. Play the master outside with 
 your comrades, if so it pleases you. While I stand 
 before you I am master of these works and intend 
 to remain so. Rely upon that !" 
 
 Had a stroke of lightning descended into that 
 conference chamber it could have produced no 
 greater effect than these words, hurled forth with 
 the fullest energy and with imperious pride. The 
 officers at first drew back and then made a move- 
 ment as if to protect the young chief by forming a 
 circle around him, but he waved them back with a 
 silent gesture of the hand. 
 
 Both miners gazed upon him as if spell-bound ; 
 but this sudden outburst struck none so fearfully as
 
 172 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Ulrich. He had become white as a corpse. He 
 stood there, leaning far forward, with trembling 
 lips and wide-open, staring eyes, as if he could and 
 would not comprehend what he saw and heard. 
 Then all at once his fatal error seemed to become 
 clear to him his error in regard to this man, whom 
 a few days before he had passed with a disdainful 
 shrug of the shoulders, whom he had reckoned of 
 no account; and now he gazed abashed into his 
 face. Like an enraged lion he was about to spring 
 forward, but a glance a clear, firm, calm glance 
 met his and awed and restrained him. 
 
 Arthur had stood immovable, but he had opened 
 his eyes wide and full, and with these eyes he had 
 imperiously kept that outbreaking savagery within 
 its bounds. For a few seconds the two men gazed 
 at each other ; then all was decided between them. 
 Slowly Ulrich's clinched hand relaxed, slowly the 
 savage fury died out of his features, and his glance 
 sank to the floor. He had in the young chief rec- 
 ognized an equal, perhaps a superior, and bowed to 
 him. 
 
 Arthur stepped back. His voice again rang cold 
 and calm as he continued : 
 
 " And now inform your comrades what I can 
 grant to them and what I cannot. Add also that I 
 will not take back a word I have said. With this, 
 for the present, we are at an end." 
 
 " "We are so !" Ulrich's voice sounded hollow, 
 almost stifled, from inward passion. " And I de- 
 clare to you, in the name of all the associated
 
 GOOD LUCK. 173 
 
 miners upon your works, that from to-morrow 
 these works will lie idle." 
 
 " It is well. I was prepared for this, and now I 
 warn you once again, Hartmann, from all extreme 
 steps. They say you have unlimited control over 
 your comrades, so take care that quiet and order are 
 maintained, and do not hope to intimidate me by 
 tumultuous scenes. I and my officers will do our 
 utmost to avoid all conflict, but still, if you force it 
 upon us we must take sides against you, and I shall 
 use my authority to the utmost. Spare me and 
 yourself this." 
 
 Ulrich turned to go, but in his parting glance 
 hatred and fury blended with something other and 
 deeper, of which no one dreamed. What passed 
 convulsively through the breast of this wild, pas- 
 sionate man none but himself could know. He had 
 so long despised this weakling and triumphed in the 
 thought that he also must be despised in another 
 heart ! If he there showed himself as here, then 
 the despising was at an end. Those great brown 
 eyes that had conquered him could well conquer 
 something else than hatred and aversion. The 
 livid pallor which had passed over the young 
 miner's face since that revelation became still 
 deeper as he withdrew. 
 
 " We will see who holds out the longest. Gluck 
 au/r 
 
 He went, accompanied by both his comrades, but 
 the men's faces showed that the scene just ended 
 had impressed them quite differently than it had
 
 174 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 their leader. It was a half-shy, half-deferential 
 glance they threw back upon the young chief, and 
 there lay something hesitating, uncertain in their 
 manner as they left his presence. 
 
 Arthur had meantime searchingly glanced after 
 them and now turned to the officers. 
 
 " There are two already who follow him with 
 only half a heart. I hope the majority will come 
 to their senses if we give them time, for now, gen- 
 tlemen, we must yield to necessity and let the 
 works lie idle. I in no way ignore the danger 
 which threatens us here in the withdrawal of two 
 thousand excited men with a leader like Hartmann 
 at their head, but I am resolved to maintain my 
 stand and not to yield until all is decided. It 
 naturally depends upon your own free will whether 
 you follow me here. As you were nearly all 
 against my decision, I of course shall not force its 
 results upon you, and willingly give leave of 
 absence to any of you who may deem a temporary 
 withdrawal from the works necessary." 
 
 One general indignant negative answered this 
 proposal. The whole corps of officers, with an 
 almost passionate eagerness, pressed around their 
 young chief to assure him that not one of them 
 would move from his place. Even the timid Herr 
 "Wilberg seemed all at once to have gained a lion's 
 courage, so energetically did he join in this assur- 
 ance. 
 
 " I thank you, gentlemen," said Arthur, after a 
 deep sigh of relief. " In the afternoon we will
 
 GOOD LUCK. 175 
 
 talk over matters and decide upon the measures to 
 be taken. For the present I must leave you. 
 Herr Schaffer, an hour from now I will await you 
 in my cabinet. Once again, my thanks to you all." 
 
 When he had gone and the door closed behind 
 him there broke loose all those emotions of aston- 
 ishment, of approbation, and of anxiety which his 
 presence had hitherto restrained. 
 
 " I tremble in all my limbs," said Herr Wilberg 
 while, without heeding the presence of his supe- 
 riors, he threw himself down upon a chair. The 
 scene just passed had made him forgetful of all 
 regard to etiquette. " God in heaven, what a scene ! 
 I thought that wild man, that Hartmann, would 
 rush upon him ; but that glance, that way of speak- 
 ing! Who would have thought this in our chief?" 
 
 "He was too defiant, much too defiant." criti- 
 cised Schaffer; but even in this criticism and in his 
 thoughtful shake of the head lay an expression 
 quite other from that with which he had before 
 spoken of Arthur. " He talked as if he still had 
 millions at his control and as if the going on of the 
 works were not a question of life for him. His 
 father, in spite of his haughtiness, would here have 
 yielded unconditionally ; for in a business point of 
 view it would have been his only resource, and he 
 knew no regard to his position and dignity. The 
 son appears differently constituted ; but this lan- 
 guage, which would have been in place a year 
 ago, is not so now. He should have been more 
 circumspect, less decided in his expressions, so that
 
 176 GOOD LUCK 
 
 the possibility of a retreat might have been open to 
 him in case that " 
 
 " Away with your considerations and scruples !" 
 interrupted the chief engineer hastily. " Pardon 
 me, Herr Schaffer, if I speak rudely ; but any one 
 can see that your capabilities lie in office work, that 
 you have never guided masses of laboring-men. He 
 has hit upon just the right thing : he has impressed 
 them ; and in such cases that is all. A friendly, 
 persuasive talk would have passed with them for 
 weakness, an aristocratic repose for haughtiness. 
 "We must speak to these men their own language of 
 either or or, and our chief perfectly understands 
 this. You saw its effect upon Hartmann.*' 
 
 " My greatest fear is that Berkow does not fully 
 estimate the conflict before us," said the director 
 gravely. " Left to themselves, our miners would be 
 content with his concessions: with this leader at 
 their head nothing will content them. He will 
 admit no equal, and they follow him blindly. But 
 our chief is right. He has gone to the furthest 
 limits of possibility. To go further would be to 
 surrender himself, his position, and us all." 
 
 They now all spoke of " the chief," " the 
 master," as a matter of course. In a single hour 
 Arthur had won that title : no other designation 
 seemed now to exist for him. He must indeed 
 have shown himself master. 
 
 The three " ambassadors" had left the house and 
 were walking over to the works. Ulrich spoke not 
 a word, but Lorenz said half-aloud ;
 
 GOOD LUCK. 177 
 
 " You said lately that if a man at the right time 
 showed us his teeth and at the right time gave us 
 good words, then Listen, Ulrich ! I believe the 
 man over there understands this." 
 
 Ulrich did not answer. He threw a glance up to 
 the window, and over his forehead brooded an 
 ominous cloud. 
 
 "And all this lay concealed behind those eyes 
 that looked so heavy and dozy, as if they were 
 good for nothing in the world but to sleep," he mut- 
 tered between his set teeth. " ' So long as I stand 
 here I am master of these works !' said he ; and I 
 really believe he is the man to keep his word." 
 
 They now met a group of miners, Ulrich's own 
 men, who surrounded the ambassadors with stormy 
 questions. 
 
 " Let Ulrich tell you all," said Lorenz dryly. " I 
 believe we have the wrong one to deal with there. 
 He doesn't think of yielding." 
 
 " Don't think of yielding !" echoed the miners, all 
 evidently disappointed. They had reckoned upon 
 quite another decision. There were many angry 
 exclamations, many muttered threats of vengeance 
 against the young chief, whose name was on all 
 sides spoken with open contempt. 
 
 "Silence!" cried Ulrich imperiously. "You do 
 not know him as we have just seen him. I believed 
 we should have an easy game now that the father 
 is out of the way. In the son we have all erred. 
 He has one trait that never belongs to weaklings 
 a will. I tell you he is going to give us plenty of 
 trouble."
 
 178 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IT was early in the forenoon. Mountain and 
 forest glowed in the sunlight and exhaled the dewy 
 freshness of the spring morning, when Eugenie 
 Berkow, without any attendant, rode along the 
 forest path. She was an excellent horsewoman and 
 passionately fond of the exercise, and yet here in 
 the country she had seldom indulged in it far 
 more seldom than had been her wont. On her first 
 arrival the weather had prevented ; of late she had 
 felt no wish for her favorite exercise; and the 
 principal reason was that her beautiful riding-horse 
 had been a present from Arthur in the days of their 
 betrothal, and that her aversion to the giver ex- 
 tended to all that came directly from him. 
 
 It was only with repugnance that at her marriage 
 she had worn the costly diamonds which formed 
 part of her bridal jewels ; since that day they had 
 not left their case. It was with a feeling of con- 
 straint she moved amid the lavish magnificence that 
 had surrounded her since her marriage, and even 
 this splendid animal, which had cost a fabulous sum 
 and which had called forth the admiration of the 
 Residence as she rode out by the side of her be- 
 trothed, had of late been entirely neglected by- its 
 mistress and given over to the care of servants.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 179 
 
 There \vas great surprise this morning when her 
 adyship ordered Afra to be saddled, but the serv- 
 int, who, as usual, made ready to attend his mis- 
 tress, was informed that she would ride alone ; and 
 50, to the astonishment of all, she rode forth with- 
 out an attendant. Arthur of course knew nothing 
 of this. She saw him more rarely than ever now, 
 as he habitually excused himself from meals, and 
 the life of this married pair had become so separate 
 that one very rarely knew how the other passed the 
 day. 
 
 Eugenie in rapid haste rode through the forest 
 without meeting any one. It was very solitary 
 here, and this solitude, the freshness and beauty of 
 the morning, had a rare charm for the young woman, 
 who for several days had not passed the limits of 
 the park. The works were idle ; an oppressive re- 
 pose and silence brooded over this usually restless, 
 active region ; but things were all the more lively 
 in the cabinet of the young chief, where he now 
 remained from early morning until late at night. 
 
 The officers came and went ; conferences were 
 held, books and papers examined. Schaffer was 
 continually passing back and forth from the Kesi- 
 dence to the estates ; letters and dispatches flew 
 hither and thither ; but over all this restless activity 
 brooded a gloom and an oppression. It was as if 
 an evil spirit moved in the air a spirit to be resist- 
 ed and if possible overcome. 
 
 Eugenie knew that there was a difference with 
 the miners. Arthur had told her so, adding that
 
 180 GOOD LUC. 
 
 the affair was of slight consequence and would soon 
 be adjusted. Very calmly, very coolly, he had said 
 this to her, and had requested her in her daily walks 
 to shun as much as possible the villages where the 
 miners dwelt, as there was at present some excite- 
 ment among the workmen. 
 
 The officers must have received hints not to alarm 
 her ladyship, for Eugenie's attempts to learn any- 
 thing further had been met by polite excuses or 
 pacifying assurances. They had told her not to be 
 at all anxious, that the disturbance was of little 
 moment, that its like might be expected any day. 
 And yet Eugenie felt the hidden danger as she felt 
 the change which had passed over Arthur since his 
 father's death, though his demeanor toward her re- 
 mained the same. 
 
 This young woman was of too fearless, too proud 
 a nature not to regard this reticence, this evident 
 evasion, as a sort of offense. It was true she had 
 no right to participation in the anxieties, perhaps 
 dangers, of her husband ; what other wives could 
 claim lay infinitely far from her. If the word of 
 separation was already spoken, and only for the 
 ; sake of the proprieties, only to give the world as 
 tittle cause for gossip as possible, they endured a 
 few months of life together, each must surely remain 
 foreign to the other's interests. 
 
 This she well understood, and if she had not un- 
 derstood it Arthur would have made her sensible of 
 it. As he daily grew stronger and, rousing himself 
 from his former indolence, displayed the most ener-
 
 GOOD LUCK 181 
 
 getic and intense activity, he grew colder and more 
 distant to her. She could but thank him for thus 
 seeking to alleviate for her the painfulness of the 
 approaching separation by already treating her as 
 an entire stranger. 
 
 Eugenie did not conceal from herself that Ber- 
 kow's death had removed a great hindrance to her 
 wishes. He would never have consented to a di- 
 vorce from a marriage for which he had so ambi- 
 tiously striven and which he had so dearly won. 
 The son thought otherwise. To him the marriage 
 was as indifferent as the wife whom in his former 
 passive acquiescence he had allowed them to force 
 upon him. He had proposed the separation to her 
 before she had made the least effort to gain his con- 
 sent to such a step, and in this case that step, which 
 almost everywhere costs infinite struggle, tears, and 
 bitterness, which not seldom stirs up the passions of 
 the human heart from their lowest depths, was to 
 be taken with the fullest mutual acquiescence ; with 
 such coldness, politeness, and heartlessness as to ex- 
 cite the wonder even of the prime movers in the 
 affair. 
 
 Afra reared suddenly. The animal was not ac- 
 customed to the whip, at least vigorously applied as 
 at this moment. She had to-day suffered much from 
 the impatience of her mistress, and had Eugenie not 
 been an adept in horsemanship, the fiery, excitable 
 animal would have given her a world of trouble. 
 Afra was soon quieted, but the delicate brows of her 
 mistress were still contracted and the lips compressed
 
 182 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 as in inward anger ; whether over the resistance of 
 Afra or the want of resistance on another side re- 
 mains doubtful. 
 
 She had meantime reached the farm, which lay 
 half an hour's distance down in the valley, and now 
 she began to ascend the hill, but not up the steep 
 foot-path down which she had come with Arthur 
 and which equestrians could not pass. Not far dis- 
 tant a highway in long but easy windings led up 
 the height. Afra, unaccustomed to country roads, 
 showed both obstinacy and weariness, and when 
 they reached the hill-top Eugenie was obliged to 
 halt and allow the animal the needed rest. 
 
 The misty veil which had that day floated around 
 hill and mountain had lifted, and sunshine warm 
 and bright now flooded the earth, as if there had 
 never been a time when rain and tempest had here 
 striven for the mastery ; when gray, cloudy, form- 
 less specters, like grim spirits of evil, had flitted 
 athwart the landscape. 
 
 Still lay the valleys, misty blue in the cool morn- 
 ing shadows ; and in all the brighter relief stood out 
 the mountains, their countless summits, one over- 
 topping the other, a single green forest sea, with 
 billows rising even to the furthest, highest summit. 
 
 The dark firs had adorned themselves in light 
 fresh green, and within upon the forest floor, out- 
 side upon the rocky ground, between moss and 
 stones, wherever a vine could find place or a little 
 plant take root, there bloomed and exhaled a thou- 
 sand forms and colors. And the brooks dashed
 
 000 D LUCK. 183 
 
 do\vn into the valleys and the rejoicing springs 
 gushed forth, and above all arched the cloudless 
 deep- blue sky of May. All was so bright, so golden, 
 so vast, so free that it seemed as if this newly 
 awakened life of Nature must heal every wound, 
 must break every chain as if here nothing could 
 have breath that was not allied to freedom and hap- 
 piness. 
 
 And still the glance of this young woman was 
 strangely grave. There was a painful tension in 
 her features, as if for her lay a hidden torture in all 
 this surrounding beauty. She should have breathed 
 more lightly at thought of the promised freedom 
 which would be hers ere another spring greeted the 
 earth. Why could she not ? Why at this prospect 
 did a sensation akin to agony thrill her soul ? Could 
 there be pain in the thought of that hour when the 
 decree of separation would be given and received ? 
 
 She longed so ardently for this separation, for a 
 return to her family ; she suffered so keenly under 
 this chain, which she could scarce longer bear 
 since that hour with Arthur here upon this height 
 she really could bear it no longer. Until then she 
 had been firm and resigned to this sacrifice for her 
 father, to this destiny forced upon her ; fixed in her 
 hatred to those who had forged the chain. But 
 with that hour all her sensations seemed to have 
 undergone a change. A conflict had begun in her 
 inner being, a struggle against a something which, 
 mysterious and unspoken, lay in the deepest depths 
 of her soul and which she would for no price
 
 184 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 allow mastery over her. And still it was this very 
 something which had driven her out this morning, 
 and almost against her will had driven her to this 
 place. It alone was responsible that the daughter 
 of the Windegs had so far forgotten etiquette as to 
 ride out alone, without the attendance of a servant. 
 She could and would to-day have no witness : and 
 it was well she had none ; for as she paused up there 
 on the hill, in the midst of the golden splendor of 
 the spring, there came over her an undefined long- 
 ing for the mysterious charm of that hour when 
 cloud and darkness were around her ; when the fir 
 tops swayed above her ; when the storm raged 
 through the ravines and valleys ; when those large 
 brown eyes, which for the first time had unveiled 
 their depths to her, had also at that moment sug- 
 gested to her that much, perhaps everything, might 
 have been made of this man if he had loved and 
 been beloved before his father's hand had plunged 
 him into that whirlpool where so much of strength 
 and nobleness has gone down to ruin. 
 
 And with this consciousness had awakened some- 
 thing which Eugenie Windeg had never known, 
 something which was reserved for the wife of 
 Arthur Berkow to experience a woe far calmer, 
 but infinitely deeper, than all she had hitherto 
 suffered. And she placed her hand over her eyes, 
 from which unrestrainedly welled forth a hot stream 
 of tears. 
 
 " Your ladyship /" 
 
 Eugenie started, and Afra, frightened at the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 185 
 
 strange voice, made a sideward spring, but the same 
 moment a strong hand seized the rein and forced 
 the animal to remain quiet. Ulrich Hartmann stood 
 close beside her. 
 
 " I did not know the horse was so timid," he said 
 apologetically, while a glance, half-anxiety, half- 
 admiration, glided over the young horsewoman, 
 who in spite of the surprise had remained firmly 
 seated in her saddle. 
 
 Eugenie quickly passed her hand over her face to 
 remove the traces of tears, but it \vas too late. Her 
 weeping must necessarily have been seen, and the 
 thought of this sent a deep flush to her cheeks and 
 gave her voice an expression of displeasure as she 
 hastily and somewhat imperiously said: 
 
 " Let go the rein ! Afra is not accustomed to be 
 held by strangers and shies at every unknown 
 touch. You are bringing me into danger by your 
 nearness." 
 
 Ulrich listened and stepped back. Eugenie 
 stroked caressingly the neck of the animal, which, 
 snorting and impatient, had endured the strange 
 hand at its bridle, whose power it, as it were, in a 
 moment recognized. But the caresses of her mis- 
 tress in a few seconds pacified Afra. 
 
 Meantime Hartmann's gaze rested unwavering 
 upon the young woman, who sat her horse as few 
 women could have done. The dark riding-dress, 
 the little hat with its gossamer veil surmounting the 
 blond braids and shading the beautiful face still red 
 from weeping, the easy, secure bearing which in
 
 186 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 spite of Afra's unrest was not for a moment dis- 
 turbed, showed in the fullest light the symmetry of 
 the tall, slender figure. Her whole appearance as, 
 with the sunbeams weaving a bright woof all around 
 her, she sat on the back of the beautiful animal, was 
 a perfect picture of strength and grace. 
 
 " Have you been long up here, Hartmann ?" asked 
 Eugenie, in the faint hope that he might have 
 reached the hill just at the moment of speaking to 
 her and not have seen her tears. " I did not see 
 you before." 
 
 " I stood over there." He pointed to the outlet of 
 the forest, which she had not noticed. " I saw you 
 ride up and remained to wait for you." 
 
 The young woman, who was just about to ride 
 past him into the wood, halted in surprise. 
 
 " To wait for me ?" she repeated. " And where- 
 fore?" 
 
 Ulrich evaded an answer. 
 
 " Are you alone, my lady quite alone ? Have 
 you not as usual a servant with you ?" 
 
 " No : you see that I am without any attendant." 
 
 Ulrich stepped quickly, but this time more cir- 
 cumspectly than before, to the horse's side. 
 
 " Then you must turn back this instant ! I will 
 go with you, at least until we come in sight of the 
 works." 
 
 "But what is the meaning of all this?" asked 
 Eugenie, more and more struck by the proffered 
 service and by the dark, contracted brow of the 
 young miner. " Is there danger here in the forest, 
 or is there anything else to i'eaH"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 187 
 
 Ulrich threw a scrutinizing glance upon the lower 
 forest path, whose windings from here were only 
 partially visible. " We were at the forges up in the 
 mountains," he at length said slowly, " I and a 
 part of my comrades. I went alone by the nearest 
 path, because I wished to return sooner. The others 
 took the highway. You might meet them, your 
 ladyship, and I would rather be near you, at all 
 events." 
 
 " I am not timid," declared Eugenie decidedly, 
 "and I should hope they would not dare insult me. 
 I know that there is a dififerer.ee with the workmen, 
 but they tell me it is of small moment, and in a short 
 time all will be adjusted." 
 
 " Then they have lied to you !" interrupted Ul- 
 rich roughly. "Of adjustment and of trifles there 
 can be no mention here. Herr Lerkow has declared 
 war upon us or we upon him it all amounts to the 
 same thing; enough, we are now at war, and it will 
 not end until one of us is conquered. I say this to 
 your ladyship, and I certainly know best about the 
 matter." 
 
 A slight pallor overspread the young woman's 
 face as she received this confirmation of her long- 
 cherished fears, but the reckless, overbearing man- 
 ner of the revelation offended her and gave her a 
 more than usually haughty manner as she replied 
 coldly : 
 
 " Well, then, if matters stand thus I cannot pos- 
 sibly accept the attendance, and still less the protec- 
 tion, of a man who so openly and recklessly con-
 
 188 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 fesses himself the enemy of my husband. I will 
 ride alone." 
 
 She was about to give her horse the rein, but Ul- 
 rich started up at this motion and passionately and 
 imperiously threw himself in the way. 
 
 " Stop, my lady ! You must take me with you." 
 
 " I must ?" Eugenie proudly lifted her head. 
 "And supposing I will not?" 
 
 " Then I implore you to do so." 
 
 There was again that quick transition from reck- 
 less threatening to almost piteous entreaty which 
 had once before disarmed Eugenie's anger and which 
 even now softened her displeasure. She glanced 
 down upon the young miner, who sullenly, angrily, 
 and yet with an expression of unmistakable anxiety 
 gazed up to her. 
 
 " I cannot accept your proffer, Hartmann," she 
 said gravely. " If your comrades have gone so far 
 that in meeting them I am not secure from insult, I 
 fear this is alone your work ; and from a man who 
 bears such an irreconcilable hatred against us " 
 
 " Us?" interrupted TJlrich vehemently. "I do 
 not hate you, gracious lady, and you should not be 
 insulted, certainly not you / No one ventures to 
 breathe a word against you when I am near, and if 
 one did venture he would not do so a second time. 
 Take me with you 5" 
 
 For a few moments Eugenie hesitated, but her 
 fearlessness and his hostile cieiTicnstrations just now 
 turned the scale. 
 
 "I will turn around and shw the highway," she
 
 GOOD LUCK. 189 
 
 said hastily. " Remain back, Hartmann ! Respect 
 for Herr Berkow demands it." 
 
 As if this name unfettered a long-restrained fury, 
 his eyes flamed suddenly up as she spoke it and a 
 flash of wild, deadly hatred shot from. them. 
 
 "Respect to Herr Berkow!" he broke loose 
 " Herr Berkow, who so lovingly lets you ride alone 
 when he knew that we were up at the forges and 
 must now be in the forest! Indeed, he has never 
 concerned himself about you ; whether you are 
 happy or unhappy is all the same to him ; and still 
 he only is responsible for all!" 
 
 " Hartmann ! how dare you ?" cried Eugenie, glow- 
 ing with anger and indignation, but she vainly 
 sought to restrain him. He interrupted her words 
 and in ever-mounting excitement went on : 
 
 " Ah, yes ! it is certainly a great crime to see you 
 weep when you think no mortal is near ; but 1 be- 
 lieve you weep very often, my lady ; that you have 
 wept very often since coming here ; only no one 
 sees it as I did just now. I know whose fault it is, 
 and I will- 
 He stopped suddenly, for the young woman had 
 raised herself in the saddle and now gave him that 
 glance of annihilating pride with which she knew 
 how to make herself so unapproachable. Her voice 
 sounded sharp and icy, and still worse, it was the 
 tone of the mistress to the underling with which 
 she now commanded him. 
 
 "Be silent, Hartmann! Another word, one 
 single word, against my husband, and I forget that
 
 190 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 you saved his life and mine and answer your thrust 
 as it deserves !" 
 
 She wheeled her horse around and would have 
 passed him, but Ulrica's giant form stood in the 
 midst of the path and would not move one step. 
 He had become ghastly pale at this imperious tone, 
 which for the first time he heard from her lips, and 
 the hatred which flamed in his eyes seemed now 
 also for her. 
 
 " Stand out of my way !" commanded Eugenie 
 imperiously as before. " I wish to go on !" 
 
 But she found herself in the presence of a man 
 with whom commanding could not avail and whom 
 a command from her mouth roused to perfect fury. 
 Instead of obeying, with a single step he was close at 
 her side, and a second time, now with an iron grasp, 
 he seized her horse's bridle, regardless of the ani- 
 mal's rearing or of the danger of its mistress. 
 
 " You shall not speak to me in this way, ray 
 lady !" he said in a hollow voice. " I can endure 
 much, much from you, if from no one else ; but that 
 tone I will not bear ! Do not goad on your horse," 
 he continued, beside himself as Eugenie sought by the 
 use of the whip to force Afra to break loose and 
 spring forward. " You will not ride me down, but 
 I will pull down this horse as I did those others!" 
 
 There lay a fearful threat in these words and a 
 still more fearful threat in his glance. Eugenie saw 
 this savagery so feared by all for the first time 
 turned against her, and she suddenly comprehended 
 the full danger of her situation. But at the same
 
 GOOD LUCK. 191 
 
 moment with quick presence of mind she seized the 
 only means of rescue. 
 
 "Hartmann," she said reproachfully, but her 
 voice had all at once become mild, almost weak, 
 " just now you offered me your protection, and do 
 you yourself threaten me? Well, truly, I see what 
 I have to fear from your comrades if you meet me 
 thus ! I would not have ridden into the forest if I 
 had had a suspicion of this." 
 
 The reproach and, more yet, the voice, seemed to 
 bring Ulrich to his senses ; his wild fury vanished 
 when he no longer heard the tone which called it 
 forth. Still he kept his right hand firmly on the 
 rein, but the clinched left gradually relaxed and the 
 threatening expression vanished from his features. 
 
 " I have hitherto never feared you," continued 
 Eugenie gently, " in spite of all the bad things I 
 have heard them say of you. Will you now teach 
 me to fear you ? We are close to the declivity of 
 the hill ; if you go on so, exciting my horse, or con- 
 tinue your threats, an accident will happen. Will 
 the man who once threw himself under my horses' 
 hoofs to rescue an unknown person now himself 
 bring me into danger ? Let me go on, Hartmann !" 
 
 Ulrich slightly trembled and threw a glance upon 
 the declivity, which certainly was near enough. 
 Slowly he let go the bridle, and slowly, as if yield- 
 ing to an irresistible power, he stepped to one side 
 to let her pass. Eugenie involuntarily looked back. 
 He stood there dumb, the scornful eyes upon the 
 ground, and without a syllable of reply or adieu let 
 her unhindered ride on.
 
 192 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE young woman drew a deep sigh of relief as 
 Afra's fleetness removed her from that dangerous 
 presence. Courageous as she was, here she had 
 trembled. She could have been no woman not to 
 have been taught by this scene what she had long 
 suspected that this enigmatical and contradictory 
 being, this man so different from all others, con- 
 cealed some sentiment in regard to her far more 
 dangerous than hatred. Still he bowed to her 
 power ; but he had been near enough breaking his 
 chain. She had now proof that this untamable 
 nature yielded nothing to blindness or timidity, and 
 that once unfettered it burst all barriers. 
 
 She had reached the valley, and mindful of the 
 warning she had received was about leaving the 
 highway, when she heard the sound of hoofs in 
 that direction, and looking around saw a horseman 
 coming on at full gallop. In a few minutes he was 
 at her side. 
 
 " At last /" said Arthur breathlessly as he let his 
 horse fall into step with hers. " How very impru- 
 dent in you to ride out to-day ! You certainly had 
 no suspicion of the risk." 
 
 Eugenie gazed in surprise at her husband, who,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 193 
 
 glowing and breathless from his hurried ride, kept 
 close at her side. He was not in riding-costume ; he 
 wore neither spurs nor gloves ; just as he was, in his 
 house dress, he must have thrown himself upon the 
 horse to hasten after her. 
 
 " Only half an hour ago I learned of this caprice 
 of yours," he continued, trying to control his ex- 
 citement. " Franz and Anton are already seeking 
 you in different directions ; I alone found the right 
 track. They told me at the farm that you had 
 some time ago ridden past." 
 
 The young wife did not ask the reason of this 
 anxiety ; she knew it sufficiently ; but still the 
 anxiety itself surprised her. He could have sent 
 his servants alone to seek her. Indeed, the possi- 
 bility of having his wife insulted by the miners was 
 very unpleasant for the chief of the works, and the 
 only peculiarity in the case was that he hurried 
 after her himself. 
 
 " I was above there," explained Eugenie, pointing 
 to the goal of her ride. 
 
 " Upon the hill where we sought refuge from the 
 storm ! Were you there ?" 
 
 Eugenie blushed deeply ; she saw again that 
 strange uplighting in his eyes which for a week 
 long had vanished. And why was the question so 
 wildly, so breathlessly expressed ? Had he not 
 long ago forgotten that hour which so often still 
 tortured her remembrance ? 
 
 " I happened there by accident," said she hastily, 
 as if she must exculpate herself from a fault, and
 
 194 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 this exculpation had at once the desired result. 
 The uplighting in his glance vanished suddenly and 
 his manner became cool and decided. 
 
 " By accident ah, yes ; I might have known that 
 you would plan no such excursion. Afra, I see, was 
 unwilling. But you might accidentally have taken 
 the road to M , and that was what I feared." 
 
 "And what was there to fear?" asked Eugenie as 
 they left the wide traveled road and turned off into 
 a narrower one leading through the forest. 
 
 Arthur tried to shun her searching glance. 
 
 "You might have encountered some disrespect or 
 insult," he said. "Our miners have been to the 
 upper forges to organize there some resistance to 
 my authority. Hartmann, by his fulminating ad- 
 dresses, has excited them to fury. I hear of great 
 commotions up there yesterday, and I know that a 
 band of men coming from the scene of such a 
 tumult is capable of anything. They must now be 
 on the return." 
 
 " But I should have shunned the highway," said 
 the young woman calmly. " I was already 
 warned." 
 
 " Warned ? By whom ?" 
 
 " By Hartmann himself, who a quarter of an hour 
 ago I met up in the forest." 
 
 This time it was Arthur's horse that reared 
 violently, frightened at the sudden wrench his 
 rider had given to the bridle. 
 
 " Hartmann ? And did he dare approach you 
 and speak to you after all that has happened in 
 these last days ?"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 195 
 
 "It was only to warn me and to offer me his 
 company and his protection. I declined both ; 
 that I believed I owed to you and to your posi- 
 tion." 
 
 " You believed you owed it to me ?" repeated 
 Arthur sarcastically. "I am infinitely obliged to 
 you for this deference, but it is well you showed it ; 
 for if you had let him escort you, much as I avoid 
 giving the first occasion for conflict, still I should 
 have made him sensible that the inciter, the ring- 
 leader, of this whole rebellion had best keep his 
 distance from my wife." 
 
 Eugenie was silent. In spite of this apparent 
 calmness, she knew that her husband was fearfully 
 excited ; she knew this by the compression of the 
 lips, by the trembling of the hand ; just so she had 
 seen him on that first evening, only she now better 
 than then knew what lay concealed behind this out- 
 ward indifference. 
 
 They rode silently on through the sunny wood, 
 the sound of the horses' hoofs being subdued on this 
 soft mossy floor. Here over all was spring's per- 
 fume and spring's breath ; here, too, the clear blue 
 sky which had arched over the fir tops ; and here, 
 also, the secret woe in Eugenie's heart, only that it 
 rose mightier, more agonizing than there upon the 
 hill. 
 
 The animals trotted side by side along the narrow 
 road. The heavy folds of Eugenie's riding-habit 
 swept the bushes, and her veil more than once 
 fluttered over Arthur's shoulder. In such nearness
 
 196 GOOD LUCK 
 
 she could but remark that now, when the glow of 
 the rapid ride had vanished, he was ghastly pale. 
 It is true he had never had the fresh animated glow 
 of youth, but this was quite another pallor from 
 that of the young lion of the Residence who had 
 passed his evenings in the salon, his nights at the 
 gaming-table, and then, satiated and debilitated, 
 had lain all day upon his sofa with closed curtains 
 because the spoiled, weary eyes could not bear the 
 sunlight. This pallor came from the same source 
 as that gloomy fold of care upon the forehead, as 
 the grave, melancholy expression of the face, which 
 had hitherto shown only languid indifference. 
 
 But Arthur Berkow gained infinitely by this 
 change, which would have been detrimental to any 
 other. Eugenie now began to see that her husband 
 could make pretensions to beauty. 
 
 Until now she would not see this ; that sluggish 
 insensibility of his nature had robbed him of every 
 outward grace. Now this new expression of energy 
 in face and manner made him quite another being. 
 
 Ah, yes ! the sunken world began to mount up- 
 ward from its abyss ; the approaching storm had 
 summoned it forth, the storm which alone Eugenie 
 felt almost with a sort of bitterness that she had no 
 share in this awakening ; that she did not possess 
 the magic word to loose the spell. It burst upward 
 through its own strength : what need was there of 
 a helping hand ! 
 
 " I am sorry to be obliged to shorten your ride," 
 said Arthur at length, interrupting the silence, but
 
 GOOD LUCK. 197 
 
 he said this in the cool, polite manner he always 
 assumed toward her. " The day is charming." 
 
 "I fear a ride out in the open air was more 
 necessary to you than to me." In the young wife's 
 voice there lay an anxiety of which she was not 
 conscious. " You look so pale, Arthur !" 
 
 ' I am not accustomed to work," he said in a tone 
 of bitter irony. " This all comes from effeminacy. 
 I cannot even for a short time perform the labor 
 my officers do daily." 
 
 " It seems to me, on the contrar}% that you are 
 working beyond what is required of any one," 
 returned Eugenie hastily. " All *day long you 
 scarce leave your cabinet, and nights I see your 
 light burning there until morning." 
 
 A quick flush passed over the young man's face. 
 
 " For how long a time have you so attentively 
 scrutinized the windows of my apartment?" he 
 asked with calm but intense bitterness. " I did not 
 believe they really had any existence for you." 
 
 It was now the young woman's turn to blush, but 
 she quickly subdued the mounting glow and re- 
 turned firmly : 
 
 " Since I knew that the danger which you per- 
 sistently denied every day drew nearer. Why did 
 you conceal from me the magnitude of this conflict 
 and its possible results?" 
 
 " Because 1 did not wish to alarm you." 
 
 She made an impatient gesture. 
 
 " I am no timid child whom one must surround 
 with such anxious care, and if any danger threatens 
 us "
 
 198 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Us ? " interrupted Arthur. " I beg your par- 
 don, but the danger threatens me alone. I have 
 never thought to treat you as a child, but I con- 
 sidered it my duty not to enlighten the Baroness 
 Windeg in regard to matters which must be indif- 
 ferent to her, and which in a short time will be as 
 foreign from her as the name she now bears." 
 
 The tone of the reply was icy cold, and it washer 
 own tone, the one she had often enough used to- 
 ward him when she felt it necessary to impress him 
 with her high rank and the compulsory nature 
 of her marriage to him. Now he gave her a lesson 
 with it. In the dark eyes of the young woman 
 flashed something like scorn as she fixed them upon 
 her husband. 
 
 " And so you deny me all information in regard 
 to your affairs ?" 
 
 " If you wish it no." 
 
 Eugenie seemed for some moments to struggle 
 with herself. 
 
 " Have you refused your miners their demands ?" 
 she asked at last. 
 
 " What I could grant and what the workmen of 
 themselves asked I have granted. With Hartmann's 
 extreme demands I can do nothing. Their neces- 
 sary consequences, if granted, would be the subver- 
 sion of all discipline. They would end in anarchy ; 
 and then they are really insulting. He would 
 hardly have dared make them had he not known 
 what I have at stake in this contest." 
 
 " And what have you at stake ?" asked Eugenie 
 in breathless suspense " your fortune ?"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 199 
 
 " More still my life !" 
 
 " And you will not yield ?" 
 
 "Not* 
 
 In dumb surprise the young wife gazed at her 
 husband, at this man who only three months ago 
 could endure no " scene " with her because it 
 affected his nerves, and who with such composure 
 bared his brow to a conflict in which his very life 
 was at stake. Was he really the same ? It had an 
 iron ring, this " No ;" and she felt that with just as 
 iron a will he would oppose the wildest threats of 
 the miners. 
 
 " I fear that Hartmann will pursue the quarrel to 
 extremities/' she replied. " lie hates you." 
 
 Arthur's lips curled in a disdainful smile. 
 
 "I know it," he said. " The sentiment is mutual." 
 
 Eugenie thought of those wild, flaming eyes when 
 upon the hill she had mentioned her husband's name, 
 and a sudden anguish came over her. 
 
 "You should not underrate this man's hatred, 
 Arthur. He is terrible in his passion as in his 
 energy." 
 
 Arthur gave her a sullen glance. 
 
 "Do you know him so well? But a little while 
 ago you thought this blouse hero w T orthy of your 
 admiration. A low, worthless energy that which 
 scorns impossibilities and would rather drag hun- 
 dreds into ruin than listen to a word of reason; but 
 even Hartmann may find a wall against which his 
 stubborn obstinacy will beat in vain. He will force 
 nothing from me. I will fight the battle through, 
 even to my own overthrow-"
 
 200 GOOD LUCK 
 
 Suddenly he reined in his horse, and Eugenie did 
 the same. The forest road here intersected a wind- 
 ing of the highway, and in this they saw what they 
 especially wished to avoid a crowd of miners who 
 had halted and seemed to await something. Arthur 
 frowned. 
 
 " It seems that we cannot avoid a meeting." 
 
 "Shall we turn around ?" asked Eugenie in a low 
 voice. 
 
 " Too late ! They have already remarked us. 
 We cannot avoid them ; to turn around would be 
 flight. It is a pity we are on horseback ; that will 
 enrage them still more. But we must here show 
 no signs of weakness ; we must go on." 
 
 " And yet you have feared this meeting !" 
 
 " Not for myself, but for you. Now it cannot be 
 avoided ; but you at least are not alone. Hold Afra 
 tight in rein and remain close by my side. Perhaps 
 we may pass without trouble." 
 
 These words were softly and quickly exchanged 
 during scarce a minute's halt. Now they rode 
 slowly onward and passed out into the high-i*oad. 
 
 Arthur was right. The manner of meeting could 
 scarce have been, worse. The workmen were in an 
 excited condition, inflamed and imbittered by the 
 scene just passed at the forges. They had already 
 begun to suffer from the results of their opposition, 
 and now they saw their chief, who would not yield 
 to their demands, mounted on horseback by the 
 side of his high-born wife, as they thought return- 
 ing from a pleasure ride a dangerous sight for
 
 GOOD LUCK. 201 
 
 men already struggling against starvation. A low 
 muttering became audible, followed by half-uttered 
 threats and insulting words. They subsided as the 
 two reached the highway, but the whole throng, 
 as with one consent, formed in a dense mass to pre- 
 vent the riders' passage. 
 
 Arthur's lips again showed that slight nervous 
 quiver which with him was the only outward token 
 of excitement, but his hand did not tremble in the 
 least as he grasped Afra's bridle, in any event to 
 keep the animal close to himself. 
 
 u Oluck auf!" 
 
 The greeting remained unanswered. Not a single 
 one of the whole throng returned it. Instead, hos- 
 tile glances upon both darted from all sides, and 
 those standing nearest pressed still more closely 
 forward. 
 
 "Will you not let us pass?" asked Arthur 
 gravely. " The horses will become restless if you 
 crowd so. Make way !" 
 
 In spite of the danger of the situation, which she 
 fully comprehended, Eugenie gazed in astonishment 
 at her husband. It was the first time she had heard 
 this tone from his lips ; it rang very calm, but it 
 had none the less the full authority of the master 
 to his underlings. This demeanor of Arthur's, 
 though certainly venturesome at such a moment, 
 would have proved an absolute success if the crowd 
 had been without a leader. But now all eyes turned 
 in one direction, as if from there alone they ex- 
 pected the signal for obedience or opposition. Up
 
 202 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 yonder stood Ulrich Hartmann, who had just come 
 down from the hill, and whom they evidently were 
 awaiting here. He stood immovable, his arms 
 crossed, his eyes fixed upon Berkow and his wife ; 
 but there was nothing good in the expression of 
 these eyes. 
 
 Arthur's glance had followed the others. He 
 now turned quite around. 
 
 " Hartmann," he said, " are you leader to-day ? 
 Well, see that your men let us pass. We are wait- 
 ing." 
 
 Had there been in these words the slightest trace 
 of a command or an entreaty, no matter which, 
 they would have been as a spark in a powder-keg ; 
 and Ulrich, indeed, seemed only to await this spark. 
 But this cool request for him to give orders here, 
 assuming this to be his self-evident duty, and at the 
 same time recognizing his authority, impressed 
 without offending him. He came slowly forward. 
 
 " Ah ! I see you wish to ride on, Herr Berkow." 
 
 " Certainly. We wish to pass over to the other 
 side of the road." 
 
 An annihilating hatred flamed up in Ulrich's 
 eyes. 
 
 " And do you call me here to win you this favor ? 
 You are master of your works and your workmen : 
 command them to give place to you. Or " here 
 his voice again became hollow and threatening 
 " perhaps you now believe that /am master here 
 that I need only speak a word to prove it to you ?" 
 
 Eugenie had become very pale as she urged her
 
 GOOD LUCK. 203 
 
 horse closer to her husband's side. She knew that 
 those flashing eyes did not threaten her: it was not 
 for herself she trembled. Now courage failed her 
 to try the might of that power before which Ulrich 
 himself had bowed. She felt that this power would 
 be without avail while he saw her at her husband's 
 side. 
 
 ' : A hundred are always masters against one," 
 said Arthur coolly. " I cannot think you mean to 
 kill me, Hartmann. Would you not feel safe if, at 
 this moment, 3*011 accidental!}' found yourself in the 
 presence of my officers ? I think I am safe here 
 safe as in my own house." 
 
 Ulrich gave no answer. He looked sullenly at 
 the young man, who with perfect repose halted be- 
 fore him and with those clear brown eyes gazed at 
 him unwaveringly, as when the quarrel first broke 
 out. At that time, it is true, he had stood in his 
 conference chamber surrounded and protected by 
 his officers ; now he found himself alone, in the 
 midst of an excited mob, who only waited the sig- 
 nal to break loose upon him with insult, perhaps 
 violence ; and still not a muscle of his face quivered, 
 still his bearing was proud and secure, his glance 
 fearless, as if he knew and felt himself master even 
 here. 
 
 Such calmness and fearlessness did not fail of 
 their impression upon this throng, accustomed to 
 obedience. The only question remained, Whom 
 should they now obey ? For the second time they 
 turned inquiringly to Ulrich, who still stood there
 
 204 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 silent. He looked up. then aside to the pale face 
 of Eugenie. All at once he stepped back. 
 
 " Make way there," he said, " so that the horses 
 can pass. There to the left." 
 
 The command was at once obeyed, with an alac 
 rity which showed that the men obeyed it not un- 
 willingly. In less than a minute the way was open 
 and Berkow and his wife rode on unhindered. At 
 the other side of the highway they again took the 
 forest road and immediately vanished between the 
 trees. 
 
 " Listen, Ulrich " with a sort of good-natured 
 reproach Lorenz stepped up to his comrade " just 
 now you flew at me because up at the forges I 
 spoke of peace. "What have you done now ?" 
 
 Ulrich still stared over to the forest. Now, when 
 the presence of the chief no longer influenced him, 
 he seemed to regret his sudden magnanimous im- 
 pulse. 
 
 " ' A hundred against one !' " muttered he bit- 
 terly, " and ' I am safe in your midst !' Ah, yes ; 
 fine speeches never fail them when they are afraid ; 
 and such as we keep biting away at the old bait." 
 
 " He did not look as if he was afraid," said 
 Lorenz decidedly. " He is not at all like his father. 
 Ulrich, we had better 
 
 " What had we better do ?" interrupted Ulrich 
 angrily. " Give in, had we ? So that you can only 
 once more have peace and quiet and he carry 
 things with a higher hand than even his father 
 when he sees that all goes well with him. If I let
 
 GOOD LUCK. 205 
 
 him go to-day, it was because he was not alone be- 
 cause he had his wife with him, and because " 
 
 He broke off suddenly. The proud, reticent 
 man would sooner have bitten otf his tongue than 
 let his comrade know what power had forced him 
 to spare the man he hated. 
 
 Meantime Arthur and Eugenie had ridden on in 
 silence. As if the danger just past had drawn them 
 nearer, they still let their horses keep close together 
 and Arthur still held Afra's bridle, although there 
 was nothing more to fear ; and this precaution in 
 case of so excellent a horsewoman as Eugenie was 
 quite superfluous. 
 
 "Now you comprehend the danger of your to- 
 day's excursion? " he asked at length. 
 
 " Yes ; but also the danger of your position." 
 
 " I must bear it. You have yourself seen what 
 blind obedience this Hartmann knows how to en- 
 force. A word from him and they let us ride on 
 unhindered ; not a single one dared murmur, and 
 yet they were all only waiting a signal from him to 
 turn against us." 
 
 " But he did not give the signal," said Eugenie. 
 
 Arthur again fixed upon her that long, lowering 
 gaze. 
 
 " No, not to-day. He best knows what restrained 
 him. But he will to-morrow, day after to-morrow, 
 if we chance to meet again. I am quite certain of 
 that." 
 
 At the outlet of the forest they spurred their 
 horses to a quicker trot, and in a quarter of an hour
 
 206 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 reached the terrace of the country-house. Arthur 
 swung himself from the saddle. How light and 
 elastic were his movements in comparison with his 
 former sluggish ways! He extended his hand to 
 help down his wife, but the pallor upon her face 
 had deepened ; she trembled slightly as he placed 
 his arm around her, and this trembling grew more 
 violent as his arms held her a moment longer than 
 ever before when he had offered her such assist- 
 ance. 
 
 " Were you frightened ?" asked he softly as he 
 took her arm to conduct her into the house. 
 
 Eugenie gave no answer. Ah, yes ! she had 
 passed through deathly anguish at that scene; but 
 she would sooner have borne to be deemed cow- 
 ardly by him than let him suspect that she had 
 trembled for his sake. And still a suspicion of this 
 seemed to dawn upon him. 
 
 " Were you frightened, Eugenie ?" repeated he. 
 His voice sounded so tender, so subdued, and he 
 drew her arm closer an.d closer to his breast. She 
 lifted her eyes to him : there it was again that 
 deep, magical uplighting of his, only more glowing, 
 more treacherous than she had ever before seen ; 
 and he bent close down to her so as not to lose a 
 syllable of her answer. 
 
 " Arthur, I 
 
 " The Herr Baron Windeg and his eldest son 
 arrived half an hour ago," reported a servant, 
 hastily coming to meet them ; and the announce- 
 ment was scarce made, when the young baron ap-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 207 
 
 peared and, with all the fire of his eighteen years, 
 rushed down the step to greet his sister, whom he 
 had not seen since her marriage. 
 
 -' Ah, Curt ! is it you ?" The young woman felt 
 almost a spasm of pain at the arrival of her father 
 and brother, for which, under other circumstances, 
 she had so longed. At the moment when the name 
 "\Vindeg was spoken Arthur let fall her hand. She 
 saw how icy cold were his features and heard how 
 icy cold were the tones of his voice as with distant 
 politeness he saluted his brother-in-law. 
 
 " Will you not accompany us ?" asked Eugenie as 
 he paused at the foot of the stairs. 
 
 " Pardon me if I beg you to receive your father 
 alone. I had forgotten something, and it has just 
 come to my mind. I will as soon as possible pay 
 my respects to the baron." 
 
 He stepped back, while Eugenie and her brother 
 ascended the stairs without him. The brother ap- 
 peared to be somewhat surprised, but a glance at 
 his sister's pale face bade him repress the questions 
 that already trembled on his lips. He could very 
 well imagine how matters stood. Had this parvenu, 
 on the ride, been indulging in new insults to his 
 sister ? The young baron hurled down a threaten- 
 ing glance to his brother-in-law, and then, with a 
 fresh outburst of tenderness, he said to his sister : 
 
 " Eugenie, I am so delighted to see you again ; 
 and you ?" 
 
 The young woman forced a smile. 
 
 " I, too, am delighted to see you, Curt, inexpress-
 
 208 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 ibly delighted !" At the same moment she glanced 
 down into the vestibule, but it was empty : Arthur 
 had left already. She clrew herself up in wounded 
 pride. " Let us go to father," she said ; " he is 
 waiting."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 209 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AMONG all the dwellers upon the Berkow estates, 
 there was perhaps only a single one who took this 
 srulden and violent quarrel between the chief and 
 his workmen from any other than its threatening 
 side ; and this one was Herr Wilberg. In the blond 
 head of this young officer lay concealed so much 
 extravagant and high-flown romance that he could 
 not help regarding the danger of the situation and 
 the bitter dissensions which at any moment might 
 result in a catastrophe as in the highest degree in- 
 teresting. 
 
 In truth, his admiration for Ulrich Hartmann 
 had been entirely transferred to the young chief 
 since he had stepped to the helm of affairs and 
 grasped the reins with a firmness none would have 
 believed possible from a hand that had seemed so 
 weak. The newly developed energy with which 
 Arthur had endeavored to make himself at home in 
 this new field, and to stem the tide of losses and 
 dangers breaking in upon him from all sides, de- 
 manded in the highest degree the support of the 
 upper officers: the younger official gentlemen, 
 whose duties for the time were for the most part at 
 an end, were enjoying an unwelcome repose ; and 
 Herr Wilberg employed this in nursing his sup-
 
 210 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 posed passion for her ladyship and imagining him- 
 self as unhappy as possible. 
 
 To tell the truth, the latter became somewhat 
 difficult to him as, upon the whole, he found him- 
 self very comfortable in this hopeless passion. To 
 appear poetic in his eyes, a love must needs be un- 
 happy : with a happy love he really would not have 
 known what to do. This distant adoration per- 
 fectly suited him, and he found abundant opportuni- 
 ties to yield himself up to it, as he seldom or never 
 approached its object. 
 
 Since that day when he had accompanied her 
 ladyship through the park he had spoken to her 
 but once. At an accidental meeting Eugenie had 
 sought from him more exact information as to the 
 significance of the strike which had broken out 
 among the mines. But Herr Berkow had given 
 strict directions to his officers not in any manner to 
 excite the anxiety of his wife, and Wilberg obeyed 
 so far as to keep silence in regard to the present 
 position of affairs. 
 
 And yet he could not avoid describing as mi- 
 nutely as possible the scene which had taken place 
 in the conference chamber between her husband 
 and Hartmann, and as he must needs revel in the 
 romantic, this scene in his mouth assumed such a 
 dramatic interest, and the young chief, with his 
 suddenly awakened energy, grew to such an heroic 
 personage, that it was incomprehensible how the 
 description could so entirely fail in its effect. 
 
 Eugenie certainly had listened with breathless
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 interest, but she had become noticeably pale and 
 strangely silent during the whole recital ; and at 
 its conclusion the narrator awaited in vain for an 
 expression from her lips. Without the least allu- 
 sion to the subject she politely thanked him and 
 then coolly dismissed him ; and the young man 
 went away in the highest degree astonished and 
 somewhat wounded at her want of sympathy. 
 
 And even her ladyship had no sense of the poesy 
 of such a situation. Or had she, perhaps, failed in 
 appreciating this because her husband was the 
 hero ? Any other would have triumphed in the 
 thought ; but Wilberg's poetic fancies, so long in- 
 dulged, had subverted all natural emotions. He 
 was wounded because the eloquent description, his 
 description, had so entirely failed in its effect. He 
 already felt something of that glacial atmosphere 
 which the chief engineer had spoken of as surround- 
 ing her ladyship. She all at once became so high, 
 so distant, so unapproachable that the most he 
 could have expected of her was a polite dismissal. 
 He must still believe this and worship her uncondi- 
 tionally or imagine himself a very commonplace, 
 unimportant person ; and to imagine such a thing 
 would have been impossible to Herr Wilberg. 
 
 Absorbed in thought, he had approached the 
 overseer's dwelling, and as he usually looked 
 neither to the right nor left, on the bridge he ran 
 against a young lady just coming down the hill. 
 "With a low cry she sprang to one side to avoid the 
 shock, and Wilberg now, for the first time seeing 
 her, stammered an embarrassed apology.
 
 212 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Fraulein Melanie," he said. 
 " I did not see you. I was so lost in thought that I 
 paid no attention to anything around me." 
 
 Fraulein Melanie was the daughter of the chief 
 engineer, whose house the young officer sometimes 
 visited ; but his thoughts, as may be supposed, took 
 so high a flight that he paid little attention to this 
 girl of sixteen years, who certainly possessed a 
 graceful figure, a pretty face, and a pair of roguish 
 eyes. But there was nothing romantic about her. 
 Such girls were far from being poetic enough for 
 Herr Wilberg, and as for Melanie, she had never 
 troubled herself much about the blond young officer, 
 who seemed rather tiresome to her, and who now 
 by a few polite words deemed it necessary to atone 
 for his involuntary rudeness. 
 
 " You seem just returning from a walk, fraulein," 
 he said. " Did you go far ?" 
 
 " Oh, no ! not at all far. Papa has forbidden me 
 long walks and does not like to have me go out 
 alone. Tell me, Herr Wilberg, is there really so 
 much danger from our miners ?'" 
 
 "Danger? What makes you think of that?" 
 asked Wilberg diplomatically. 
 
 " Well, I do not know ; but papa is so grave 
 sometimes that it makes me sad and anxious. He 
 has already spoken of sending mamma and me to 
 visit in the city." 
 
 The young man put on a lugubrious face. 
 
 " The times are serious, fearfully serious, Fraulein 
 Melanie," he said. " I cannot blame your father
 
 GOOD LUCK. 213 
 
 for seeking security for his wife and daughter, 
 while we must stand and tight to the last man." 
 
 " To the last man !" cried the young girl in 
 horror. " For God's sake ! my poor papa !" 
 
 " Well, I am only speaking figuratively," said 
 Wilberg soothingly. " We need have no fear of 
 personal danger, and even should it come to that, 
 the age of our chief engineer, his duties as a husband 
 and father, exclude him. We younger ones must 
 step into the breach." 
 
 " And you too !" asked Melanie with a somewhat 
 distrustful glance. 
 
 " Certainly, Fraulein Melanie. I first of all." 
 
 Herr Wilberg, who, to give more emphasis to 
 this declaration, had solemnly laid his hand upon 
 his heart, all at once sprang backward and hastily 
 retreated over to the other side of the road, where 
 with equal celerity Melanie followed him. Close 
 behind them stood the giant figure of Hartmann. 
 He had come over the bridge unremarked, and a dis- 
 dainful smile now overspread his face as he noticed 
 the terror of the two young people. 
 
 " You need not be so frightened, Herr Wilberg," 
 he said. " I shall not harm you." 
 
 The young officer seemed to feel the ludicrous- 
 ness of his sudden retreat and to see that as com- 
 panion and protector of a young girl a different 
 demeanor was required of him. He hastily recalled 
 his courage, and placing himself right before the 
 terrified Melanie, with something of firmness he 
 said:
 
 214 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " I cannot believe, Hartmann, that you will 
 attack us here on the open street." 
 
 " The officers all appear to believe as much," said 
 Ulrich derisively. " As soon as they catch a 
 glimpse of me they run off as if I were a highway 
 robber. Only Herr Berkow acts otherwise." In 
 Hartmann's voice there was an envenomed tone, as 
 if he could not calmly speak that hated name. 
 "Even if I had the whole herd of miners behind me 
 he would defy me." 
 
 " Herr Berkow and her ladyship are the only 
 ones in the whole works who suspect nothing," said 
 Wilberg unguardedly. 
 
 "Who suspect nothing about what?" asjred 
 Ulrich morosely, and slowly turning his eyes upon 
 Wilberg. 
 
 Whether the young officer was enraged by this 
 merciless irony of himself and his colleagues or 
 whether he thought it necessary to play the hero in 
 Melanie's presence, we cannot say. However this 
 may be, he had a sudden spasm of courage, such as 
 not seldom drives timid natures to extremes, and 
 returned hastily : 
 
 " We do not run from you, Hartmann, because 
 you stir up the workmen to revolt and make all 
 understanding with them impossible: certainly not 
 for that. But we go out of your way because" 
 here he lowered his voice so that Melanie could not 
 understand the words " because the rope broke 
 when you were coming up with Herr Berkow. If 
 you must know, this is why all shun you."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 215 
 
 The words were very thoughtless, very bold 
 certainly, for a man like Wilberg; and he had 
 little dreamed of their effect. Ulrich started back 
 with a repressed yet fearful cry of rage, but at the 
 same moment his face became white as that of a 
 corpse. The threateningly clinched fist sank and 
 convulsively clutched at the iron trellis- work of the 
 bridge. With throbbing breast, with set teeth, he 
 stood there ; and his glance flashed down upon the 
 man before him as if it would annihilate him with 
 one lightning stroke. 
 
 This was too severe a trial for the courage of the 
 two young people. They did not know which ran 
 first, carrying along the other but they both ran 
 Avith all possible speed, and not until several houses 
 lay between them and the man they feared, and 
 they were sure that he was not following, did they 
 moderate their pace. 
 
 "For Heaven's sake, what was it you said to that 
 horrible man that Hartmann that so excited 
 him ?" asked Melanie tremblingly. " What temerity 
 to enrage him so!" 
 
 The young man smiled, although it was Avith 
 white lips. It was the first time in his life that he 
 had been reproached with temerity, and he was 
 conscious of having in the fullest measure deserved 
 the reproach. Now he saw the Avhole magnitude of 
 his venture. 
 
 " My pride as an officer was wounded it was my 
 duty to guard you, fraulein. You see that in con- 
 sequence of my Avords he did not venture near us."
 
 216 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " No ; we ran away at the right time," said 
 Melanie naively. " And it was fortunate we did 
 so. He would have killed us if we had not." 
 
 " I ran away for your sake," returned Wilberg 
 sensitively. "Alone, I would in any event have 
 withstood him, even if it had cost me my life." 
 
 " But that would have been so sad," remarked the 
 younff lady. " You make such pretty verses !" 
 
 Wilberg blushed in the most delighted surprise. 
 
 " Do you know my verses ?" he asked. " I did 
 not suppose that in your house your father is 
 somewhat prejudiced against my poetical bent." 
 
 " Yes, papa was a little while ago speaking to the 
 director about it," said Melanie; and then she 
 stopped suddenly. She could not tell the .young 
 poet that her father, with the most cutting irony 
 and malicious comments, had read to his colleague 
 the verses which to her sixteen-year-old tastes 
 seemed so touching and beautiful ; that he at last 
 had thrown the sheet upon the table with the 
 words : " And in such foolery as this the man 
 passes his time." 
 
 She had thought this ridicule in the highest 
 degree unjust to Herr Wilberg, who had ceased to 
 be tiresome to her now that she had learned of that 
 unhappy love which pervaded and inspired his 
 verses. This explained and excused all his peculiar- 
 ities. She hastened to assure him that for her part 
 she found his poetry delightful, and somewhat 
 timidly, yet in the most sympathetic manner, she 
 began to console him for his supposed misfortune.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 217 
 
 Herr Wilberg allowed himself to be consoled. 
 He found it agreeable beyond description to have 
 met at last a being who understood him, and far 
 more agreeable to receive her consolations. 
 
 Both young people deeply regretted having so 
 soon reached the engineer's dwelling, and it was 
 with real unhappiness that they saw this gentleman, 
 in his own exalted person, standing at a win- 
 dow and gazing at them with critical, astonished 
 glances. 
 
 Wilberg had no desire to encounter the inevitable 
 raillery of his superior if Melanie should incident- 
 ally happen to allude to the meeting with Hart- 
 mann and their running away from him as if on a 
 wager. He therefore parted from the young girl 
 with the assurance that she had dropped balsam 
 into his heart, and Melanie tripped up the stairs 
 racking her brains as to who might be the object of 
 the young officer's interesting but unhappy passion. 
 
 In the dwelling of Overseer Hartmann the old 
 man sat at a table, his head buried in his hands. 
 Not far from him, at a window, stood Lorenz and 
 Martha as Ulrich opened the sitting-room door. 
 At his entrance the conversation of the three stopped 
 so suddenly that the young miner must have sup- 
 posed that he had been its subject. 
 
 But, not seeming to notice, he closed the door 
 behind him, and without word or greeting threw 
 himself into the great arm-chair by the stove. 
 
 '' Glack an/ 7" said the overseer, turning to him. 
 " Do you no longer think it worth your while to 
 give us greeting?"
 
 218 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Do not annoy me, father !" burst out Ulrich im- 
 patiently, again throwing back his head and press- 
 ing his hand against his forehead. 
 
 The overseer shrugged his shoulders and turned 
 away. Martha left her place by the window and 
 sat down by her uncle to resume the work she had 
 dropped in her conversation with Lorenz. For somo 
 moments an oppressive silence reigned in the room. 
 At last Lorenz stepped up to Ulrich and said: 
 
 " Steiger Wilms has been here to speak with you, 
 Ulrich, and will return in an hour. He has been all 
 over the neighboring works." 
 
 Ulrich started up, passing his hand over his fore- 
 head as if he would chase away a tormenting 
 dream. 
 
 "Well, how is it?" he asked; but the question 
 seemed half-mechanical, as if he could not quite 
 recall the subject of conversation. 
 
 " They are all going to join us," said Lorenz. 
 "Our taking the lead seems to have given them 
 courage. There is rebellion everywhere. The up- 
 per forges are to begin, and the other works to 
 follow unless all their demands are immediately 
 granted, and that is not to be thought of. In a 
 week the mines and forges of the whole district will 
 stop." 
 
 "At last!" Ulrich sprang up as if electrified. 
 His absence and dreaming had all at once vanished. 
 The whole elasticity of the man had returned. "At 
 last!" he repeated with a deep breath. "It was 
 indeed time. They have long enough left us 
 alone."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 219 
 
 " Because we alone took the lead." 
 
 "That may be, but we could not wait. Things 
 here were not as in the other works. Every day 
 brought the Berkows a step forward and us a step 
 backward. , Is Wilms over at the villages? He 
 must immediately tell this to his comrades. It will 
 give them courage." 
 
 "They need something to give them courage," 
 said the overseer gravely. " Not a stroke of work 
 has been done for a fortnight. You wait and wait 
 for a concession, for a compromise at least, which 
 in your opinion must come, and yet you wait in 
 vain. The officers shun you and the master does 
 not look as if he would yield an inch. I tell you, 
 Ulrich, 'tis high time you found allies. " 
 
 " Oh, no ! not at all, father," began the young 
 man. " We have been idle scarce two weeks, and 
 I have told you that in case of necessity we can hold 
 out two months if we would conquer; and conquer 
 we must." 
 
 The old man shook his head. 
 
 " Two months ! You can hold out that length of 
 time, Ulrich ; so can I and Lorenz, but not those 
 who have wives and children." 
 
 " They must" said Ulrich coolly. " I had thought 
 we might carry this through more quickly and 
 easily, but I erred. If those above us insist on 
 driving us to extremities, we will let them taste 
 those extremities to the last drop." 
 
 " Or they us," interposed Lorenz. " If the master 
 really "
 
 220 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Ulrich stamped furiously. 
 
 " The master, and always the master ! Have you, 
 then, no other designation for this Berkow ? You 
 did not use to call him so ; but since he has told you 
 to your face what he is and what he will do you call 
 him no other name. I tell you if we succeed we are 
 the masters ; then he will have only the name and 
 we the power. He knows right well that it will end 
 in this. That is why he resists us so and why all 
 our demands must be granted at any price." 
 
 " Try it" said the overseer curtly. " See if you 
 alone can turn the world upside down. It is a 
 long time since I have had a word to say about it." 
 
 Lorenz took his hat from the window-sill and 
 made ready to leave." 
 
 " You know how far we can go," he said. " You 
 are our leader, Ulrich." 
 
 Ulrich's face grew dark. 
 
 " Yes, I am your leader," he replied. " But I had 
 thought it more easy to hold you together. You 
 make things difficult enough." 
 
 We ?" asked the young miner excitedly. " You 
 surely cannot complain of us : we all obey y6u at 
 your word." _ 
 
 " Obey !" With a morose, searching glance Ul- 
 rich measured his comrade's face. " No," he said, 
 " there is no lack of obedience ; I do not complain of 
 that ; but things have changed with us all, and par- 
 ticularly between you and me, Carl. You all now 
 seem so strange and cold and shy, and sometimes I 
 think you fear me more than anything else,"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 221 
 
 " No, no, Ulrich !" cried Lorenz, in a manner so 
 excited as to lead to the supposition that his friend 
 was right. " We confide in you wholly, entirely. 
 What you have done has been done for us, not for 
 yourself : we all know that and shall not forget it." 
 
 The words were harmless enough, and still they 
 seemed to have a hidden meaning. Ulrich appeared 
 to feel this, for with a penetrating gaze he fixed his 
 eyes upon the speaker. Lorenz recoiled from the 
 glance and looked at the floor. 
 
 " I must go," he said hastily. " I will send Wilms 
 over to you. Will you still remain here so that he 
 can find you ?" 
 
 Ulrich made no answer. The glowing excitement 
 of the last few moments had all at once yielded 
 again to the deep pallor his face had worn on his 
 entrance. He only nodded his head in assent and 
 turned to the window. 
 
 Lorenz bade the overseer good-night and left the 
 room. Martha rose and went out with him. The 
 girl had not spoken a word during the entire inter- 
 view, but had gazed steadfastly on both men. She 
 remained quite #. long time outside, but this did not 
 occur to those left behind. They knew that a pros- 
 pective bridal pair must have much to whisper to 
 each other, and seemed to concern themselves very 
 little about it. 
 
 The father and son were alone, but the silence 
 between them was even more oppressive than be- 
 fore at Ulrich's entrance. Ulrich yet stood at the 
 window, his forehead pressed against the pane, and
 
 222 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 stared out without seeing anything. The overseer 
 had not left his place : he still sat at the table, his 
 head resting on his hand ; but the old man's face 
 had strangely altered in these last weeks. It had 
 become care-worn and sorrowful : the furrows graven 
 by age had deepened and the eyes looked weary and 
 troubled, as if all that early energy and combative- 
 ness which had led him to give so many severe lec- 
 tures to his son had gone forever. 
 
 The silence at last became intolerable for Ulrich, 
 and he turned around with an impatient gesture. 
 
 " And have you nothing at all to say, father, to 
 the news Wilms brings us? Isjt, then, all the same 
 to you whether we conquer or are conquered ?" 
 
 The overseer slowly raised his head. 
 
 " It certainly is not all the same to me," he re- 
 plied, " but I cannot be delighted at having you 
 break out into threats and violence. I will wait and 
 see who this harms most the gentlemen or us. 
 You need ask nothing more from the miners, for 
 you have got your will. Well, go ahead ! You are 
 now master and lawgiver of the whole works. All 
 come to } T OU, all bow before you, all obey you at 
 your word. This was just what you wanted from 
 the first, just why all this was planned 
 
 " Father /" interrupted Ulrich, starting up. 
 
 " Ah, well ! let that matter rest," said the old man 
 evasively. "You will not confess it to me or to 
 yourself, but it is so ! They have all gone with 
 you, and I also, for I could not remain back alone. 
 See what you are leading us to ! You must take the 
 responsibility."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 223 
 
 " Did 1 begin the rebellion alone ?" asked Ulrich 
 passionately. " Was it not a unanimous conclusion 
 that things must change, and did we not agree to 
 stand together until the change was effected ?" 
 
 " Then no concessions had been made ; now all 
 your reasonable demands have been granted. The 
 things for which you would fight are not the de- 
 mands of the workmen they are your own ; and it 
 is you alone who hold fast to them. If it had not 
 been for you the men would all be at work again 
 and we should have peace and prosperity upon the 
 works." 
 
 The young steiger* scornfully threw back his 
 head. 
 
 " Ah, well !" he said. " I own that all this is my 
 doing, and I think it no disgrace to me that I know 
 more and see further than the others. If they are 
 content to have the old misery made a little more 
 tolerable, the little span of life in the mines more 
 secure, I am not content, and the courageous spirits 
 among us are not so. We demand much, almost 
 everything, that is true ; and if Berkow were still 
 the millionaire the world considers him, he might 
 guard against thus falling into our hands. But he 
 is a millionaire no longer ; and upon us, upon 
 whether our hands work or refuse to work for him, 
 depends his whole weal or woe. You do not know, 
 father, how things look up in the bureau and the 
 conference chamber : but I know ; and I tell you 
 
 * Master-miner.
 
 224 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 that, let him resist as he Will, he must yield as soon 
 as the rebellion breaks loose upon him from all 
 sides." 
 
 " And I tell you he will not yield," declared the 
 overseer. "He will sooner close the works. I 
 know Arthur. When he was a little boy he was 
 just as he now is entirely different from you. 
 You always set about things violently you would 
 conquer all by force, whether it was a piece of 
 work, a garden fence, or a comrade. He did not 
 willingly set about anything, and it was only after 
 long hesitation that he could persuade himself to 
 this ; but let him once begin a work, and he would 
 never let it go until finished./ Now he is fairly 
 awake, and he will show you all of what stuff he is 
 made. Now that he has the reins in his hands, no 
 one can force them from him. He has something 
 of your own obstinacy. If you are ever made to 
 feel it, remember my words." 
 
 Ulrich did not contradict with his wonted 
 violence, but his dark, lowering glance told how 
 enraged he was that he could not contradict. Per- 
 haps he had already experienced this obstinacy. 
 
 " And however things turn out," continued the 
 father, " do you think that you will remain steiger 
 that you will be allowed upon the works after 
 all that has happened ?" 
 
 The young man laughed derisively. 
 
 " No, in truth not, if it depended upon Berkow 
 and the officers. They surely would not take me 
 again into favor. But we ask no favors; we
 
 GOOD LUCK. 225 
 
 dictate; and our first demand of all is for me to 
 remain." 
 
 " And are you so sure of this ?" 
 
 " Father, do not insult my comrades to my face I 
 They will never desert me." 
 
 " Not even if the first demand from headquarters 
 is for you to go ? And if Berkow himself makes 
 it?" 
 
 " No, never ! He #an never accomplish that. 
 The workmen all know that I have not done this 
 for myself. Things were well with me. I had no 
 need to starve, for I could find my bread anywhere. 
 It was their misery I would relieve. Do not speak 
 of their deserting me, father. They give me trouble 
 enough, I own ; but if things come to the worst I 
 will still fight my way through : no one will leave 
 me in the hour of peril. Wherever they go I shall 
 lead them, and I know that they will stand by me, 
 even in misery and death." 
 
 " Yes. at the first they would have done so, but 
 not now." The old man had risen, and as now, for 
 the first time, he turned his face to the light, one 
 saw how sorrowful were his features, how bowed 
 his form, but a little while ago so erect and vigor- 
 ous. " You yourself have just said to Lorenz that 
 things have changed," he continued in a hollow 
 voice, " and you must know the day and hour when 
 the change came. I need not tell you this, Ulrich : 
 I can only say that day robbed me of the little peace 
 and joy I had still hoped for my old age. Now all is 
 gone forever 1"
 
 226 GOOD LUCK 
 
 " Father /" cried the young man. 
 
 The overseer made a hasty, repellent gesture. 
 
 " Never mind," he said. " I know nothing of it ; 
 I will know nothing of it, even if I am forced to 
 hear it. The bare thought has almost robbed me 
 of my senses." 
 
 Ulrich's eyes flashed threatening as before at 
 Lorenz' insinuation. 
 
 " And if I now tell you, father, that the meshes 
 of the rope were already broken, that my hand had 
 nothing to do with it " 
 
 "No, tell me nothing," returned the old man 
 bitterly. " I cannot believe you, neither do the 
 men believe in you any more. You have always 
 been wild and violent ; in your wrath you would 
 birike down even your best friend. Go among your 
 comrades and say to them, 'It was a mere accident,' 
 not one of them will believe you." 
 
 11 Not one!" repeated Ulrich sadly. "And not 
 even you, father ?" 
 
 The old man fixed his troubled eyes upon his 
 son. 
 
 " Can you here declare to my face that you had 
 no blame in the accident none at all ? That 
 you " 
 
 He did not end the question, for Ulrich could not 
 endure his glance. His still flashing eyes were 
 fixed upon the floor: he turned away with a tremu- 
 lous gesture and was silent. 
 
 There was a long, oppressive silence in the room, 
 broken only by the old man's heavy breathing.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 227 
 
 His hand trembled as he passed it over his fore- 
 head, and his voice trembled still more as he at last 
 said : 
 
 " You say you had no hand in the accident ? You 
 might not have had directly, but all suspect you. 
 Nothing can be investigated, nothing proved God 
 be thanked ! nothing at least by the law. Confide 
 in me alone, Ulrich ; tell me what really did happen, 
 down there ; but boast no more of your comrades. 
 You must have seen that since that day they all 
 fear you. See how long you will be able to rule 
 them by this fear alone." 
 
 The old man left the room ; the son made a 
 movement as if he would rush after him ; then all 
 at once he stood still, and with his clinched hand 
 beat his forehead, while from his throat there came 
 a sound almost like a repressed groan. 
 
 Ten minutes might have passed, when the door 
 again opened and Martha entered. Her uncle had 
 not returned and Ulrich lay upon the lounge, his 
 face buried in his hands. But this did not seem in 
 the least to surprise the girl. She merely glanced 
 at him, and then, stepping to the table, began to 
 gather up her work. 
 
 At the sound of her step Ulrich started up. He 
 now rose slowly and came over to her. Usually he 
 took no interest in Martha's affairs not enough at 
 least to converse with her about them. To-day it 
 was otherwise. Perhaps for this stubborn, reticent 
 nature the moment had come when he longed for 
 some word, some token of sympathy. Doubly
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 dear must have been such word or token just now, 
 when all shunned him, all drew back from him. 
 
 " So you and Lorenz are really lovers ?" he began. 
 " I have not once spoken with you on the subject, 
 Martha : I have latterly had so many other things 
 in my head. Are you betrothed ?" 
 
 " Yes," was the short, half-evasive answer. 
 
 " And when will the marriage be ?" 
 
 " There is plenty of time before that." 
 
 Ulrich gazed down at the girl, who, with hasty 
 breathing and trembling fingers, busied herself about 
 the work, not even looking up to him, but yet he 
 dreamed that a silent reproach lay in her eyes. 
 
 " You have done right, Martha," said he gently, 
 " quite right. Carl is good and kind and loves you 
 more than any other would have been able^to do. 
 And still you hesitated in your decision. When did 
 you give him your promise ?" 
 
 " Three weeks ago to-day." 
 
 " Three weeks ago to-day ! Is that so ? That 
 was the day of the accident in the mines. Was it 
 really at that time ?" 
 
 " Yes, just then ! Until then I could not. On 
 that day I first knew that I could be his wife." 
 
 "Martha!" 
 
 From the young man's voice came forth a cry, 
 half-anger, half-pain. He sought to lay his hand 
 upon her arm. She trembled violently and invol- 
 untarily turned away. Ulrich let his hand fall and 
 stepped backward. 
 
 "And you too?" he said in a hollow voice. "In- 
 deed, indeed, Martha, I should not have thought it 1"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 229 
 
 " Ulrich !" broke forth the girl in wild, despairing 
 agony. " Oh, my God ! what have you done to us 2 
 what have you done to yourself ?" 
 
 He stood opposite her. The hand which he rest- 
 ed upon the table trembled, but his features had 
 taken on an expression of fearful hardness and bit- 
 terness. 
 
 " "What have I done to myself ? For that I alone 
 am answerable. To you ? Well, no one will listen 
 to the story from me. But I tell you once for all " 
 here bis voice rose loud and threatening " that I 
 have had enough of these endless innuendoes and 
 vexations. I can endure them no longer. Believe 
 what you please and of whom you please. In the 
 future it will all be the same to me. What I have 
 begun I will carry through in spite of you all ; and 
 if no one will place confidence in me I shall well 
 know how to enforce obedience." 
 
 He went. Martha made no effort to detain him, 
 and such effort would have been in vain. He 
 slammed the door behind him so violently that it 
 jarred the whole house. A moment after he was 
 out in the open air.
 
 230 GOOD LUCK 
 
 CHAPTEK XIII. 
 
 THE arrival of guests at the Berkow country-seat 
 had certainly brought some life, but it had intro- 
 duced no greater union into the cold, alienated 
 household of this young married pair. Although the 
 visit was designed to be only of a few days' dura- 
 tion, Arthur found plenty of excuses for absence 
 and opportunities for avoiding any frequent meet- 
 ings, a piece of civility for which his father and 
 young brother-in-law were extremely grateful. 
 
 Baron Windeg, after a two weeks' stay upon the 
 Rabenau estates, now his own, was returning to the 
 Residence. Upon his first visit to his daughter he 
 had been obliged to leave the next morning. Even 
 the fearful catastrophe which had happened during 
 his stay could not detain him, for a nearer duty of 
 relationship summoned him to pay the last honors 
 to his cousin. After this duty had been faithfully 
 discharged he had found in the household and upon 
 the estates much demanding the presence of the 
 new heir. Now in the company of his eldest son, 
 whom he had allowed to follow him, he had set out 
 for home, and as Curt had not seen his sister since 
 her marriage, they naturally took the short by-road 
 leading over the Berkow estates.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 231 
 
 From the conversation which upon the day of 
 their arrival took place in Eugenie's parlor, and 
 from which, as usual, Arthur was absent, this seemed 
 to be something more than a mere visit or reunion. 
 Eugenie and her father had for a long time been 
 sitting together on the sofa; now the baron had 
 risen and stood before his daughter, while Curt, 
 leaning against a chair, with a look of intent ex- 
 pectation, gazed over to his sister. 
 
 Eugenie had rested her forehead in her hand so 
 that the hand shaded her face. She did not change 
 her position, she did not even look up, as she an- 
 swered in a low voice : 
 
 " I do not need these hints and insinuations, father, 
 to enable me to know your meaning. You speak 
 of a separation." 
 
 " Yes, my child," said the baron gravely ; " of a 
 separation, no matter under what pretext or at what 
 price. Those forced to a thing are wont to hold to 
 it only through compulsion : this the Berkows them- 
 selves must admit. Now that I am master of my 
 affairs, now that I need no longer be their debtor, I 
 will venture all to release you from those fetters 
 which you assumed only for my sake, and which, 
 whether you admit it or not, make you infinitely 
 unhappy." 
 
 Eugenie did not answer. The father took her 
 hand and again sat down by her side. 
 
 " Is the thought new and surprising to you ? It 
 occurred to me at the moment when I received the 
 unexpected tidings of the change in our fortunes.
 
 232 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 What did old Berkow not resort to in order to ob- 
 tain this union with us ? The possibility is not im- 
 aginable that he would have allowed a divorce which 
 must exclude him from that circle where he had 
 forced entrance through us, and the contest could 
 not have been undertaken with a man who in his 
 unscrupulousness was capable of anything. His 
 sudden death has changed all, but the opposition of 
 his son remains to be overcome. Arthur in the 
 whole affair played only a passive role and resigned 
 himself to be the tool of his father. I hope he will 
 yield to energetic proceedings on our side." 
 
 " He will yield," replied the young wife in a low 
 voice. " You need have no anxiety on that account." 
 
 " So much the better !" returned the baron. " So 
 much the sooner we shall reach our goal." 
 
 He seemed, indeed, in great haste to reach this 
 goal. To the poor, almost bankrupt nobleman who 
 saw ruin just before him, no choice had remained 
 but to accept Eugenie's sacrifice and thereby redeem 
 the name and station of his son. Humiliating as 
 this had been to him, be had bowed to necessity, and 
 necessity had taught him to bear it. But the heir 
 of Rabenau, who had won back his full independ- 
 ence and his full self-importance, who could with 
 ease restore the sum he had received, felt this com- 
 pulsion a burning disgrace and his daughter's mar- 
 riage a heavy wrong against her, for which he must 
 at any price atone. During his entire sojourn upon 
 the new estates this thought had been uppermost in 
 his mind, and he had laid his plans, which were now 
 ready for execution.
 
 GOOD LUCK, 233 
 
 "It must be your wish, Eugenie, as well as ours, 
 that this painful transaction be conducted to an end 
 as speedily as possible. I think you had better now 
 accompany us to the Residence and from there take 
 the necessary steps. You can then simply decline 
 returning to your husband and await the decree of 
 divorce. We will take care that he does not vio- 
 lently assert his rights." 
 
 " Yes, by Heaven, we will do that', Eugenie !" in- 
 terposed Curt passionately. " If he should still 
 refuse to undo this shameful business your brother's 
 sword will compel him to it. He cannot now 
 threaten us with disgrace and public humiliation as 
 his father did. It was the only thing before which 
 the Windegs have ever trembled the only means 
 by which they could force a daughter of our house 
 to an alliance with them." 
 
 " Recall your threats, Curt," said Eugenie ; "and 
 you, father, banish your anxieties. Both are here 
 unnecessary. This divorce, which you think must 
 be a matter for strife and compulsion, has long been, 
 a settled thing between Arthur and me." 
 
 Windeg started up, and in violent surprise Curt 
 drew nearer his sister. Eugenie evidently struggled 
 to give firmness to her voice, but she could not 
 succeed ; the voice trembled audibly as she con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " We had agreed upon this, even before Berkow's 
 death, but we wished to shun the publicity of so 
 early and sudden a rupture, and therefore decided 
 to preserve the outward restraints of a married 
 life."
 
 234 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Even before Berkow's death !" repeated Curt ; 
 " that was shortly after your marriage." 
 
 " And you yourself had spoken of the matter ? 
 You were decided upon it ?" asked the baron, in 
 equal surprise. 
 
 Neither of the two men could understand the 
 pain so plainly depicted on the young wife's face. 
 She evidently summoned all her self-control for the 
 answer, and it was firmly given : 
 
 "I have never alluded to the subject. It was 
 Arthur who, of his own free will, offered me the 
 separation." 
 
 The baron and his son looked at each other, as if 
 this statement passed their powers of comprehen- 
 sion. 
 
 " I certainly was not prepared for this," said the 
 baron at last slowly. " He himself? I had not ex- 
 pected that." 
 
 " It is all the same," cried Curt, in a sudden ac- 
 cess of tenderness, "if he only gives you back to 
 us, Eugenie. None of us has been able to enjoy 
 the new inheritance, because we knew that you 
 were unhappy for our sake. Now if you come back 
 to us our father, we all, shall begin to breathe 
 freely in the new life. You have everywhere in it 
 all been wanting to us." 
 
 He flung his arm around his sister, and for a few 
 moments she buried her face on his shoulder. But 
 this beautiful face was deathly white and cold, as 
 Curt had once before seen it at the altar. Why 
 should this be when she was now to return to the 
 father's house from which she was then to be torn 3
 
 GOOD LUCK. 235 
 
 The baron, in some surprise, gazed upon his 
 daughter, who now rose erect and passed her hand- 
 kerchief over her forehead. 
 
 " Forgive me, papa, if I seem strange to you to- 
 day," she said. " I am not quite well not well 
 enough, at least, for a conversation on this subject. 
 You must permit me to withdraw. I " 
 
 " You have suffered too much of late," added the 
 father tenderly. " I see it, my child, even if you 
 do not confess it to me. Go, and leave to me all 
 the care. I will spare you as much as possible." 
 
 "This is very singular, papa," said the young 
 man as the door closed behind his sister. " Do you 
 comprehend this Berkow ? I do not." 
 
 Baron Windeg, with contracted brow, paced up 
 and down the room. With the strangeness of this 
 revelation blended something very mortifying to him. 
 The proud aristocrat had found it quite compre- 
 hensible that an upstart with millions at his com- 
 mand should shun neither intrigues nor sacrifices 
 and venture all to force a relationship with him, 
 even though such relationship brought w r ith it only 
 contemptuous hatred ; but he had never forgiven 
 his plebeian son-in-law for receiving the hand of a 
 Baroness Windeg with as much indifference as if 
 this had been only a common marriage, and for 
 having afterward shown himself as unappreciative 
 of the high honor as his father had been apprecia- 
 tive. And now he this Arthur Berkow sought a 
 release from the union before they had even so 
 much as permitted him. This was quite too much
 
 336 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 for the pride of a Windeg who had been ready to 
 contend for the recovery of his daughter, but who 
 could not bear to receive her back from the haughti- 
 ness or the indifference of her husband. 
 
 " I will speak with Berkow," he said at length, 
 " and if he really is of our mind, which, notwith- 
 standing Eugenie's assertion, I must still doubt, the 
 business shall be entered upon immediately." 
 
 " Immediately ?" asked Curt. " They have been 
 scarce three months married, and I think they are 
 right in seeking to avoid too early and abrupt a 
 separation." 
 
 " Certainly they are," replied the baron, " and I 
 should agree with you unconditionally if I had not 
 very urgent reasons for hastening the matter. 
 Upon the works here all is not as it should be. I 
 have received a hint from a friend who knows that 
 the rebellion now broken out among the miners 
 may inflict a deadly wound upon the Berkow 
 wealth, which is believed so uncalculable. If Ber- 
 kow's fortune really collapses his wife cannot leave 
 him just at that moment : in the face of the world 
 she cannot. Although we have deeper and more 
 serious reasons for the separation, the world would 
 regard the loss of fortune as the reason, and this 
 must not be. It is better for us to assume the re- 
 sponsibility of so early a rupture than to have our 
 hands tied when the dreaded catastrophe really 
 comes. A divorce is not a transaction which can 
 be carried through in a few weeks : it requires a 
 year at least ; and in half that time the separation
 
 GOOD LUCK. 237 
 
 can be arranged if Berkow throws no difficulties in 
 our way. Eugenie must return to our house, must 
 be free, before they suspect in the Residence how 
 matters stand here." 
 
 " I thought my sister would enter into our plan 
 with far more pleasure and animation," said Curt 
 thoughtfully. " If they had previously decided 
 upon this step, the idea of course was not new to 
 her ; but yet she is cold and silent, as if all this lay 
 infinitely remote from her, as if it dealt not at all 
 with her own freedom." 
 
 The baron shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " She suffers at the thought of the unavoidable 
 publicity, she shrinks from the formalities and dis- 
 agreeableness of the trial, which cannot be spared 
 her. Such a separation is always a painful step for 
 a woman, but still it must be taken. In this case, 
 at least, we shall have the whole Residence on our 
 side. The reason of this marriage could have been 
 no secret, and all will readily comprehend why we 
 seek to dissolve it." 
 
 " There comes Berkow," said Curt half-aloud as 
 the door of the adjoining room opened. " You will 
 speak with him, will you not, papa ? Shall I leave 
 you alone ?" 
 
 Windeg shook his head. 
 
 " You are the eldest son of our house, and in such 
 an interview the presence of a third person is apt 
 to impose a salutary restraint. You will remain, 
 Curt." 
 
 While these words were softly and hastily ex-
 
 238 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 changed, Arthur had passed through the anteroom 
 and now entered. The greeting on both sides was 
 icy and polite as usual, and the conversation began 
 with the wonted commonplaces. The guests re- 
 gretted that they could so seldom enjoy the society 
 of their host, and the host pleaded a pressure of 
 business which robbed him of the pleasure, etc. 
 mutual civilities which neither side was expected to 
 believe and behind which they intrenched them- 
 selves so as, at least, to have something to say. 
 
 " I hope that Eugenie's constant presence richly 
 compensates you for my enforced absence," con- 
 tinued Arthur, glancing through the salon as if in 
 quest of his young wife. 
 
 " Eugenie has withdrawn on account of a slight 
 indisposition," explained the baron, " and I would 
 employ the opportunity of her absence to express a 
 wish whose fulfillment depends principally upon 
 yourself." 
 
 " You have only to state your wish, Herr Baron, 
 if the granting of it depends upon me," returned 
 Arthur, placing himself opposite his father-in-law ; 
 while Curt, who well knew what was coming, with- 
 drew to a window-niche and seemed to be atten- 
 tively gazing out upon the terrace. Baron Win- 
 deg's manner assumed its utmost formality and all 
 that aristocratic dignity which lay at his command. 
 By this manner he sought to impress the plebeian 
 husband of his daughter and at the outset silence 
 every possible opposition ; for at the most he could 
 but regard that separation proposed on Arthur's
 
 GOOD LUCK. 239 
 
 side as a mere ebullition after some passionate 
 scene. He did not believe that Arthur seriously 
 had an}' such idea. 
 
 " They must, I think, place a greater significance 
 upon the rebellion at your works than it really de- 
 serves," began he. " Yesterday as I stopped at the 
 town to call on the commandant of the garrison 
 there, a friend of my youth, I was told that the out- 
 break of your workmen into open insurrection was 
 very probable." 
 
 " People in the town seem to be more occupied 
 with my works and my workmen than I had sup- 
 posed," replied Arthur coldly. " In any event, 
 I have not called on the colonel for eventual help." 
 
 The baron understood the rebuff. 
 
 "For myself, I naturally have no opinion in the 
 matter," he replied calmly. " I would only remind 
 you that it will not be proper to expose Eugenie to 
 possible scenes and outbreaks. I very much desire 
 to take my daughter home with me fora time until 
 matters here become settled." 
 
 The young man's face betrayed some slight 
 emotion. He threw a hasty glance over to the 
 door leading to his wife's chamber, as if he would 
 ascertain if the wish had originated there. But his 
 answer was perfectly calm. 
 
 "Eugenie is entire mistress of her own actions 
 If she thinks the removal necessary, I give her per 
 feet freedom." 
 
 Baron Windeg gave a nod of satisfaction. 
 
 " Then she will accompany us to-morrow," he said.
 
 240 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " As to the duration of her visit there, we come to 
 a point painful for us both to discuss ; but I prefer 
 to treat with you by word of mouth, especially so 
 as I know that in the main our wishes coincide." 
 
 Arthur seemed about to start up from his chair, 
 but he controlled himself and kept his place. 
 
 " Very well. I suppose that Eugenie has already 
 communicated with you." 
 
 " Yes. Are you surprised at that ? She certainly 
 would first of all confide in her father." 
 
 The young man's lips quivered. 
 
 " I supposed," said he, " that the matter would 
 remain a secret between us until the time for action 
 came. I have erred, as I see." 
 
 " "Why defer the carrying out of a conclusion 
 once fixed upon ?" asked the baron calmly. " The 
 time is just now favorable. The present condition 
 of your estates gives us the best and plainest excuse 
 for my daughter's removal. The world need not 
 at first know that this removal is to be a permanent 
 one. Now in summer, when all our/friends have 
 left the Residence, the preparatory steps can be 
 taken unremarked. Where publicity cannot be 
 avoided, it is always best to perform a deed in the 
 face of the world. In this way the propensity for 
 gossip is soonest stayed." 
 
 A short pause ensued. Arthur again fixed his 
 glance, this time with an inquiring expression, upon 
 the door leading to Eugenie's chamber. Then he 
 turned deliberately to her father and asked : 
 
 " Does the wish for this haste come from Eugenie 
 herself?"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 41 
 
 The baron thought proper at this moment to con- 
 ceal the truth : this would end matters sooner, and 
 in any event Eugenie would thank him for it. 
 
 " I speak in my daughter's name," declared he 
 formally. 
 
 Arthur started up suddenly, and so violently that 
 the chair fell back." 
 
 " I consent to all, Herr Baron," he said, " to all. 
 1 thought I had stated to your daughter my reasons 
 for delay : they were for the most part dictated by 
 regard for her. I did not think of myself. If, 
 regardless of these, she still wishes matters acceler- 
 ated let it be." 
 
 His manner of speaking was so peculiar that 
 Curt, who, although he had -not lost a syllable of 
 the conversation, still seemed to be gazing out on 
 the terrace, all at once turned around and looked in 
 surprise at his brother-in-law. Baron Windeg also 
 seemed startled, but there was really no ground for 
 excitement here, where both sides were simply 
 hastening forward a disagreeable necessity. 
 
 " You also unconditionally agree to the separa- 
 tion?" he asked somewhat hesitatingly. 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 The baron breathed more freely. Eugenie, then, 
 had been right when she predicted the immediate 
 consent of her husband. The business now remain- 
 ing, in the baron's opinion, offered scarce any diffi- 
 cult} 7 . 
 
 " I am very grateful to you for your obliging- 
 ness," he said courteously ; " it will do much to
 
 242 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 facilitate a step so painful for both sides. One 
 thing still remains, which, though it has no connec- 
 tion with this matter, must yet be arranged. Your 
 father" a deep flush overspread the forehead of 
 the now wealthy baron at this remembrance " your 
 father had the goodness to assume certain obliga- 
 tions for me which at that time I could not fulfill. 
 I am now in a position to do this, and I would like 
 to hasten " 
 
 He paused, for Arthur raised his eyes and fixed 
 them on his face in a glance so open and so reproach- 
 ful that he could not go on. 
 
 " Had we not better let this matter rest ?" he 
 asked. " For my part, I implore it." 
 
 "It might rest so long as our mutual relations re- 
 mained as now," replied Windeg gravely ; " not 
 when they are dissolved. You will not oblige me 
 to remain your debtor." 
 
 " This cannot be called a debt in the usual sense. 
 My father, at the last, only enforced his own de- 
 mands, and the documents were destroyed as soon 
 as" here the terrible excitement of he young man 
 broke through his enforced repose " as soon as the 
 price for them was paid !" 
 
 The baron seemed deeply wounded. 
 
 "At that time the agreement was closed at Herr 
 Berkow's express wish," replied he coldly ; " now 
 it is to be dissolved mostly at our wish. Circum- 
 stances are now changed." 
 
 " It it absolutely necessary that in this divorce 
 business \ve hold fast to the conditions of a bill of
 
 GOOD LUCK. 343 
 
 sale?" Arthur interrupted with cutting irony. "I 
 hope that for a second time my wife and I shall not 
 be made the objects of a business transaction. Once 
 was enough." 
 
 The baron misunderstood the words, fully as he 
 misunderstood the impulse which dictated them. 
 He again put on his aristocratic air and with great 
 dignity said : 
 
 " Be pleased to remember, Herr Berkow, that the 
 term ' business,' which you are pleased to use, has 
 relation to only one of the two parties : it does not 
 apply to us." 
 
 Arthur stepped back, but his bearing was proud 
 and unapproachable as any the titled gentleman 
 opposite him had ever known how to assume. 
 
 "I now know," he said, "how this marriage was 
 brought about, and I also know how those obliga- 
 tions arose which forced you to consent. This being 
 the case, you can well appreciate my demand that 
 the debt shall not be alluded to, not even by another 
 syllable. I demand from you, Herr Baron, that 
 you do not force a son to blush at the remembrance 
 of his father." 
 
 Baron "Windeg had once before been unable to 
 comprehend his son-in law when he declined the 
 title of nobility. But this had been done in that 
 cool, negligent way characteristic of the former 
 Arthur Berkow. This present appearance and 
 bearing quite petrified the baron. He glanced in- 
 voluntarily over to his son, who had stepped out of 
 the window-niche and whose youthful face expressed 
 an astonishment he took no pains to conceal.
 
 244 GOOD LUCK 
 
 " I did not know that you looked upon the trans- 
 action in this light," said Windeg after a pause. 
 "I had no intention of wounding you, but 
 
 " I assume that. And now grant me the favor 
 of forgetfulness in regard to it all. As to this 
 divorce business, I will instruct my lawyer to meet 
 every step of yours. If anything is required of me 
 personally, I beg you to command me. I will do 
 everything in my power toward gaining the desired 
 end speedily and considerately." 
 
 He bowed to both gentlemen and left the room. 
 The next moment Curt was at his father's side. 
 
 " What does all this mean, papa ?" he asked. 
 " What, for Heaven's sake, has come over this 
 Arthur within the last three months ? Yesterday I 
 found him far more decided, far more serious than 
 usual ; but this demeanor I would never have be- 
 lieved it possible from him." 
 
 The baron had not yet recovered from his aston- 
 ishment, but the exclamation of his son brought 
 back his bewildered senses. 
 
 " Arthur really seems not to have been aware of 
 the role his father played with us," said he. " That 
 certainly changes matters. If he bnly would not 
 harbor the supposition that I am to remain his 
 debtor !" 
 
 " He does quite right," cried Curt excitedly, " if 
 he knows of the usury by which old Berkow goaded 
 us to ruin. He did not advance us a quarter of the 
 sum which afterward seemed of such giant dimen- 
 sions to us, and the son could not take back a penny
 
 0001) LTTCK. 245 
 
 of it without dishonoring himself. We saw how 
 deeply mortified he was as you recalled the humil- 
 iating story. But the conversation took a strange 
 turn. Though in this transaction he played a 
 more disgraceful role than we, he at least knew how 
 to represent matters in such a light as to make us 
 ashamed of our offer." 
 
 Windeg took the last remark rather ungraciously, 
 perhaps because he could not contradict it. 
 
 " If we did young Berkow wrong, I am now 
 ready to render him full justice," he said ; " and all 
 the more because in this divorce affair we really 
 owe him thanks. I would not have believed he 
 would make it so easy for us, although I am aware 
 that lie seemed indifferent to the marriage from the 
 first." 
 
 Curt resumed that thoughtful air so unusual to 
 him. 
 
 "The divorce does not appear to me by any 
 means so settled," he said. " Berkow was far from 
 being so calm as he would have us suppose, and so 
 was Eugenie. The violence with which he trembled 
 when you declared that she insisted on an immedi- 
 ate separation showed nothing like indifference, and 
 the face with which Eugenie left us still less. From 
 all this a strange idea has arisen in my mind." 
 
 The baron smiled, and with an air of great 
 superiority said : 
 
 " You are still a mere child, Curt, in spite of your 
 years and your epaulets. Do you really suppose 
 that the conclusion which it now appears they 
 
 *
 
 246 G OD LUCK. 
 
 reached long ago came without preliminary scenes 
 and contentions ? In any event, Eugenie has suf- 
 fered bitterly, and perhaps Berkow. What you 
 have so wisely remarked is only the reverberation 
 of earlier storms, nothing more. God be thanked, 
 we have now fair weather on both sides and the 
 storms are at an end." 
 
 " Kather, they are just beginning," replied Curt 
 half-aloud as with his father he left the salon.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 24? 
 
 CHAPTEK XIV. 
 
 EVENING had fallen, but throughout the Berkow 
 mansion reigned a restless activity. Baron Win- 
 deg and his daughter had had a long conversation 
 that afternoon ; and immediately after the maid had 
 received orders to pack her mistress' trunks. Herr 
 Berkow had also announced to the servants that 
 early to-morrow morning his wife would set out 
 with her father for a visit of some weeks to the 
 Residence a piece of news that naturally went the 
 rounds of the officers' houses, and in them, as at the 
 Berkow house, caused more anxiety than surprise. 
 
 It was clear as the sunlight that the chief only 
 sent her ladyship away because he was convinced 
 that insurrection would soon break out upon the 
 works. He would have her safe in the Residence, 
 and had, no doubt, requested her father to come and 
 take her away. 
 
 Windeg was right : the pretext was so plausible 
 that it occurred to no one to doubt it. The pecul- 
 iarly cold relations between this married pair had 
 at first been much spoken of and commented upon 
 throughout the Berkow colony, but now all such 
 comment had ceased. It was known that the mar- 
 riage had not been one of affection, but as nothing
 
 248 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 like passionate scenes or violent quarrels had been 
 seen or heard by the servants, as the young husband 
 was always politeness itself to his wife and she 
 showed the utmost calmness and amiability in her 
 relations to him, it was supposed that they must 
 have become accustomed to each other and be quita 
 content together the usual sequel of such merce- 
 nary marriages. Their somewhat novel manner of 
 life was assumed to be only a custom of the fash- 
 ionable world, as people in the Residence were said 
 to live, for the most part, on this distant, coolly 
 polite footing. That the Baroness "Windeg and the 
 son of the millionaire Berkow followed this custom 
 had ceased to be a matter for surprise or remark. 
 
 No one dreamed that the departure of her lady- 
 ship, which had been preceded by no sort of quar- 
 rel, involved a separation, and it surprised no one 
 that the master and mistress did not pass the even- 
 ing together and that Baron Windeg and his son 
 supped alone in the dining-room. It did not seem 
 strange to the lady's maid that her mistress, not 
 being well, had tea sent to her boudoir; and it was 
 a matter of no comment to the servants that Herr 
 Berkow did not sup at all, but, on account of urgent 
 business, retired to his cabinet, having first given 
 orders on no account to be disturbed. 
 
 Without, utter darkness reigned, and within, the 
 lamp burning on the writing-table of Arthur's cabi- 
 net threw its light upon the man who for more 
 than an hour had paced restlessly up and down 
 who now, behind closed doors, threw off that so
 
 GOOD LUGS:. 249 
 
 long-enforced indifference and gave freo course to 
 the storm that raged within him. 
 
 This was indeed no longer the blase young heir 
 with his apathetic indifference ; neither was it the 
 young chief who, with an energy and determination 
 so suddenly awakened, knew how to impress his 
 workmen and impart new courage to his officers. 
 
 In this face raged the whole violence of a passion 
 whose magnitude even its possessor had not known 
 until about to lose its object. That moment had 
 now come, and it demanded its right. Upon this 
 pale forehead, on these trembling lips, in these 
 burning eyes stood plainly written all that to-day's 
 conversation had cost him. And yet Baron Win- 
 deg had expressed his surprise that the affair could 
 be so easily arranged ! 
 
 And now it had come that long-dreaded hour of 
 separation ! And it was well that it had come 
 thus; that another will had interposed where his 
 own had proved itself powerless. How often dur- 
 ing the last fortnight had Arthur thought of avail- 
 ing himself of the excuse which the baron now pro- 
 posed to him, and thereby shortening the torture 
 of this life with Eugenie ; for that calculating out- 
 side coldness, for whose deception the inward glow 
 must every moment atone, could be borne no longer. 
 For this mortal strength could not suffice, and yet 
 nothing had been done. 
 
 That the inevitable had best happen speedily is a 
 truth none can gainsay, but not every one who 
 possesses the courage to set the knife with firm
 
 250 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 hand to an envenomed bodily wound has the same 
 courage to tear a consuming passion from the heart. 
 
 They had long been alienated, these two, but he 
 saw ever before him that beautiful blond head, 
 with the proud, but now grave features and the 
 dark, expressive eyes ; that voice rang ever in his 
 ears ; and at moments there flashed through his 
 soul a lightning-like gleam of happiness, which 
 counterbalanced days and weeks full of bitterness ; 
 as yesterday, when in the forest, with such manifest 
 anxiety she had pressed her horse close to his, 
 when she had trembled in his arms as he lifted her 
 down. It might be cowardice, but of his own free 
 will he could not have renounced all this until 
 others had ordered it as now. 
 
 The door softly opened and a servant stepped 
 hesitatingly upon the threshold. 
 
 " What "is it ~?" asked Arthur hastily. " Have I 
 not given orders " 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Herr Berkow," said the man 
 timidly. " I know that you do not wish to be dis- 
 turbed ; but as as her ladyship herself 
 
 "Who?" 
 
 " My lady herself is here and wishes 
 
 The servant had no time to end the sentence, and 
 he could but be surprised at the violence with which 
 his master flung open the door and hastened into 
 the anteroom, where he very unexpectedly saw his 
 wife, who seemed to be waiting there. The next 
 moment he was at her side.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 251 
 
 " Do you have yourself announced ? What super- 
 fluous etiquette !" 
 
 " I heard that you would see no one, and Franz 
 told me-the order was for all, without exception." 
 
 Arthur cast an angry glance at the servant, who 
 said apologetically : 
 
 "I really did not know what to do in this case. 
 It is the first time her ladyship has come here." 
 
 The words contained an embarrassed apology, 
 nothing more ; but Eugenie turned quickly away, 
 and the excuse for this intrusion which was upon 
 her lips remained unspoken. The man was right : 
 his instructions did not suffice for so unusual a case 
 as the appearance of her ladyship in his master's 
 apartments. This was the first time she had en- 
 tered them. They had as yet always met in the salon, 
 the dining-hall, or reception-rooms. It was no won- 
 der this visit was a surprise to the servant. 
 
 Arthur motioned to the valet to withdraw and 
 invited his wife into the cabinet. She paused hesi- 
 tatingly upon the threshold. 
 
 "I wished to speak with you," she said in a low 
 voice. 
 
 "I am quite at your command," replied Arthur. 
 
 He closed the door and motioned Eugenie to take 
 a seat. These few moments had sufficed to give 
 back to the young man all that self-possession of 
 which, for the last few weeks, he had made such 
 effectual use. Answer and question were as cool 
 and formal as though he offered a civility to some 
 strange lady in a strange salon.
 
 252 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Will you not take a seat ?" 
 
 " I thank you. I will not long detain you." 
 
 There was something timid and hesitating in the 
 young woman's manner, which peculiarly contrasted 
 with her usual self-possessed bearing. Perhaps she 
 felt strange in these rooms ; and perhaps, too, it was 
 difficult for her to find words with which to begin. 
 Arthur made no effort to place her at her ease. He 
 saw how twice she sought to speak and was not 
 able, but he sat at the opposite side of the writing- 
 table quietly waiting for her to begin. 
 
 " My father has told me of his conversation with 
 you to-day and also of its result," she said at 
 length. 
 
 " I expected this ; and it was on this very account 
 I beg your pardon, Eugenie that I was at first 
 so surprised to see you here. I believed you busied 
 in preparations for departure." 
 
 The words might well cause Eugenie to forget his 
 emotion at her appearance, and they seemed to 
 have this effect. Some moments passed before she 
 answered : 
 
 " You have already announced my departure to 
 the servants ?" 
 
 " Yes. I suppose I anticipated your wishes. In 
 any event, I thought it better to have the order for 
 preparation given by me. You know the pretext 
 we employ. Did you design conducting the affair 
 in any other manner ? If so, I regret not having 
 known your intention." 
 
 The tone was icy, and from it something like an
 
 GOOD LUCK. 253 
 
 icy breath seemed to float over to Eugenie. She 
 involuntarily started back. 
 
 " I have nothing to suggest to you. It only sur- 
 prised me that the time of my departure once firmly 
 agreed upon should be hastened. You had the 
 same reasons for holding fast to that decision as at 
 first." 
 
 " I ? It was your wish, your demand, to which in 
 this case I consented. At least, Baron Windeg told 
 me this was so." 
 
 Eugenie started. It seemed as if, with the deep 
 sigh of relief that all at once rose from her breast, 
 her timidity and hesitation had vanished as if with 
 that answer all her courage had returned. 
 
 "I suspected this. My father has gone too far, 
 Arthur. He has spoken in ray name when he only 
 expressed his own wishes. I am come to explain 
 this misunderstanding and to tell you that I will 
 not go, at least not until I hear from your lips that 
 you demand it." 
 
 Eugenie had fixed her glance firmly, but in anx- 
 ious, breathless expectation upon Arthur's face, as if 
 she must and would read his eyes ; but the eyes re- 
 mained veiled and her words seemed not to have the 
 slightest effect. She thought that a quiver passed 
 over his features as she explained the misunder- 
 standing, but perhaps she had only imagined this, 
 for the emotion, if there was any, went as quickly 
 as it came. The face remained unchanged and the 
 voice retained its icy tone as, after a momentary 
 pause, he answered :
 
 254 GOOD LUCK 
 
 " You will not go ? And why not ?" 
 
 The young wife, with the fullest decision, rose 
 and stood before her husband. 
 
 "You yourself told me yesterday that in the 
 struggle before you your existence was at stake. 
 Since your last meeting with Hartmann I have 
 known that the battle must be fought out to the 
 bitter end, and that your position is far more dan- 
 gerous than you will admit to me. I cannot and 
 will not leave you in such a moment : that would be 
 cowardice, and " 
 
 " You are very magnanimous," interrupted Ar- 
 thur ; and now behind the coldness of his tone lay 
 a bitterness he could not conceal. " But in order to 
 practice magnanimity you must find some one who 
 will accept it, and I will not accept yours." 
 
 Eugenie's hand, as if in repressed anger, grasped 
 at the velvet-cushioned arm of the chair. 
 
 " You will not ?" 
 
 " No ! The plan emanated from your father : let 
 it stand! He has doubtless a right to provide for 
 the protection and security of his daughter, who 
 will shortly belong to him, from the barbarities 
 and excesses which may soon happen here. I give 
 him full power in this matter and agree to to- 
 morrow's separation." 
 
 The young wife energetically threw back her 
 blond head. 
 
 " And I consent only so long as I consider it your 
 wish. I will not yield in this matter to the dicta- 
 tion of my father. I have taken upon myself the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 255 
 
 obligations of your wife, at least before the world, 
 and before the world I will carry them out. They 
 command me not to basely desert you in the hour 
 of danger, but to remain at your side until the 
 catastrophe is past and the time of our separation 
 originally agreed upon has arrived. Then 1 will go, 
 but not before." 
 
 " Not even if I imperatively demand it of you ?" 
 
 " Arthur !" 
 
 He stood with half-averted face, one hand nerv- 
 ously crumpling a paper from his writing-table, 
 which he had seized mechanically. The self-control 
 so painfully summoned could no longer face this 
 glance and tone. 
 
 " I have told you once already to play no mag- 
 nanimous roles with me," he said bitterly. " They 
 cannot move me. Duties ! A wife who of her own 
 free will gives a man her hand and heart may well 
 deem it her duty to remain by her husband in dan- 
 ger, to share his misfortune, perhaps his ruin, as she 
 has shared his happiness. This certainly is not 
 your case. We have no duties to each other, be- 
 cause we have had no right in each other. The 
 only solace I could offer you in this enforced mar- 
 riage was the possibility of its dissolution : it has 
 been dissolved since that moment when we agreed 
 to a divorce. That is my answer to your proposi- 
 tion." 
 
 Eugenie's dark eyes still remained steadily fixed 
 upon Arthur's face. That fervid, treacherous gleam 
 from his eyes, which once hud seemed to unveil an
 
 256 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 unknown depth to her, did not come to-day, when 
 at any price she would have compelled it forth. He 
 did not grant her the triumph of again seeing or 
 suspecting that which alone could have induced this 
 proud' woman to come to him with such a proffer : 
 he remained fully master of himself, and she was 
 left in torturing doubt. 
 
 Yesterday, upon that wooded height, when the 
 flaming glance of Ulrich Hartmann rested upon her 
 face, the woman's instinct had plainly and une- 
 quivocally told her what lay behind that glance, and 
 with that consciousness a sudden terror had come 
 over her. There she had remained cool in the 
 midst of the danger with which an insane passion 
 threatened her ; here, where there was nothing to 
 fear, she trembled in feverish excitement, and for 
 that very reason all those brown eyes had revealed 
 to her up yonder was now veiled ; for that reason 
 the inner voice was silent in regard to that she 
 would have given her life to know with certainty. 
 
 " You should not make remaining so difficult for 
 me," she said, in a voice that betrayed the torturing 
 suspense of her soul. She wavered between un- 
 bending pride and weak submission. " You know, 
 Arthur, the struggle it must have cost me to come 
 to you. Will you not consider it?" 
 
 The words sounded almost like an entreaty, but 
 Arthur could not in his present mood understand 
 this. The wild resentment, the fearful excitement 
 which surged through his whole being, even here 
 biased and controlled his better judgment as he 
 cuttingly replied :
 
 GOOD LUCK. 257 
 
 " I do not doubt that the Baroness Windeg makes 
 an incalculable sacrifice in deciding for three 
 months longer to bear my plebeian name and to 
 remain by the side of a man she so thoroughly 
 despises, even though he offers her immediate free- 
 dom. I was once compelled to hear how terrible 
 both were to her, and can therefore estimate what 
 this self-sacrifice costs." 
 
 " You taunt me with the conversation upon the 
 evening of our arrival here," said Eugenie in a low 
 voice. " I I had forgotten it." 
 
 Now, at last, Arthur's eyes flashed, but the light 
 for which she had sought and hoped was not there. 
 A strange, hostile expression gleamed from them. 
 
 " Have you really ? You do not ask whether I 
 have forgotten it ? I was obliged at that time to 
 listen to your words, but they went to the utmost 
 limit of what I could bear. Do you think that a 
 man would with impunity allow a woman to tread 
 him in the dust as I was trodden that evening, and 
 then permit her to lift him up again if it happened 
 to please her to change her mind ? I am not quite 
 the miserable weakling you deemed me. From that 
 hour I ceased to be so. That hour decided my 
 character ; but it also decided our future. As for 
 what threatens me and may threaten me, I will 
 bear it alone. I have learned a great deal in these 
 last weeks. I shall carry through this contest ; but" 
 here he rose and, glowing with pride and resent- 
 ment, stood before her u but the woman who on 
 our marriage-clay, with such annihilating scorn,
 
 258 GOOD LUCK 
 
 thrust me from her, not even asking if the husband 
 to whom she had just given her hand was really so 
 guilty as she believed him ; who took my asser- 
 tion, made upon my word of honor, that I had 
 known nothing of my father's share in that mar- 
 riage transaction, as the subterfuge of a liar ; who, 
 in reply to my question whether she did not deem 
 it worth her while to attempt the reformation of 
 such a reprobate as I, flung forth a disdainful No 
 this woman I will not have at my side when I fight 
 out the battle for my future. I will be alone !" 
 
 He turned impetuously away. Eugenie stood 
 there silent, confounded. Greatly as her husband's 
 character had changed of late, she had never before 
 seen him in a passion ; and now he was terribly 
 angry angry to a degree that frightened her. By 
 this storm now raging against her she could judge 
 what that evening had lain concealed behind the 
 outward indifference which had so roused her indig- 
 nation what for months long had fumed within 
 him until it had at last wrested him from the 
 apathy which had become his second nature. 
 
 Ah, yes! That cold, disdainful No. She best 
 knew the wrong that by its utterance she had done 
 him ; and now, when she saw how deeply it had 
 wounded him, she felt that this hour might perhaps 
 have canceled all the wrong each had done the 
 other had it not been for that unfortunate last 
 word. 
 
 This touched the young wife's pride, and where 
 ber pride was concerned all was over with her judg-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 259 
 
 ment and prudence, even though she knew herself 
 in the wrong. 
 
 " You will stand alone !" repeated she. " Well, 
 then, I will not obtrude myself upon you. I came 
 to convince myself whether my father's plan was 
 yours also. I see that it is so and I will leave 
 you." 
 
 She turned to go. At the door she paused sud- 
 denly. It seemed to her, at the moment when her 
 hand was upon the latch, as if he started up, as if 
 he made a motion to rush after her ; but this must 
 have been an illusion, for when she turned around 
 Arthur still sat at his writing-table. He was 
 certainly deathly pale, but in his bearing, on every 
 feature, stood written the word with which she had 
 once thrust him from her a bitter, unrelenting No. 
 
 Eugenie summoned up her last remaining courage 
 for an adieu. 
 
 " We shall meet to-morrow only in my father's 
 presence, and then, perhaps, never again. So 
 farewell, Arthur!" 
 
 " Farewell !" he said in a hollow voice. 
 
 The door closed behind her : she had vanished. 
 This last interview had been unavailing : the last 
 bridge to reconciliation was broken down. The 
 obstinacy of neither would yield ; neither would 
 speak the word which would reconcile all, even had 
 it been tenfold worse. Pride alone spoke, and thus 
 was her decision spoken. 
 
 Gray and cloudy came the next morning over the 
 mountains, but at an unwonted hour all was in
 
 260 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 commotion at the Berkow house. The travelers 
 must depart early so as to be in time at the station 
 and reach the Residence that evening. Curt von 
 Windeg was first in the salon ; the baron still re- 
 mained in his chamber, and Eugenie had not as yet 
 made her appearance. The young officer seemed 
 to wait for something or other with an impatience 
 he could not conceal. He had already paced up 
 and down the room several times, stood on the 
 balcony, and then thrown himself down in afauteuil, 
 from which he now sprang up hastily as Arthur en- 
 tered. 
 
 " Ah ! you here already ?" he said, greeting his 
 young brother-in-law with that chilling politeness 
 which was usual between them. 
 
 Curt ran excitedly to meet him. 
 
 " I would like to have a few words with you 
 alone," he said ; " but good heavens ! what is the 
 matter with you ? Are you ill ?" 
 
 " I ?" answered Arthur calmly. " What are you 
 thinking of ? I am quite well." 
 
 " Indeed !" returned Curt, with a glance upon 
 the pale, care-worn, melancholy face of his brother- 
 in-law. " I should have supposed the contrary." 
 
 " I am not accustomed to this early rising," said 
 Arthur somewhat impatiently ; " it always makes 
 one look weary. I fear you will have an unpleasant 
 journey to-day. It is a horribly cloudy morning." 
 
 He stepped to the window as if to take an obser- 
 vation of the weather, but in truth it was only to 
 withdraw from Curt's annoying scrutiny of his
 
 GOOD LUCK. 261 
 
 face. But Curt would not let him escape so easily. 
 He stepped close to his side. 
 
 " I wanted to be first here," began he a little 
 hesitatingly, " because I sought a private interview 
 with you, Arthur." 
 
 The individual addressed turned around, as much 
 surprised at this request as at the manner of the 
 address. During the whole period of their relation- 
 ship Curt had scarce once called him by his bap- 
 tismal name. He usually followed his father's 
 example and employed the stiff " Herr Berkow." 
 
 " Well?" asked Arthur kindly. 
 
 A sort of timidity and embarrassment for the 
 moment struggled in the young officer's features, 
 but all at once he raised his handsome, open face to 
 his brother-in-law and said frankly : 
 
 "We have done you wrong, Arthur, and I per- 
 haps most of all. I was enraged at the compulsion 
 employed with us, and let me candidly confess it 
 to you I have had a downright hatred for you 
 from the moment you became my brother-in-law 
 Yesterday I learned that we had erred in regard to 
 you, and then the hatred was all over. I am sorry, 
 very sorry for it all ; and this this was what 1 
 wished to say to you. Will you accept my apology, 
 Arthur?" 
 
 Warmly and cordially he held out his hand, and 
 Arthur grasped it. 
 
 " I thank you, Curt," he simply said. 
 
 " God be thanked, this is over ! It has kept me 
 awake all night long," exclaimed Curt. " And,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 believe me, my father now does you justice. It is 
 true, he will not confess his thoughts to you ; but I 
 know what they are." 
 
 A smile flitted over Berkow's face, but neither 
 his eyes nor forehead brightened : heavy shadows 
 still lay upon both as he calmly answered : 
 
 " I am glad of it. So we separate, at least, not as 
 enemies." 
 
 "And as for the separation," interrupted Curt 
 hastily, " papa is still up in his chamber and Eugenie 
 must be for the moment quite alone in hers. Will 
 you not speak with her ?" 
 
 " And why ?" asked Arthur in surprise. " The 
 baron may any moment appear, and Eugenie would 
 hardly " 
 
 " I will place myself before the door and let no 
 one in," interrupted Curt eagerly. " I shall know 
 how to keep papa outside until you are ready to see 
 him." 
 
 A quick flush passed over Arthur's face as he 
 met the intent, searching glance of his brother-in- 
 law. But he gravely shook his head. 
 
 " No, Curt, that is unnecessary. I, yesterday 
 evening, once again and finally, spoke with your 
 sister." 
 
 " And about the departure ?" 
 
 " Yes, about the departure." 
 
 The young officer looked somewhat disappointed, 
 but no time remained to him for further proposi- 
 tions. Outside the baron's step was already heard 
 and he immediately/ after entered. Curt, with a
 
 GOOD LUCK 263 
 
 half-angry gesture, withdrew more into the back- 
 grounH of the room, muttering to himself : " And 
 yet the thing is not right." 
 
 The unavoidable interview during breakfast was 
 over. The precise formality of the baron and the 
 constant presence of a servant had helped all 
 through with it, and now the carriage drove up be- 
 fore the terrace. The gentlemen put on their 
 overcoats, Eugenie's waiting-maid brought her 
 mistress' hat and shawl, Arthur offered his wife his 
 arm to conduct her down. The appearance of a 
 perfect understanding should be preserved to the 
 last moment. 
 
 Gray and cloudy the morning had come over the 
 mountains ; gray and cloudy it now descended into 
 the valleys ; before the windows ebbed and flowed 
 a sea of fog, and within the cold, frosty morning 
 light that already filled the rooms gave them a 
 weird, desolate appearance. It seemed as if the 
 costly splendor of their adorning had all at once 
 lost glow and color as if they had become empty, 
 wholly empty, now that the young mistress was 
 about to leave them, never to return. 
 
 Curt remarked silently that his sister had the 
 same sad, weary look which had just now so startled 
 him in Arthur's face, but otherwise he could not 
 discover anything unusual in the appearance of 
 either. They knew how to carry out the role they 
 had undertaken, even though their features betrayed 
 that it had cost them sleepless nights, and perhaps 
 this dumb, cold self-possession was no r6le at all.
 
 364 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 When the storm has raved itself out, then follows 
 that calm which so often in life helps us over the 
 bitterest, over the most dreaded events with com- 
 parative ease, because, as it were, a veil lies over the 
 soul, shutting out a clear consciousness of the 
 decisive moment ; because all the earlier struggles 
 and wrestlings subside into a dumb, hollow misery, 
 through which only now and then darts a sharp, 
 stifling thrill of agony, by which alone we are 
 aware of how much we have really suffered. 
 
 Leaning on her husband's arm, Eugenie descended 
 the stairs, without really being conscious where she 
 went or how. As in a dream she saw the carpeted 
 steps against which her dress rustled, the tall 
 oleander trees which adorned the vestibule, the 
 faces of the servants who made a parting bow to 
 her ladyship all this glided dim and shadowy past 
 her. Then suddenly something sharp and almost 
 painful touched her forehead. It was the cold 
 morning air. She gazed out into it, and before her 
 she saw the carriage which was to bear her away 
 it alone. Then terrace, flower-garden, park, and 
 fountains all vanished in the twilight and the sway- 
 ing fog. 
 
 Yet once again the eyes of the husband and wife 
 met, but they said nothing to each other. The veil 
 lay thick and heavy between them also. Then the 
 young wife felt a hand moist and icy cold lying 
 within her own and heard some seemingly polite, 
 distant parting words which she did not understand ; 
 but it was Arthur's voice which spoke to her, and
 
 GOOD LUCK. 265 
 
 with this consciousness, again a sharp, stifling pang 
 darted through the hollow dream. Then came the 
 stamping of hoofs and the rolling of wheels, and 
 forward they went into the gray fog that ebbed 
 and surged around them, as at that time when the 
 separation had been decided upon the wooded 
 height in that hour of spring ; and what there 
 separates is separated for all eternit\\
 
 266 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 " 1 TELL you," said the chief engineer to the 
 director as they were walking home together, " that 
 things are getting serious. Hartmann seems to 
 have given the signal for insurrection. The miners 
 really defy us, and insults are the order of the day. 
 Our men have stirred up the whole province to 
 rebel. All the other works are in commotion: we 
 only had the honor of beginning. All this is water 
 to Hartmann's mill. He carries his head higher 
 than ever." 
 
 " Herr Berkovv seems to comprehend all," returned 
 the director. " He has already sent her ladyship 
 to a place of safety. That proceeding best proves 
 what he fears from his miners." 
 
 " From the miners pshaw !" exclaimed the chief 
 engineer. " We might already have arranged 
 matters with them if it had not been for one, but 
 so long as he commands peace and quiet are not to 
 be thought of. Only let Hartmann be a week 
 absent from the works, and I would vouch for the 
 balance." 
 
 " I have already thought of that," said the director, 
 looking circumspectly around him ; and then, 
 lowering his voice : " I have already thought of
 
 GOOD LUCK. 267 
 
 that, and whether we could not make use of the 
 suspicion against him, which every one here enter- 
 tains and with which I believe no one does him 
 wrong. What think you of that ?" 
 
 "That would not answer. We have suspicions 
 enough, but where are the proofs? Nothing could 
 be found wrong about the machine and the ropes, 
 only that the rope had just broken; and the gentle- 
 men of the law have searched thoroughly enough 
 into the matter. How it came and what happened 
 down there Hartmann alone knows, and he can 
 equal any man in lying. If arrested, they would 
 have to let him go free without result." 
 
 " But a law trial would for a time make him 
 harmless. If we accuse him there would be some 
 weeks' imprisonment." 
 
 The chief engineer frowned. 
 
 " Would you take upon yourself the responsibility 
 of the fury of our miners if we imprison their 
 leader ? I would not. They would storm our 
 houses if they saw through the maneuver, as they 
 certainly would.". 
 
 " That is questionable. They do not feel the old 
 love for him. 
 
 " But they do the old fear. With that he rules 
 them more despotically than ever ; and then you do 
 our hirelings wrong if you believe they would 
 desert their leader upon a bare suspicion. They 
 may stand in awe of him, they may become 
 estranged from him in time ; but the moment we 
 lay hands upon him they will rally around him and
 
 268 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 protect him from every danger. No, no ! that will 
 not do. What we would above all shun a bloody 
 conflict would then be inevitable ; and besides, I 
 am convinced that Herr Berkow would not lend his 
 hand to this." 
 
 " But does he still dream nothing of the suspi- 
 cion'?" asked the director. 
 
 " No. Naturally no one ventures to give him a 
 hint of it, and I believe we had best spare him this 
 for the present. He has already enough to bear." 
 
 " Ah, yes, more than enough ; and the bad news 
 oof last week and Herr Schaffer's letters from the 
 Kesidence seem not to remain without effect. I 
 believe he seriously thinks of yielding." 
 
 " Oh, no ! not at all," returned the chief engineer 
 excitedly. " It is now too late for that. After the 
 answer he gave the workmen when they offered 
 him the choice of risking his fortune or of taking 
 upon himself whatever discipline Herr Hartmann 
 might choose to inflict after the manner in which 
 he met them there can be no more talk of yield- 
 ing. If Berkow does not remain firm every vestige 
 of his authority is gone. He must go forward ; and 
 to be obliged to go forward is always an advantage 
 in a fight." 
 
 " But if his fortune is at stake !" 
 
 " Say, rather, if it is his honor which is at stake." 
 
 Both gentlemen fell into a heated and fruitless 
 debate, whose result, as usual, was that each stood 
 by his own opinion. They soon separated, and as 
 the chief engineer entered his house he growled 
 after his colleague :
 
 GOOD LUCK. 269 
 
 " A very beautiful thing, this neutrality ; always 
 prettily anxious, always prettily cautious not to 
 commit one's self with either party, because one 
 can never know which is going to triumph. I wish 
 that all the cowards Wilberg, what the deuce 
 are you saying there to my daughter?" 
 
 The two young people whom this question con- 
 cerned shrank in fright from each other as if they 
 had been detected in a crime, although, in reality, 
 it was only a harmless kiss of Melanie's hand in 
 which Herr Wilberg had indulged. But he looked, 
 meanwhile, so sentimental and Melanie on her sid 
 so susceptible that the father, already vexed and 
 enraged at his late conversation with the director, 
 came storming between them like a hurricane. 
 
 " I most emphatically beg } T our pardon," stam- 
 mered the young officer ; while Fraulein Melanie, 
 knowing that a kissing of the hand could under no 
 circumstances be so bad a thing, looked on very 
 saucily. 
 
 " I most emphatically beg for an explanation," 
 cried the chief engineer angrily. " What business 
 have you down here in the vestibule ? Why do you 
 not go up to the reception-room as you ought to ?" 
 
 The explanation demanded could not be given in 
 a word, although the young people were innocent 
 enough in this meeting. Wilberg had come to the 
 house of his superior officer with a message from 
 Herr Berkow in his head and deep melancholy in 
 his heart. The latter naturally arose from the de- 
 parture of her ladyship. He had known of this the
 
 270 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 evening before, but happily he had slept through 
 the eventful morning. The young officer was no 
 early riser : he had never been guilty of the folly 
 of exposing himself to the cold, foggy morning air, 
 which might have given him the rheumatism. It 
 had not been he who in the gray dawn stood under 
 the firs there, where the highway wound into the 
 forest, patiently waiting, in spite of fog and cold, 
 for the sake of the one minute in which the coach 
 would roll past for the sake of the one glance he 
 might cast there, seeking the face he was not to 
 find the face which with closed eyes lay buried in 
 the cushions. 
 
 When that other, returning home, went past his 
 windows and entered the overseer's house, Herr 
 Wilberg slept on in undisturbed repose ; but this 
 did not prevent his finding himself infinitely un- 
 happy on awaking, and for the whole week through 
 carrying about with him so melancholy a face that 
 Frauleiu Melanie, who by chance had met him in 
 the vestibule, could not help sympathetically ask- 
 ing him what was the matter. 
 
 The young poet was just in that mood to pour 
 forth his sorrow into the ear of any sympathetic 
 being. He therefore sighed several times, made 
 several efforts to speak, and at last unburdened his 
 whole heart, naturally to receive in return the deep- 
 est sympathy. If the young lady had before been 
 inquisitive, she was now affected beyond all meas- 
 ure. She thought this affair highly romantic and 
 poor Wilberg worthy of her deepest coramisera-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 271 
 
 tion. She therefore took it as quite a matter of 
 course when, at the end of all these outpourings 
 and consolings, Wilberg seized her hand to imprint 
 upon it a grateful kiss. There was certainly not 
 the slightest danger that he loved any other than 
 her ladyship. 
 
 Into this poetic scene the chief engineer now in- 
 truded with all the prose of his parental authorit}^ 
 and demanded to know why this overpowering of 
 the heart had taken place below here in the vesti- 
 bule, rather than up in the reception-room, where 
 the presence of Melanie's mamma would certainly 
 have laid some restraint upon it. 
 
 Herr Wilberg, conscious of the great wrong here 
 done him, summoned all his self-possession. 
 
 "I have a message from Herr Berkow," he said 
 in an explanatory tone. 
 
 "Ah, indeed! Your errand is different from 
 what I supposed. Go upstairs, Melanie ! You 
 hear, do you not, that we have business matters to 
 attend to ?" 
 
 Melanie obeyed, and her father stood at the foot 
 of the stairs, without, as usual, inviting the young 
 officer into his dwelling, so that he was obliged to 
 deliver his message here. 
 
 " Very well," said the chief engineer calmly. 
 "The drawings in question stand at Herr Berkow's 
 disposal. I will myself take them to him. And 
 now a word to you, Wilberg. I have, in spite of a 
 mutual antipathy, always done you justice." Herr 
 Wilberg bowed, "I regard you as an especially
 
 272 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 honorable officer " Herr Wilberg bowed a second 
 time " but also as somewhat crack-brained." 
 
 The young man, who was about to bow a third 
 time, started, and quite beside himself stared at his 
 superior, who with imperturbable calmness of soul 
 went on : 
 
 " Now, as to your mania for poetizing. It has 
 not embraced me, you think ? Well, I should hope 
 not. You have, one after the other, sung Hart- 
 mann, her ladyship, and Herr Berkow. You can go 
 on with this sort of thing if it gives you pleasure, 
 but never let it occur to you to sing my Melanie. 
 That I positively forbid. I will not have such non- 
 sense put into the child's head. If you are really 
 in need of a new object for your poetic outpourings, 
 take me or the director. We stand at your service." 
 
 " I think I must decline your kind offer," said 
 Wilberg, much piqued. 
 
 " As you please ; but mark this : my daughter 
 remains out of the game. If on any day a poem 
 1 To Melanie ' happens to fall into my hands, I shall 
 make rough work with your iambuses and Alex- 
 andrines, or whatever the stuff is called. This is 
 what I wished to say to you. Good-night !" 
 
 With these words the reckless superior officer 
 took leave of our poet who had been wounded in 
 his holiest feelings and went upstairs. His daugh- 
 ter came to meet him. 
 
 " Oh, papa !" she said, " how can you be so cruel 
 and unjust to poor Wilberg? He is so unhappy." 
 
 The chief engineer laughed aloud.
 
 GOOD LUCK, 273 
 
 "Unhappy ? He? A most unhappy poet he is: 
 those are horrible verses he strings together ; but 
 the more you seek to make this comprehensible to 
 him, the more insanely he goes rhyming on. And 
 then as for that kissing your hand 
 
 " Good heavens, papa ! you are wholly and en- 
 tirely in error," interrupted Melanie most decidedly. 
 "It was only gratitude. He loves her ladyship, has 
 loved her from the first moment he saw her hope- 
 lessly, of course, as she is already married ; but we 
 can well understand that this makes him mel- 
 ancholy and that her departure has quite thrown 
 him into despair." 
 
 " And so, solely on account of this melancholy 
 and despair he kissed your hand ? How strange ! 
 And besides, how do you know all this, Melanie ? 
 You seem in some extraordinary manner to have 
 been initiated into the heart histories of this blond 
 sheep." 
 
 The young lady lifted her head with a satisfaction 
 she could not conceal. 
 
 " I am his confidante, papa," she said. " He has 
 unburdened his whole heart to me. I would have 
 consoled him, but he can accept no consolation ; he 
 is too unhappy." 
 
 " This is precious nonsense !" broke out the chief 
 engineer angrily. " And so you have already got 
 to confidences and outpourings of the heart, have 
 you ? I had not thought Wilberg so politic. Any 
 one who begins to speculate upon the sympathies of 
 you women but we will make an end of this affair
 
 274 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 in season. You will hereafter receive no such im- 
 proper confidences, Melanie ; and now, once and 
 forever, I forbid all this consolatory nonsense. And 
 first of all, I will take care that he does not enter 
 the house again. You may rely upon that !" 
 
 Melanie turned pouting away. Her father 
 showed no great knowledge of human nature if he 
 really believed that with this dictatorial fiat he 
 could exorcise the demon which had all at once 
 loomed up before him in the form of a poetizing 
 and guitar-playing son-in-law. He ought to have 
 known that Melanie would now in sober earnest 
 take upon herself the task of consoling this poor, 
 sorely .misunderstood Wilberg whenever and wher- 
 ever occasion should offer, and that Herr Wilberg 
 would that very evening sit down to compose a 
 poem " To Melanie." Such things cannot be 
 stopped by anybody's " Come, now, I won't have 
 that !" 
 
 The day neared its close. In setting, the sun yet 
 once more broke through the enveloping clouds, 
 lighting up wood and mountain with a bright 
 transient splendor only a few minutes ; then the 
 red ball of fire sank slowly down the horizon ; and 
 with it vanished the departing glory, the evanescent 
 hues, for one fleeting moment lent to the earth. 
 
 Arthur Berkow had just opened the gate at the 
 end of the park and was about to pass out, when he 
 paused involuntarily and spell-bound gazed at the' 
 departing luminary. His face now wore an expres- 
 sion of the fullest repose, but it was a repose won
 
 GOOD LUCK. 275 
 
 b} 7 bitter conflict, not that calmness into which a 
 man uplifts himself \vhen he casts from him a weak- 
 ness victoriously overcome, in order to enter a new 
 path. If one remains behind alone upon the sink- 
 ing ship and in the distance sees the boat vanish 
 which bears his best goods and treasures to some 
 secure haven, while the ship itself incessantly nears 
 the cliff against which it must be dashed in pieces 
 then, indeed, the man's courage may not falter, but 
 he is no longer jo} r ful. When the last hope has 
 vanished, then comes the calm determination which 
 is prepared and ready to brave all. This now lay 
 upon Arthur's face. The dream was dreamed out 
 and the immediate future emphatically demanded a 
 full, perfect awakening. 
 
 He walked over the meadow, taking the path 
 leading to the house of his superior officer. The 
 broad trench lying along the upper side of the park 
 crossed the meadow at this place, but while a taste- 
 ful bridge there marked the passage, here was only 
 a plank, strong and safe, but so narrow that only 
 one could go over it at a time. Arthur stepped 
 hastily upon the plank, without remarking that an- 
 other was coming over from the opposite side. He 
 had already taken several steps, when he all at 
 once stood before Ulrich Hartmann, who also seemed 
 not to have perceived him until this moment. The 
 young chief paused, supposing of course that his 
 under-steiger would step back and let him pass. 
 But Ulrich must always be provoking as possible. 
 Whether he really sought a conflict or only obeyed
 
 276 GOOD LUCK 
 
 the impulse of his own obstinate nature matters 
 not ; there he stood immovable and gave no sign of 
 turning back. 
 
 " Well, Hartmann, are we to remain standing 
 here ?" asked Arthur calmly after he had for some 
 moments waited in vain. " The board is too nar- 
 row for two ; one must go back." 
 
 " Must I be the one 3" asked Ulrich sharply. 
 
 " I certainly thought so." 
 
 Hartmann seemed to have a defiant answer upon 
 his lips, but all at once he bethought himself. 
 
 " Ah, yes ; you are upon your own soil. I had for- 
 gotten that.'' 
 
 He stepped back and let Berkow pass ; but when 
 the chief reached the other side he paused. 
 
 " Hartmann !" 
 
 The man addressed, who was just stepping upon 
 the plank, now turned around. 
 
 "I should have had you summoned to-day had I 
 not feared giving reasons for misconception. But 
 as we happen to meet here I would like to speak 
 with you." 
 
 A glance of triumph shot over Ulrich's face. 
 Then his features resumed their usual reticent ex- 
 pression. 
 
 " Here, upon the meadow ?" 
 
 " The place is indifferent, and we are here alone.'* 
 
 Ulrich slowly advanced nearer and stationed him- 
 self opposite his chief, who leaned against one of 
 the willows which bordered the edge of the trench. 
 The night fog began to ascend from the meadow,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 277 
 
 but the forest up yonder, where the sun had set, 
 was still illumined by the twilight glow. 
 
 There was a strange contrast between these 
 two the slender, almost delicate figure of the 
 young aristocrat ; the pale face full of a quiet re- 
 pose, with the large, thoughtful eyes, from which 
 now had vanished that light which could give them 
 a spell almost of fabulous enchantment ; and the 
 giant form of the workman, with the haughtily 
 poised blond head, the face iron, like his muscles 
 and sinews, and the fier}' glance which with a sort 
 of wild satisfaction sought to pierce the pale fea- 
 tures of his rival, as if he suspected what lay behind 
 them. 
 
 The instinct of jealousy had taught Ulrich to see 
 and to understand where no one else saw anything, 
 and if the whole world had declared that Arthur 
 Berkow was cold and distant to his beautiful wife, 
 that be had never felt the least affection for her, 
 Ulrich knew that a man who called a being like 
 Eugenie Windeg his own could not be indifferent to 
 her. Since that morning when he had stood under 
 the firs and gazed after the receding coach he had 
 known what it means to lose such a being. 
 
 But in the midst of this agony of separation a 
 proud triumph entered his soul. A wife who loves 
 her husband does not leave him when all wavers 
 and dissolves around him ; and she had gone from 
 him had gone under the protection of her father 
 and brother, leaving him back alone, resigning him 
 a prey to all. This it was which had stricken the
 
 278 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 proud Berkow, who was not to be crushed by hatred 
 and threats, by the fear of violence and insurrection, 
 by ruin itself. And even though with this calm 
 forehead he deceived all others, he could not de- 
 ceive his enemy. The blow had gone to his heart. 
 
 " I need not tell you what has happened of late," 
 began Arthur : " you are just as well, even better 
 informed ihan I. The other works have followed 
 your example. To all appearance we are on the 
 eve of a long conflict. Are you sure of your com- 
 rades ?" 
 
 Ulrich was startled at the last question. 
 
 "What do you mean by that, Herr Berkow?" 
 
 " I was thinking whether we could manage things 
 down here without outside assistance. It seems 
 they cannot at the other mines. From the forges 
 they have already called upon the State for help. 
 You certainly know all about the outbreak there 
 and can judge whether such help is necessary. I 
 shall not resort to such means unless in the most 
 extreme case, but such a case may occur. Already 
 several of my officers have been insulted, and that 
 crowd of your men I met the other day in the for- 
 est were on the point of insulting me. Make no 
 calculations upon my patience or my weakness. 
 Much as I wish to avoid extreme measures, I will 
 meet violence with violence." 
 
 At the chiefs first words Ulrich had glanced up 
 in sullen astonishment. He had expected some- 
 thing far other than such a declaration, but the 
 calmness with which it was made robbed it of all
 
 GOOD LUCK. 279 
 
 its defiance and compelled even the rival to modera- 
 tion. There was still a slight touch of irony in his 
 voice as he replied : 
 
 " That is nothing new to me. Violence against 
 violence ! I knew from the first that some day it 
 would come to this." 
 
 " And which bears the blame if it comes to this 
 the resistance of the many or the obstinacy of a 
 single man ?" asked Arthur, looking him steadily in 
 the face. 
 
 " The obstinacy of a single man ! Quite right, 
 Herr Berkow. You know that at the cost of a 
 single word from you your works would all be in 
 activity to-morrow." 
 
 " And you know that I cannot speak this word, 
 because it involves an impossibilit}\ It is your 
 duty to yield. I pledge you my honor to do all I 
 have promised." 
 
 " Really ?" cried the young miner, this time with 
 a new outbreak of derision. " Is it because the 
 whole province is in rebellion and we have a guard 
 and a support in our comrades?" 
 
 Berkow, with a sudden movement, drew himself 
 up to his full height and his eyes flashed. 
 
 " It is because we shall compel you by arms to re- 
 spect that order which you now seek to tread under 
 your feet, and because I would spare this result to 
 my workmen. Have done with this irony, Hart- 
 mann, in which you yourself do not believe. "What- 
 ever has happened between us or may happen, I 
 think we may each exculpate the other from the 
 charge of cowardice."
 
 280 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 There was again that same tone and glance as in 
 the conference chamber. . Ulrich, with mingled rage 
 and admiration, gazed upon the young chief who in 
 such an hour dared thus speak to him, when from 
 the scene in the forest he must know what was to 
 be feared from such a meeting. His words proved 
 that he did know this perfectly, and yet he had 
 to-day, of his own free will, sought this interview. 
 
 The park was quite deserted ; no human being 
 was to be seen upon the meadow and the houses 
 lay far distant. None of the officers would have 
 ventured upon a solitary meeting with Hartmann 
 not even the bold engineer; only the once-despised 
 weakling dared this. Ah, yes ! from the reproach 
 of cowardice his rival had long since absolved him. 
 
 Arthur seemed to feel the impression he had 
 made. He drew a step nearer. 
 
 " And do you not see, Hartmann, that by this 
 behavior you are ruining your future?" he asked 
 gravely. " You think, perhaps, by this last move- 
 ment of your comrades to make an impression upon 
 me. I allow myself to be influenced by no effort at 
 compulsion ; rely upon that : but I respect in you 
 powerful though misguided abilities. They have 
 hitherto been employed only to my injury ; and yet 
 through all 1 have seen what they could accomplish 
 if not turned against me. Give ear now to the 
 voice of reason ; content yourself with the attain- 
 ment of possibilities, and I gladly offer you liberty 
 to remain upon my works and a free road to ad- 
 vancement. I know what I risk in this, in retain-
 
 OOOD LUCK. 281 
 
 ing an element like you among my workmen ; but I 
 will risk it if my confidence can have a like re- 
 turn.*' 
 
 Such a proffer to a man wont to consider all con- 
 cession as weakness was, indeed, venturesome 
 enough ; but Berkow seemed not to have reckoned 
 upon this. Ulrich did not answer; he showed no 
 signs of compliance ; but, for a nature like his, it 
 was a great concession not to immediate!} 7 repel the 
 offer with morose distrust. 
 
 "I have hitherto sought your confidence in vain," 
 continued Arthur. " You have to this hour denied 
 it me. I came here a stranger : if not to the place 
 itself, to the mines and to you I was a stranger. 
 You met me with a declaration of war, without 
 even asking what I would be willing to change and 
 improve. You received and have treated me as an 
 enemy, without even once asking whether I would 
 be your enemy." 
 
 " We are at war !" said Ulrich curtly. " There 
 everything is fair." 
 
 Arthur lifted his face, just before so pale, but now 
 flooded with the flaming glow of the twilight, whose 
 reflection shone around both. 
 
 " Must it, then, be war between us ? I do not 
 mean the present quarrel, which will end sooner or 
 later I mean must this secret, imbittered warfare, 
 this hardness and compulsion on the one side, this 
 rancor and hatred on the other, keep endlessly coil- 
 ing and spinning on ? So it has been for years long. 
 I know it ; and so it will be again if force compels
 
 282 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 you to yield. We should make peace before blood 
 has been shed on both sides. We might now, since 
 nothing has as yet happened : in a few days it will 
 perhaps be too late." 
 
 With all its calmness, the voice of the young chief 
 had a pathos that was very touching ; and the pas- 
 sionate emotion of Hartmann's face betrayed that 
 he had not been unsusceptible to this. The haughty 
 miner who, the more he had become accustomed to 
 rule his equals, suffered all the more from wounded 
 pride and a fear of his superiors he could illy con- 
 ceal, saw himself now placed upon an elevation no 
 one as yet had granted him. He very well knew 
 that Berkow would not have spoken in this manner 
 with any other of his underlings, perhaps not even 
 with his officers ; that for this kind of treatment he 
 must thank his individuality alone. The chief spoke 
 to him as man to man of a matter upon which hung 
 the weal or woe of both, and he might have been 
 conquered had this chief been any other than Ar- 
 thur Berkow. Ulrich's was far too lawless and 
 passionate a nature to be able to do justice where 
 he hated with his whole soul. 
 
 " To give our confidence has been made difficult 
 enough for us,' 1 he said bitterly. " Your father has 
 for all these years robbed us of so much that none 
 at all is left for the son. I believe you, Herr Ber- 
 kow, that your proffer does not arise from fear : of 
 any other I would not believe this; of you I believe 
 it. But as we both have decided to help ourselves, 
 I think we will fight it out to the end. And one of 
 us at the last will be sure to win."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 283 
 
 "And your comrades? "Will they take upon 
 themselves all the care, the want, the misery, this 
 fighting it out to the last will involve ?" 
 
 " I cannot change matters. All I have done is for 
 them." 
 
 " No, it is not done for them," said Arthur firm- 
 ly, " but solely for the ambition of their leader, who 
 would win the mastery for himself and then become 
 to them a worse despot than their late hated master 
 ever was. If you still believe in your so-called mis- 
 sion, Hartmann, you cannot deceive me with it, now 
 that I see you cast aside as worthless all I hold my- 
 self ready to do for bettering the lot of your com- 
 rades. You refuse all my offers because you wish 
 to attain a goal I but too well know. In the future 
 you would dictate and 'have me and my officers 
 powerless. Speaking in the name of a blindly obe- 
 dient rabble, you would arrogate to yourself all the 
 rights of a master and leave me only with the name. 
 You do not so much wish the recognition of your 
 party as the suppression of every other, and that is 
 why you stake all upon this throw. You will lose 
 it." 
 
 The speech to such a man was bold enough, and 
 Ulrich trembled with rage. 
 
 " Ah ! since you know all so exactly, Herr Ber- 
 kow, well and good. You are quite right : the 
 question is not merely one of higher wages and a 
 little more safety in the mines. That may be enough 
 for those who are anxious for only wife and children 
 and know nothing more their whole life long. The
 
 284 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 courageous ones among us seek more. We wiU have 
 the reins in our hands : we will be respected as 
 equals. This may be a hard lesson for our sov- 
 ereign gentlemen to learn, but we are in the way of 
 teaching it to them. We at last understand that it 
 is our hands which win for you that wealth of 
 which you alone enjoy the fruits. You have used 
 our arms in slaves' work long enough, and now you 
 shall learn to feel it." 
 
 The words were hurled forth with a fearful 
 violence, as if every one of them were in itself a 
 weapon to strike and to kill. The whole immeasur- 
 able passion of Ulrich Hartmann once more broke 
 forth, and the whole hatred he felt for a class was 
 for the moment directed against its one represent- 
 ative who stood before him. 
 
 Arthur's position was hazardous in the extreme 
 as he stood opposite this man, who, the veins of his 
 forehead swollen with rage and with clinched fists, 
 seemed ready to let deeds follow bis words. 
 
 But not even an eyelash trembled ; not a step did 
 Arthur retreat from that dangerous nearness. He 
 stood there with that bearing of cold, proud repose, 
 his large eyes steadily fixed upon his rival, as if 
 with those eyes alone he had the power to vanquish 
 him. 
 
 " I believe, Hartmann, you must for the present 
 allow the reins to remain in the hands which are 
 accustomed to them and are in a position to rule," 
 he said. " That you will soon learn. By brute 
 force you may raise insurrections and pull dow-i
 
 GOOD LUCK. 285 
 
 structures, but they cannot be built by this. Try to 
 conduct the mines here with your own hands, if to 
 those hands that hated element be wanting which 
 gives direction to them, motive power to the 
 machinery, and intellect to the work. And for the 
 present that remains with us. Place yourself by 
 the side of your equals, and men will not deny you 
 your rights. What you now have to throw into 
 the scale, weapons alone, will never secure you 
 the leadership." 
 
 Ulrich sought to answer, but passion choked his 
 voice. Arthur glanced over to the forest where the 
 twilight glow was fading away into the darkness 
 and turned to go. 
 
 " If I had before known that every word of 
 reconciliation would be unavailing, I would not 
 have sought this interview. I offer you peace and 
 liberty to remain upon the works. Perhaps no 
 other would have made such a concession, and it 
 was difficult enough for me to force myself to it. 
 But you have repulsed even this with scorn and 
 hatred. You are determined to be my enemy. 
 Well, so be it, then ; but take upon yourself the 
 responsibility of all that happens. I have done my 
 best to prevent all this, but in vain. However the 
 quarrel may end, we are now done with each 
 other." 
 
 " Gluck auf !" cried Hartmann morosely. The 
 words sounded like cutting irony, as they indeed 
 were at such a moment as this. The young chief 
 seemed no longer to hear. He was already some
 
 283 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 steps distant and now went in the direction of the 
 houses. 
 
 UlHch remained behind. Over his head swayed 
 the willow branches as they moved to and fro in the 
 evening wind ; along the meadows crept a white 
 vapor ; and over the firs yonder burst a sudden 
 glow, weird, . ominous, and red as blood, and then 
 faded slowly away. 
 
 The young man stared dumbly into the flaming 
 evening sky. The ominous glow lay also upon his 
 face. 
 
 " ' We are done with each other ?' Not yet, 
 Herr Arthur Berkow : we are just beginning ! I 
 would not confess, even to myself, the cowardice 
 that as yet has held me back. I would not venture 
 to attack him when she was at his side. Now the 
 path is clear : now we will balance our accounts !"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 287 
 
 
 CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 IN the Residence reigned all the varied life and 
 activity of a summer's afternoon. Throngs of idle 
 promenaders, of business people and workmen, in a 
 perpetually changing tide, surged to and fro. There 
 was an endless babel of voices, a rattling of cart 
 and carriage wheels. From all sides rose eddying 
 clouds of dust, and the glowing beams of the sun, 
 already declining toward the west, lighted up the 
 whole busy, animated scene. 
 
 At a front window of the Windeg house, which 
 stood upon one of the principal streets, a young 
 lady had stationed herself and was gazing down 
 upon all this commotion, which she had almost for- 
 gotten in the solitude of her wooded mountains. 
 
 Eugenie had returned to her father's house, and 
 all its inmates seemed inclined to blot from memory 
 the brief period of her married life. In the family 
 circle this topic was seldom touched upon, and 
 then only when they spoke of the approaching 
 divorce. In this respect the sons followed the ex- 
 ample of their father, who seemed resolved that a 
 dead oblivion should rest upon that event, while in 
 secret he took the necessary steps the law of
 
 288 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 divorce required. Until then the world was not to 
 canvass the matter. 
 
 The servants and the few acquaintances at this 
 time present in the Residence supposed that the 
 young wife was making a brief visit to her family,* 
 rendered necessary by the distracted state of affairs 
 at her husband's mines. 
 
 Eugenie again occupied the chamber which had 
 been hers before her marriage. Nothing in its 
 furniture or arrangements was changed, and as she 
 now stood at the corner window, outside the well- 
 known objects met her gaze, just as if she had 
 never been absent. The last three months must 
 and should be to her only a sad, oppressive dream, 
 out of which she now awakened to the old freedom 
 of her girlhood years and to a better freedom than 
 before ; for now the grim phantom of anxiety no 
 longer brooded threateningly over every step taken 
 by herself and her family ; now ever} 7 new day did 
 not bring new humiliations and new sacrifices ; now 
 every hour of the home life was no longer haunted 
 by the fear that perhaps before the morrow financial 
 ruin, with all its terrible consequences, would have 
 fallen upon them all. The old race of Windeg 
 could again step forth in the full splendor of power 
 and wealth. Whoever possessed the Eabenau v 
 estates was rich enough to cover all early losses and 
 secure for himself and his a brilliant future. 
 
 In truth, one shadow yet brooded over all this 
 new sunshine the plebeian name so hated by the 
 baron and once so hated by Eugenie. But this
 
 GOOD LUCK. 289 
 
 could only be a question of time. The beautiful, 
 intellectual girl had once, in spite of the well-known 
 embarrassments of her father, found in her own 
 circle many admirers who soon or late would have 
 become wooers. Eugenie Windeg had been a girl 
 to make a man forget that he took to his home and 
 heart the daughter of an impoverished, insolvent 
 family. 
 
 Old Berkow, with rough hand, had subverted all 
 the baron's plans for a brilliant alliance for his 
 daughter and wrested the prize for his son. His 
 had been the power to demand where others must 
 sue, and he had known how to use it. 
 
 But now Eugenie would again be free. The 
 present lord of Rabenau could secure her a rich 
 dowry, and he knew more than one man, her equal 
 in birth, who would rejoice, and not from mercenary 
 motives alone, to efface the name and last remem- 
 brance of that unfortunate alliance, and by a mar- 
 riage worthy of her rank raise the young baroness 
 to a position as high, and even higher than birth 
 had given her. Then the last stain would be wiped 
 from the Windeg escutcheon and it beam again in 
 its ancient splendor. 
 
 But the young woman did not see things in the 
 joyous, hopeful light one might have expected she 
 would, now that the sun of her fortune shone so 
 resplendent. She had already been some weeks in 
 her father's house, but the color would not return 
 to her cheeks nor her lips learn again their olden 
 smile. Here in her own home, surrounded by the
 
 290 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 fondest love and care of her family, she remained 
 pale and silent as she had ever been by the side of 
 the husband she had been forced to wed. 
 
 At this very moment she gazed upon the crowd 
 below ; but not one of these changing forms, in its 
 ebbing and flowing tide, succeeded for a moment in 
 fettering her attention. She gazed, but it was with 
 that vacant, dreamy glance which, lost to the 
 nearest surroundings, sees something entirely dif- 
 ferent and in a different place. " In your Residence 
 one unlearns all, especially the longing after his 
 woodland solitudes." These words seemed not to 
 apply to her. Eugenie looked as if she was filled 
 with a painful longing after them. 
 
 Before the horseback ride in which the baron 
 usually indulged toward evening he was accustomed 
 to come to his daughter. He came to-day, but his 
 manner was more grave than usual, and he held a 
 paper in his hand. 
 
 "I must annoy you with a business matter, my 
 child," he began after a brief salutation. " I have 
 just had a conference with our lawyer, which has 
 proved satisfactory beyond my expectation. Ber- 
 kow's attorney is endowed with full power to meet 
 all our wishes ; both legal gentlemen have already 
 agreed upon the necessary steps; and the whole 
 matter will probably be adjusted far more quickly 
 and easily than we ventured to hope. Will you 
 please sign your name to this paper?" 
 
 He reached her the paper. Eugenie made a 
 movement as if to snatck it from him, but all at 
 once her hand fell.
 
 GOOD LTJCK. 291 
 
 "What am I to do?" 
 
 " Simply to affix your name to this paper, nothing 
 more !" said the baron coolly as he placed the sheet 
 on the writing-table and moved her a chair. Euge- 
 nie hesitated. 
 
 " It is a legal document. Must I not first read 
 it?" 
 
 Windeg smiled faintly. 
 
 " If it had been an important document we should, 
 of course, have laid it before you for inspection," he 
 said ; " but it is only the petition for divorce, which 
 the judge is to present in your name and to which 
 he needs your signature a mere formality in the 
 conduct of the case. The details will follow here- 
 after. But if you wish to know the wording of 
 this *' 
 
 " No, no !" interrupted the young woman evasive- 
 ly. " I do not wish that. I will sign the paper, 
 but it need not be just at this moment. Just now I 
 am not in the mood for it." 
 
 The baron looked very much surprised. 
 
 11 Mood? Nothing is needed here but your 
 signature. It will take but a moment, and I have 
 promised our attorney to send him the paper to- 
 day, as he intends to present it to-morrow." 
 
 " Well, then, this evening I will bring it to you 
 with my signature. But not at this moment. I 
 cannot sign it now." 
 
 The tone of the young woman's voice was 
 singularly plaintive, almost agonized. The father 
 shook his head as if in displeasure.
 
 292 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "This is a strange whim, Eugenie," he said, "one 
 which I do not at all understand. Why will you 
 not just now, here in my presence, make this simple 
 stroke of the pen ? But if you insist upon the delay, 
 I rely upon your handing me back the document at 
 tea this evening. There will then be time enough 
 to send it away." 
 
 He did not remark his daughter's deep sigh of 
 relief at these last words. He stepped to the win- 
 dow and gazed down the street. 
 
 "Will Curt not come to me?" asked Eugenie 
 after a moment's pause. " I have seen him only 
 once to-day, at the dinner-table." 
 
 " He must be weary from his journey and is per- 
 haps taking some rest. Ah, there you are, Curt, 
 just as we were speaking of you !" 
 
 The young baron, who entered at this moment, 
 must have reckoned upon finding his sister alone, 
 for he said with evident and not quite gratified 
 surprise : 
 
 " You here, papa ? I thought you were having a 
 conference up in the library with our lawyer." 
 
 " Our conference is at an end, as you see," replied 
 the baron. 
 
 Curt seemed to wish that the conference had been 
 longer. Meantime he made no reply, but went to 
 his sister and confidentially sat down by her side. 
 Only to-day noon he had come unexpectedly from 
 the province. It was a singular and, in the baron's 
 opinion, an unfortunate circumstance that the regi- 
 ment to which his eldest son belonged had just
 
 GOOD LUCK. 293 
 
 been stationed in the town which lay nearest to the 
 Berkow estates, just now, when his family had 
 broken off all relations there. 
 
 It would be useless to request a long furlough for 
 the young officer, as the riot just broken out among 
 the miners had thrown the whole province into 
 commotion. It was expected that the military 
 would be called upon to quell the disturbance, and 
 so Curt could not be spared for the present. He 
 had gone to his new garrison, where, of course, Ber- 
 kow was well known, with an express command 
 from his father to be silent respecting the divorce. 
 The baron held firmly to his first conclusion, to 
 take the preliminary steps in secret, as he must the 
 final ones in the face of the world ; and he natural- 
 ly supposed that his son would as much as possible 
 avoid all personal relations with his brother-in-law. 
 
 He seemed to have been right in this supposition. 
 Arthur's name was never mentioned in Curt's let- 
 ters, and only casual intelligence had been received 
 
 v O 
 
 as to how matters stood upon the Berkow estates, 
 until Curt, in a military capacity, was ordered to 
 the Kesidence. Curt had been at home but a few 
 hours, and at dinner the presence of guests had 
 thrown a restraint upon the family ; but now, when 
 from his having just asked Eugenie's signature to 
 the petition for divorce this usually forbidden topic 
 was uppermost in the baron's mind, with an indif- 
 ference one might show in relation to the aifairs of 
 the most distant acquaintance, he asked how mat- 
 ters stood upon the Berkow estates.
 
 294 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Badly, papa, very badly !" replied Curt, turning 
 to his father, but not relinquishing his place near 
 Eugenie. " Arthur manfully resists the ruin which 
 threatens him from all sides, but I fear he must at 
 last yield. It is tenfold worse with him than with 
 his colleagues at the other mines. He must now 
 atone for all the sins his father committed in twenty 
 years of tyranny and dishonesty, as well as bear 
 the result of his senseless speculations during these 
 later years. I do not understand how he has so 
 long held his own in the conflict. Any other man 
 would have been vanquished long ago." 
 
 " If the outbreak is getting beyond his mastery, 
 I wonder that he does not summon military aid," 
 said the baron rather coolly. 
 
 " That is the very point on which he will not 
 listen to reason. I" here all the aristocratic 
 imperiousness of the young heir of Windeg broke 
 out "I would long ago have had those fellows shot 
 down and have forced the rebels to submission. 
 They have given provocation enough for it, and if 
 their leader continues to goad them on, as he is now 
 doing, they will the next thing burn Arthur's house 
 over his head ; but all this does not influence him. 
 'No, and no again,' he says; 'so long as I can 
 defend myself no stranger force sets foot in my 
 works.' Neither arguments nor entreaties move 
 him. And to confess the truth, papa, we in our 
 regiment are very glad our help is not likely to be 
 asked. During the last few weeks we have been 
 obliged to lend it only too often. It was not half
 
 GOOD LUCK. 295 
 
 so bad at the other mines as at Berkow's ; but still, 
 at the very first their owners and officers placed 
 themselves on a war footing with their own work- 
 men and demanded military aid. Harrowing and 
 violent scenes have taken place, and we soldiers 
 have been compelled to extreme measures. It is 
 best not to resort to violence when it can in any 
 way be avoided ; and still, on the other hand, a 
 master should not give up his authority and let 
 things go as they will, for he must be responsible 
 for all that happens. Our colonel and officers have 
 a high respect for Arthur, because he has thus far 
 kept even with his rebels ; and 1 think he will keep 
 even with them, although things with him now are 
 as bad as possible." 
 
 Breathlessly intent, Eugenie had listened to her 
 brother, who seemed to believe her quite uncon- 
 cerned in the matter, for his recital had been ad- 
 dressed to his father. But the baron, who with 
 ever-increasing displeasure had remarked .the term 
 "Arthur" his son had repeatedly employed, said 
 now in a tone of cold rebuke : 
 
 "You and your comrades seem to be very 
 minutely informed of all Herr Berkow's affairs." 
 
 "Why, they are the talk of the whole town !" re- 
 plied Curt naively. " As for myself, I have been 
 over to Arthur's pretty often." 
 
 The baron sprang from his chair at this con- 
 fession. 
 
 " You have visited him at his estates ? and that 
 very often 2"
 
 296 GOOD LUCK., 
 
 Whether the young officer had or had not re- 
 marked the emotion visible in Eugenie's face at his 
 last words, he clasped her hand more firmly, and 
 retaining his ingenuous tone answered : 
 
 " Well, yes, papa. You commanded me to be 
 silent in regard to certain matters, and I might 
 have been if in his present situation I could have 
 fully ignored my brother-in-law. The driving out 
 there was not forbidden me." 
 
 " Because I believed your own sense of propriety 
 would have forbidden such a thing !" cried Baron 
 Windeg in a towering rage. " I assumed that you 
 would shun all intimacy with Berkow, but, on the 
 contrary, you have really sought his society, as it 
 appears, without even writing me a word about it. 
 Really, Curt, this is past endurance." 
 
 Curt, to tell the truth, had feared a direct prohi- 
 bition from his father and had therefore chosen to 
 be silent concerning his visits to Arthur. He had 
 usually a great awe of his father's angry moods, 
 but to day Eugenie's presence seemed to counter- 
 balance this awe. His eyes met hers, and what he 
 saw there must have enabled him to bear the pa- 
 ternal displeasure, for he quite unconcernedly re- 
 plied : 
 
 " Really, papa, I do not know why I have grown 
 so attached to Arthur. You would have become so 
 had you been in my place. He would be the most 
 fascinating and amiable of men if he was not, just 
 now, so terribly in earnest ; but this earnestness 
 really becomes him excellently well. Yesterday,
 
 GOOD LUCK'. 297 
 
 as we parted, I said to him, ; Arthur, if I had earlier 
 thus known thee 
 
 " Thee !" interrupted the baron with his sharpest 
 emphasis. 
 
 The young officer scornfully threw back his head. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! we are thee and thou to each other.* 
 I begged him to call me so, and I do not see why 
 we should not make use of that familiar pronoun. 
 He is my brother-in-law." 
 
 "This brother-in-law ship must end," said the 
 baron coldly as he pointed to the writing-table. 
 " There lies the petition for divorce." 
 
 Curt threw a none too tender glance upon the 
 designated sheet. 
 
 "Ah, yes, the divorce petition! Has Eugenie 
 already signed it ?" 
 
 " She is just about to do so." 
 
 The young man looked at his sister, whose hand 
 now trembled in his and whose lips quivered with 
 an anguish she could scarce repress. 
 
 "Well, papa, I thought that upon that point 
 Arthur had so borne himself as to disarm all re- 
 proach and bitterness. It would be small in us now 
 not to allow full justice to be rendered him. I 
 could never have believed that a man of such energy 
 could rise up out of such indolence as I have seen 
 in him. One must see, in order to believe it, all 
 that he has done in the last few weeks by being 
 
 * Among the Germans " thee" and " thou " are terms of 
 familiarity, used only among relatives and intimate friends
 
 298 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 everywhere and attending to everything at the 
 right time. What terrible scenes and conflicts he 
 has averted he alone in the midst of a rebellious 
 mob, merely through the power of his individuality. 
 He has all at once become a hero the colonel and 
 his comrades, the whole town say that. His officers 
 all conduct themselves excellently, because he leads 
 them everywhere, and not a single one has left the 
 works. But when I came away things seemed to 
 have come to a most desperate pass. It is very un- 
 fortunate that Arthur is so determined to have no 
 outside force step between him and his miners, and 
 that he persists in this determination with all the 
 strength of his iron will. 1 believe that if things 
 come to the worst he and his officers will intrench 
 themselves in the house and there fight till the last 
 man falls before he will call on us for help. That 
 would be just like him." 
 
 Here Eugenie snatched her hand from her 
 brother's and, rising suddenly, went to the window. 
 The baron also rose with an expression of lively 
 displeasure. 
 
 " I do not know, Curt," he said, " why you feel 
 called upon to answer a simple question as to the 
 position of affairs upon Berkow's estate with such 
 extravagant praises of him. It shows a want of 
 consideration for your sister, which I should least 
 of all have imputed to you, who have always 
 seemed to love her with such especial tenderness. I 
 leave it to yourself to determine what, under exist- 
 ing circumstances, you will do with your eccentric
 
 GOOD LUCK. 299 
 
 admiration for this man, which you seem to have 
 so openly displayed in your garrison. For the pres- 
 ent, I beg that our conversation may end. You see 
 how painfully it has affected Eugenie. You will 
 now ride out with me." 
 
 "Let Curt remain here just a few moments, 
 papa," pleaded Eugenie in a low voice. " I would 
 like to ask him something." 
 
 The baron shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " Very well," he said ; " but I hope he will at 
 least have the goodness not to allude again to this 
 subject, which has so painfully excited you. In ten 
 minutes the horses will be in readiness. Curt, I 
 shall then positively expect you." 
 
 The door had scarce closed when the young offi- 
 cer hastened to join his sister at the window, and 
 with uncontrollable, though somewhat violent, ten- 
 derness placed his arm around her. 
 
 " Are you, too, angry with me, Eugenie ?" he 
 asked. u Was I really inconsiderate ?" 
 
 The young woman, with passionate intentness, 
 raised her eyes to him. 
 
 " You have been with Arthur you have often 
 spoken with him. Only yesterday at your depar- 
 ture you saw him. Did he send no message at all 
 by you ?" 
 
 Curt cast down his eyes. 
 
 " He sent his compliments to you and papa," he 
 said somewhat hesitatingly. 
 
 ** In what way 8 What did he say to you ?" 
 
 " He hurried after me when I had already taken
 
 300 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 my seat in the carriage. ' Give my compliments to 
 the Herr Baron and to your sister,' he said." 
 
 " And that was all ?" 
 
 "All." 
 
 Eugenie turned away. She would not have her 
 brother see the deep disappointment portrayed in 
 her features, but Curt held her fast. He had the 
 beautiful dark eyes of his sister, only their expres- 
 sion was more lively and joyous ; but at this mo- 
 ment as he bent low down to her this had all van- 
 ished before his unwonted gravity. 
 
 " You certainly must at one time have wounded 
 him very deeply, Eugenie, and in a way he can 
 never forget. I would so gladly have brought you 
 a line, a parting word ; but that was not to be ob- 
 tained from him. He would never answer when I 
 spoke your name, but overy time he became deadly 
 pale and turned away and almost peremptorily 
 passed to another subject, so as only to hear noth- 
 ing more of this, just as you used to do when I 
 spoke to you of him. My God ! does he really hate 
 you so much ?" 
 
 Eugenie, with a passionate gesture, broke loose 
 from his arms. 
 
 l ' Leave me, Curt, for God's sake, leave me !" she 
 cried. " I can bear it no longer." 
 
 An expression,*half-triumph, flitted over the young 
 officer's face, and there was a tone almost of sup- 
 pressed exultation in his voice. 
 
 " Well, I will not intrude into your secrets," he 
 said. " 1 must now go. Papa will be impatient :
 
 GOOD LUCK 301 
 
 he is already in such a bad humor. I suppose I 
 ought to leave you alone now, Eugenie. You still 
 have to sign the divorce petition. When we return 
 you will perhaps have done so. Good-by." 
 
 He hurried away. The horses stood waiting 
 down in the court, and the baron was looking im- 
 patiently up to the window. The horseback ride 
 this afternoon was not the pleasantest, for the baron 
 was in ill-humor and vented his displeasure upon his 
 sons. He could not endure that any one bearing 
 the name of Berkow should be praised in his pres- 
 ence, and as he naturally presupposed the same 
 thing in regard to his daughter, he felt that both 
 himself and she had reason to be offended ; and 
 Curt had to hear quite a lecture upon his want of 
 tact and consideration. 
 
 But Curt took the lecture very calmly, not ap- 
 pearing to feel the slightest remorse : on the con- 
 trary, he manifested a lively interest in the ride, 
 and even more in its duration. It was so long since 
 he had been in the Residence ; he found the very 
 animated promenades so entertaining ; and he suc- 
 ceeded in so prolonging the excursion that it was 
 nearly dark when the four gentlemen returned to 
 the city. 
 
 Eugenie, meantime, had remained quite alone. 
 The door of her room was closed : she could not and 
 would not now suffer any intrusion. The walls of 
 her chamber and the old family pictures which 
 adorned them had witnessed many tears, many bit- 
 ter hours, at that time when preparations were
 
 302 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 making for the young girl's marriage, but yet none 
 so bitter as to-day ; for to-day it was a struggle with 
 her very self, and the enemy was not very easy to 
 conquer. 
 
 There upon the writing-table lay the paper in 
 which a wife demanded legal separation from her 
 husband ; only the signature to it was wanting. 
 When the signature was affixed the divorce was 
 consummated, for the husband's consent, as well as 
 the position and influence of the baron, insured to 
 the affair a speedy and prosperous issue. 
 
 Just before, in her father's presence, she had 
 hesitated about making that momentous pen-stroke ; 
 but now it must be done. What did it help this 
 single hour's delay ? It was all the same whether 
 the irrevocable happened soon or late. But just at 
 this hour Curt had come, and with his story had 
 torn open the wound which had in truth never yet 
 ceased to bleed. 
 
 And still her brother could not bring with him a 
 word, not even a greeting. " Give my cgmpliments 
 to the baron and your sister." This was all. Why 
 not have said, " My compliments to her ladyship?" 
 This would have been still more icy, still more 
 formal. Eugenie stepped to her writing-table, and 
 her eyes wandered over the words of the document. 
 All there was so cold, so formal, and still these few 
 brief words decided the future of two beings. 
 
 But Arthur had willed all this. He it was who 
 had first spoken the word of separation ; he who 
 had first and ruthlessly assented to hastening the
 
 GOOD LUCK 303 
 
 decree ; and when she had gone to him and declared 
 herself ready to remain, he had turned coldly away 
 and bidden her go. 
 
 As she thought of this the blood again mounted 
 to her temples and her hand reached after the pen. 
 She was still woman enough to know what this sig- 
 nature meant for him had he been the one obliged 
 to set it there : she well knew how to interpret 
 those glances when in unguarded moments he had 
 betrayed himself. But to the last moment he had 
 remained conqueror over this weakness, and he 
 would not understand the hint by which she had 
 signified to him the possibility of a reconciliation. 
 He had set pride against pride, scorn against scorn, 
 for all which he must now suffer ; but she must 
 suffer tenfold more. Better make two beings mis- 
 erable than confess that one had done the other 
 wrong. 
 
 The demon of pride again asserted itself in her 
 soul with all its fatal might. How often had it ob- 
 stinately kept the field in defiance of every better 
 emotion, although seldom in blessing for herself or 
 others. But to-day with its voice blended still an- 
 other, " Arthur manfully seeks to stay the tide of 
 ruin which threatens him from all sides, but I fear 
 he must yield at last." 
 
 And if he did yield vanquished he was vanquished 
 alone alone as he had stood during the whole 
 struggle. He had no friend, no relative not a 
 single one. However loyal his officers might be to 
 him, however much his friends might now admire
 
 304 GOOD LUCK 
 
 him, no one loved him ; and the wife, whose place 
 was at his side she was at this moment to sign the 
 paper demanding immediate separation from the 
 husband she had already forsaken and who now 
 day by day wrestled with ruin. Eugenie let the 
 paper fall and stepped back from the writing-table. 
 What, then, upon the whole, had been Arthur's 
 fault? He had shown himself neglectful, indiffer- 
 ent to the wife who, he believed, had been enticed 
 by his wealth alone to a marriage of convenience ; 
 and when this wife had made known to him the 
 real, impelling motive of her marriage, she had 
 treated him with a contempt no man could bear 
 while a spark of manhood remained in his breast. 
 Here, too, he was forced to expiate his father's sins ; 
 and in his brief wedded life he had richly expiated 
 them. 
 
 Since that conversation Eugenie's life had been a 
 blank : her husband, cold and reticent, had isolated 
 himself from her. What had those days brought 
 to him? 
 
 Eugenie best knew the true significance of that 
 life during those three months, in which the casual 
 observer would have seen only a calm, superficial 
 indifference. But this indifference had carried with 
 it a perpetual sting enough to drive a man to ex- 
 tremities. One can insult another with every breath 
 and every glance, and she had done this. 
 
 With all the arrogance of her birth and her posi- 
 tion she had sought to force him back into the noth- 
 ingness and pitiableness where in her opinion he
 
 GOOD LUCK. 305 
 
 belonged. Day after day she had used her weap- 
 ons, and used them only the more recklessly when 
 she saw that they wounded. She had made his 
 home a hell, his marriage a curse, in order to avenge 
 herself on him for his father's dishonorable dealings 
 with her family. She had designedly goaded him 
 on until he had at last demanded a divorce be- 
 cause he could no longer endure this life at her side. 
 If he now rose in his might and thrust from him 
 the band which had so often tortured and torment- 
 ed him, who was to blame ? 
 
 The young woman sprang from the chair on 
 which she had thrown herself and in terrible excite- 
 ment paced up and down as if to flee from her own 
 thoughts. She knew only too well what they 
 sought to what they would drive her. There was 
 only one step which could help and rescue her, and 
 that was impossible for her to take. 
 
 And supposing she made that giant sacrifice of 
 all her pride and it was not accepted fully and en- 
 tirely as she gave it ? Might she not have deceived 
 herself ? Might she not have read falsely in those 
 eyes which had never but for a moment, and then 
 unwitting!}'-, been unveiled to her? Supposing that 
 glance should again meet her that icy glance with 
 which he had asked after her right to do what 
 every other wife assumes as a sacred duty ? Sup- 
 posing he should again say to her that he would 
 stand and fall alone and for the second time bid her 
 go ? Never no, never ! Rather endure the sepa- 
 ration, rather take upon herself a life full of misery 
 and torture than the possibility of such humiliation !
 
 306 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The evening sun, whose reflection still gilded the 
 distant tree-tops, had long since set : the twilight 
 was falling, but it brought no coolness or quiet to 
 the hot, crowded streets. On the sultry evening air 
 outside was borne a continuous hum of voices and 
 echo of footsteps and roll of carriage- wheels. The 
 human tide ebbed and flowed unceasingly, and its 
 loud, bewildering murmurs rose to the window 
 where Eugenie stood. But amid all these d iscordant 
 sounds there toned in her ear another voice at first 
 only distant and indistinct ; then ever nearer, ever 
 louder. 
 
 Did it come from the green wooded mountains ? 
 Had it fought its way through the eternal surgings 
 of the city's tumultuous waves hither to this young 
 wife? What it was she did not know; but it 
 sounded like the swaying of fir boughs, like the 
 murmur of the forest with its mysterious accords ; 
 and with it there arose within her soul the whole 
 sweet yet bitter woe of those minutes lived under 
 the firs. Again the fog rose and fell, and the storm 
 roared, and the brook dashed madly on ; and from 
 out of that gray veil rose clearly and distinctly the 
 one form which ever since, in waking or dreaming, 
 had never been absent from her side. And those 
 large brown eyes gazed upon her gravely and 
 reproachfully. 
 
 Whoever has fought through a conflict where all 
 the soul's strength was strained to the utmost in 
 wrestling against some ever-growing decision knows 
 such memories, which come all at once, without any
 
 GOOD LUCK. 307 
 
 outside connection or incitement, but with an 
 almightiness which nothing can withstand. 
 
 Such memories Eugenie now felt hovering around 
 her : one weapon after another was wrested from 
 her hand, until at last nothing remained nothing 
 but the spell of that hour in which she had first 
 felt that hatred was at an end, that some new sen- 
 timent had awakened in its place a sentiment 
 against which she had waged a life-and-death con- 
 flict, but which had at last conquered. 
 
 There- was one last brief struggle between the old 
 demon of bitter, relentless pride, which could not 
 forget the rebuff it had once received, and the 
 woman's heart, which, in spite of all, knew itself 
 beloved. This time the forest voices had not 
 spoken in vain : they had won the final victory. 
 The sheet which was to separate two beings who 
 had sworn eternally to belong to each other lay 
 torn in two upon the floor, and the young wife was 
 upon her knees, her uplifted face bathed in scalding 
 tears. 
 
 " I cannot," she cried " I cannot do this wrong 
 to him and me ! It alike concerns us both. Come 
 what will, Arthur, I remain with you !" 
 
 " Where is Eugenie ?" asked the baron as an 
 hour lated he joined his sons in the lighted parlors. 
 " Has any one informed her ladyship that we are 
 waiting for her ?'' he added, turning to the servant 
 who had just arranged the tea-table and was about 
 to leave the room. 
 
 Curt anticipated the answer.
 
 308 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Eugenie is not at home, papa,'' he said, motion- 
 ing to the servant to withdraw. 
 
 " Not at home !" repeated the baron in astonish- 
 ment. " Has she driven out at this late hour ? and 
 where ?" 
 
 "That I cannot tell you," replied Curt. " Imme- 
 diately upon dismounting from my horse I went up 
 to her room. She was not there, but I found this 
 on the floor." 
 
 He drew forth a paper, and a peculiar smile 
 played around his lips as, with great apparent 
 gravity, he proceeded to fit the two halves of the 
 sheet together, so as to lay it before his father, who 
 looked on without the least suspicion. 
 
 *' This is our attorney's draft of the divorce 
 petition which I handed to Eugenie for her signa- 
 ture," said the baron ; " but the signature is still 
 wanting, I see." 
 
 " No, the thing is not signed," said Curt with the 
 most innocent air in the world ; " but it is torn in 
 two. How strange ! Just look here, papa !" 
 / " "What does this mean ?" asked Windeg in the 
 greatest astonishment. " Where can Eugenie be ? 
 I will ask the servants. If she has driven out they 
 must know when the carriage was ordered." 
 
 He was about to place his hand upon the bell, 
 when Curt said quietly : 
 
 " I believe she has gone to her husband." 
 
 " Are you out of your senses, Curt ?" exclaimed 
 the baron. " Eugenie gone to her husband !" 
 
 " Well, I can only suppose so ; but we can very
 
 GOOD LUCK. 309 
 
 easily determine, for upon her writing-desk lay this 
 note addressed to you. Here it is, and it must con- 
 tain the desired information." 
 
 Baron Windeg tore off the envelope, and in his 
 haste did not remark that Curt, with a shocking 
 disregard of etiquette, stepped behind him and read 
 the note over his shoulder. As he read, the young 
 officer's features showed such undisguised triumph 
 that his two younger brothers, who understood 
 nothing of the scene, glanced inquiringly first at 
 him and then at their father. 
 
 The note contained only a few lines : 
 I. 
 
 " I am going to my husband. Forgive me, papa, 
 for this sudden and secret departure, but I do not 
 wish to lose an hour and I cannot wait to encounter 
 your opposition, which could not move me, for my 
 resolution is fixed. Take no further steps in the 
 divorce business : recall those already taken. I 
 refuse my consent to them. I will not leave 
 Arthur ! EUGENIE." 
 
 "Was such a thing ever heard of ?" broke out 
 the baron as he let the note fall on the floor. " A 
 defiance of my wishes, a deliberate flight out of my 
 house, and that my own daughter offers me ! She 
 thus breaks loose from my protection, from my 
 plans and hopes for her future, and returns to this 
 Berkow. Xow when he is on the verge of ruin, 
 when his workmen are in rebellion and anarchy 
 reigns upon his estates, she goes to him ! "Why, 
 such a proceeding borders upon madness ! \ must
 
 310 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 know what has brought it about ; but first I must 
 frustrate this senseless conclusion while there is yet 
 time. I will this moment 
 
 " The express train to R - has been gone an 
 hour," interrupted Curt laconically. " The car- 
 riage, too, seems to have just returned from the 
 station. In any event, it is too late." 
 
 In fact, they at this very moment heard the car- 
 riage in which the young woman must have gone 
 drive into the portal below. The baron saw that 
 it was indeed too late, and turned the full tide of 
 his anger against his son Curt, whom he reproached 
 with being alone in fault. By his foolish praise of 
 his brother-in-law and his exaggerated account of 
 the dangers of his position he had so aroused Eu- 
 genie's conscience that a false feeling of duty had 
 impelled her to hasten to her husband. She had 
 gone only because she believed him unhappy ; but 
 when once there, who could tell if they would not 
 at last come to a full reconciliation ? Most certain- 
 ly they would if Berkow was egotistic enough to 
 accept the proffered sacrifice. 
 
 By all that was sacred, the baron swore to carry 
 through the divorce in spite of opposition. The 
 initiatory steps had been taken, the lawyers already 
 had the case in their hands, and Eugenie must and 
 should come back to reason. He, her father, would 
 see if he could not enforce his paternal authority, 
 and if his two children here he threw an annihi- 
 lating glance upon poor Curt, with whom he was 
 alone for the moment seemed so entirely to disre- 
 gard it.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 311 
 
 Curt let the whole storm pass over him without 
 offering a syllable in self-justification. He knew 
 from experience that this was his best course. His 
 bowed head and downcast eyes seemed to indicate 
 that he was suffering great remorse for his thought- 
 lessness and the wrong it had done. But as the still 
 enraged baron left the salon, in his own chamber to 
 brood over this unheard-of affair, the young officer 
 suddenly sprang up, and the jubilant expression of 
 his handsome face and the laughing eyes gave 
 proof how little the paternal anger had gone to his 
 heart. 
 
 " To-morrow morning Eugenie will be with her 
 husband," said he to his two brothers, who now be- 
 sieged him with questions. " Then let papa just 
 once try to intrude with his paternal authority and 
 his lawyers ! Arthur will protect his wife as soon 
 as he knows that she belongs to him : as yet he has 
 not known this. In truth, we " here Curt threw a 
 wary glance to the door behind which his father 
 had vanished " we shall have storms for a week, 
 perhaps, and the most violent of all will come when 
 papa first perceives the mutual relations between 
 Arthur and Eugenie, and that they are now influ- 
 enced by other motives than conscience and sense 
 of duty that they are now in the full sunshine of 
 happiness, and that, with Eugenie by his side, Ar- 
 thur will fight his way through all obstacles. Thank 
 God ! we are free from the divorce trial, lawyers 
 and all ; and any one who now says a word to me 
 against my brother-in-law shall answer for it."
 
 312 QOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 EARLY the next forenoon the post-chaise from 
 
 R to the Berkow estates halted at the entrance 
 
 of the valley in which the works were situated and 
 in sight of the nearest houses. 
 
 " Do not attempt to go on, your ladyship," said 
 the coachman, making his appearance at the door. 
 " You had better turn back with me, as I begged 
 you at the last station. The peasant we have just 
 met confirms the news already heard : to-day there 
 will be riot and murder at the mines. Early this 
 morning the miners started out from the villages, 
 and all is in confusion. Much as I wish to drive 
 with you to the house, I cannot, without risking 
 coach and horses. The men in revolt up yonder 
 will spare neither friend nor foe. You must not 
 go over to-day : wait until to-morrow." 
 
 The young woman, who sat quite alone in the 
 coach, instead of answering, opened the door and 
 stepped out. 
 
 " I cannot wait," she said gravely ; " but I will 
 not endanger you and your equipage. In a quarter 
 of an hour I can very well go the distance on foot. 
 You can turn back." 
 
 The coachman wearied himself with warnings
 
 GOOD LUCK. 313 
 
 and expostulations. He thought it very strange 
 that this aristocratic lady, who with lavish drinking- 
 money had urged him on. to the utmost possible 
 speed, should now venture, so entirely alone, out 
 into the midst of the tumult. But all his well- 
 meant representations were repaid only by an im- 
 patient gesture for him to depart, and at length, 
 shrugging his shoulders, he turned and went. 
 
 Eugenie entered a foot-path, which, without 
 touching the works, led over the meadow to the 
 end of the park, and which, apparently, was as yet 
 safe. In case of need she could find society and 
 protection in the officers' dwellings which lay along 
 in that direction. 
 
 She had not known how necessary both might be 
 when, following the impulse of the moment, she 
 had undertaken the journey here alone, and even 
 now she did not know the whole magnitude of the 
 danger which beset her in this walk. It was not 
 the possibility of danger which gave her cheeks 
 their high color, her eyes their restless light, and 
 made her breast heave so violently that she some- 
 times had to pause for breath : it was fear of the 
 separation. 
 
 The heavy dream which had oppressed her as 
 she left her husband's house could not have vanished 
 during that whole period of absence. The home 
 of her childhood, the love of her family, the siren 
 voices of the new life and happiness had not availed 
 to awaken her from it : the dream had remained, 
 with its dull pain and its undefined longing. Kow
 
 314 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 at last should the awakening come; and all the 
 thoughts, all the emotions of the young wife were 
 compressed into this one question : " How will he 
 receive me ?" 
 
 She had just reached a small house, standing 
 alone and forming, as it were, the outpost of the 
 works, when a man, emerging from it, hastily ap- 
 proached, but at sight of her drew back in visible 
 terror. 
 
 l( For God's sake, your ladyship, how came you 
 here, and above all to-day ?" 
 
 "Ah, Overseer Hartmann! is it you?" said 
 Eugenie, advancing to meet him. " Thank Heaven 
 that I have met you just now," she added. " Revolt 
 has broken out upon the works, I hear. I left the 
 post-chaise down yonder, as the driver did not dare 
 go on. I can now reach the house on foot." 
 
 The overseer made a quick warning gesture. 
 
 " That cannot be, your ladyship : it will not do 
 now. Perhaps to-morrow, or toward evening to- 
 day, only not now." 
 
 " And why not now ?" interrupted Eugenie, turn- 
 ing pale. " Is our house threatened ? My hus- 
 band " 
 
 " No, no ; to-day Herr Berkow is in no danger : 
 he is in the house with his officers. This time the 
 revolt has broken out among us. This morning a 
 Dart of the miners wanted to go to work again, but 
 *iy son " here a quiver of pain passed over the 
 old man's face " well, you will soon know how 
 stand. Ulrich is in a rage. He and his
 
 GOOD LUCK. 315 
 
 underlings have driven the workmen back and now 
 hold possession of the mines. The vanquished 
 party are not going to submit to this, and they are 
 plotting together. The entire works are in revolt 
 and comrade is array od against comrade. Merciful 
 God ! what will be the end of this ?" 
 
 The overseer wrung his hands. Eugenie now 
 understood the wild commotion up yonder; the 
 sounds of strife that, despite the distance, were 
 plainly audible to her. 
 
 " I intend to shun the works," returned she. " I 
 wish to cross the meadow to the park, and from 
 there " 
 
 " For Heaven's sake do not go there !" interrupted 
 the old man. "Ulrich is there with his whole 
 party : they are holding a council upon the meadow. 
 I was just going over there to beg him once more 
 to come back to reason and at least leave the mines 
 free. Now the fight is against our own flesh and 
 blood ; but in his fury he neither sees nor hears 
 anything. Do not go that way, my lady : it is the 
 worst." 
 
 "I must reach the house," declared Eugenie 
 decidedly, " cost what it will. Go with me only to 
 the officers' dwellings, Hartmann. If necessary 
 I will remain there until the path is free, and at 
 your side I shall be secure from danger." 
 
 The old man anxiously shook his head. 
 
 " I cannot help your ladyship," he said. " To- 
 day, when one stands arrayed against the other, 
 amid all the tumult I am scarce secure of my own
 
 316 GOOD LUCK 
 
 life ; and if you should be recognized it would avail 
 you little that I was at your side. There is only 
 one person who can assure you respectful treat- 
 ment one whom they will obey ; and he hates 
 Herr Berkow with a deadly hatred and hates you 
 because you are his wife. Righteous God ! there 
 he comes ! Something has happened to displease 
 him : I see it in his face. Keep out of his sight 
 just now, I implore you." 
 
 He pushed the young woman through the half- 
 open door of the little house, for already steps and 
 loud, passionate voices were heard close by. Ulrich, 
 accompanied by Lorenz and some other miners, 
 came on without remarking his father. His face 
 was flaming red ; upon his forehead lay a thunder- 
 cloud, which every moment threatened to burst 
 forth ; and his voice rang out in the wildest excite- 
 ment. 
 
 " And if they are our comrades, or even our 
 brothers, down with them as soon as thev become 
 
 */ 
 
 traitors to us ! We have pledged our word to stand 
 one by the other, and now they would cowardly 
 submit and abandon us and the whole movement. 
 They shall have their pay for this. Have you taken 
 possession of the mines ?" 
 
 "Yes; but " 
 
 " No buts !" said the young leader imperiously to 
 the miner who allowed himself this pretext. 
 "There must not be treason in our own ranks now, 
 when we stand so near to victory. You will drive 
 them back, I tell you, as soon as they seek to come
 
 GOOD LUCK. 317 
 
 on. They shall learn where their place and their 
 duty now is, even though they learn it with bloody 
 heads." 
 
 "But there are two hundred of them," said 
 Lorenz gravely. " To-morrow there will be four 
 hundred; and if the chief should interfere and 
 make a speech to them, you know what effect that 
 would have. We have learned this often enough of 
 late." 
 
 " And if there were four hundred even if it was 
 half of the workmen, we would compel them to 
 submission with the other half !" cried Ulrich 
 furiously. " I will see if I can no longer be obeyed. 
 But now forward ! Carl, you must go over to the 
 works and bring me news whether Berkow has 
 
 again been interfering if with his d d eloquence 
 
 he has not again made hundreds wavering. You 
 others, go back to the mines. See that they are 
 fully guarded and allow no one there who does not 
 belong to us. I will follow immediately. Go!" 
 
 The command was instantly obeyed. The miners 
 hastened in the direction ordered, and Ulrich, who 
 now for the first time saw that his father was pres- 
 ent, went hastily up to him. 
 
 " You here, father ? You should rather " 
 
 He paused suddenly. His feet seemed rooted to 
 the ground ; the face, just now so flushed, became 
 white as if every drop of blood had left it, and the 
 eyes opened wide and staring as if they saw a spirit. 
 Eugenie had stepped out of the door and stood 
 right before him.
 
 318 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Into the young woman's head had flashed an idea 
 which she carried out that very moment. She did 
 not think of the daring, even danger of her venture. 
 She would go to her husband at any price, and 
 therefore she overcame the horror with which this 
 man had inspired her since she knew upon what her 
 power over him was based. Once more she would 
 use this power, whose effect she had already so often 
 proved. 
 
 " It is I, Hartmann," she said, mastering an invol- 
 untary tremor and speaking with the fullest appar- 
 ent calmness. "Your father has just warned me 
 against taking the path alone, and still I must go 
 on." 
 
 At the sound of her voice Ulrich seemed first to 
 comprehend that it really was Eugenie Berkow who 
 stood there before him, and not a vision of his ex- 
 cited fancy. Passionately he advanced a few steps 
 toward her, but Eugenie's voice and glance still ex- 
 ercised the old power over him, and a gleam of 
 mildness and repose now overspread his features. 
 
 " "What do you wish here, my lady ?" he asked 
 excitedly ; but the tone just now so rough and im- 
 perious was changed. It had almost a touch of 
 weakness. " Things go badly with us to-day. 
 This is no place for women, least of all for you. 
 You must not remain here." 
 
 " I wish to go to my husband," said Eugenie 
 quickly. 
 
 "To your husband?" repeated Ulrich. "In- 
 deed !"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 319 
 
 It was the first time the young wife had used 
 this designation. She had always hitherto said 
 " Herr Berkow," and Ulrich seemed to suspect 
 what lay in this one word. In his first surprise he 
 had not thought why she had come here so sud- 
 denly or in what way she could possibly have done 
 this. Now he threw a hasty glance upon her trav- 
 eling-dress and a second around him, as if to seek 
 the carriage or escort. 
 
 " I am alone," explained Eugenie, who understood 
 this glance ; " and it is just that which forbids my 
 going on. I do not fear the danger : it is the in- 
 sults to which I might be exposed. You have once 
 offered me your protection and your company, 
 Hartmann, where I did not need them ; now I lay 
 claim to both. Conduct me safely over to the 
 house. You can do it." 
 
 The overseer had thus far stood anxiously to one 
 side ; he expected every moment some attack from 
 his son against the wife of the chief he so hated, 
 and was ready in case of need to interfere. He 
 could not understand the calmness and fearlessness 
 of this young woman in presence of a man whom 
 every one knew to be the inciter of the whole re- 
 volt, and now as she made this request of him and 
 would confide herself to his protection, the old 
 man's self-possession left him ; he gazed in real 
 terror up to her face.. 
 
 But Ulrich also was terribly excited at this de- 
 mand. The momentary expression of mildness and 
 submission had already vanished, and the old im- 
 
 
 
 perious obstinacy had returned.
 
 320 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Shall 7 conduct you over ?" he asked in a hol- 
 low voice. " And do you ask this from me, your 
 ladyship from me?" 
 
 " From you /" 
 
 Eugenie did not take her eyes from his face. 
 She knew that in them her whole might lay ; but 
 here she seemed to stand at the utmost limit of this 
 might. Ulrich started up like a madman. 
 
 " Never! no, never! Rather would I let the 
 house be stormed, let all go to ruin, than take 
 you over there. Shall he have courage to re- 
 sist us to the death because you are at his side ? 
 Shall he triumph when he sees that you have come 
 here alone from the Residence, quite alone, and 
 through all this danger, only so that he be not left 
 solitary ? For this you must seek another guide ; 
 and if you find that other" here he gave his 
 father a threatening side glance " he would not go 
 far with you. I should care for that." 
 
 " Ulrich, for God's sake restrain yourself : it is a 
 woman !" cried the overseer, stepping between the 
 two in mortal terror. 
 
 He naturally saw in this scene only the outbreak 
 of that reckless hostility which his son had long 
 nursed against the whole Berkow family, and there- 
 fore he placed himself protectingly before the 
 young woman, who gently but decidedly pushed 
 him back. 
 
 " Then you will not accompany me, Hartmann ?" 
 
 "No, and ten times no !" 
 
 " Well, then, I will go alone."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 321 
 
 She turned in the direction of the park, but with 
 two steps Ulrich had reached her and placed him- 
 self in her way. 
 
 " Go back, your ladyship ! You cannot get 
 through, I tell you, and least of all where ray com- 
 rades are. Woman or not, that is all the same. 
 Your name is Berkow and that suffices them. As 
 soon as you are recognized they will all attack you. 
 You cannot and you shall not go over now. You 
 remain here !" 
 
 He hurled the last words at her with a voice of 
 threatening command, but Eugenie was not accus- 
 tomed to allow others to command her, and the 
 almost insane violence with which he endeavored to 
 keep her from Arthur called forth a nameless an- 
 guish in her soul ; it must be worse with him than 
 they had told her. 
 
 " I will go to my husband," she repeated with the 
 utmost energy. " I will see if they can forqibly 
 block up my way to him. Let your comrades lay 
 hands upon a woman ! Give the signal for attack 
 yourself if you would take the responsibility of this 
 heroic deed. I am going." 
 
 And she went. She hastened past him and took 
 the meadow path. Hartmann stood there and 
 looked after her with glowing eyes, without listen- 
 ing to the entreaties or representations of his father. 
 Ulrich knew better than he what the young woman 
 had in view by this venture to what she would 
 force him ; but this time he would not yield. And 
 if she went to ruin on the threshold of her home,
 
 322 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 in sight of her husband, before he himself conducted 
 her to the arms of the hated man, before 
 
 Up yonder appeared a crowd of miners who, 
 shouting and raging, pressed near their leader. 
 The foremost were only a few hundred steps dis- 
 tant ; already they had noticed that solitary 
 woman's form ; the next minute she must be recog- 
 nized, and only half an hour before he had himself 
 inspired these men with a blind fury against all 
 which bore the name of Berkow. Eugenie went on, 
 right into the midst of danger, without even veiling 
 her face. Ulrich stamped as if beside himself; 
 then all at once he broke loose from his father and 
 the next moment he was at her side. 
 
 " Put down your veil !" he commanded her, and 
 with iron grasp placed his hand upon hers. 
 
 With a deep sigh of relief Eugenie obeyed. Now 
 she was safe. She knew that he would not again 
 let go her hand, even if the whole force of miners 
 broke loose against her. "With full consciousness 
 she had escaped the danger, but also with the full 
 conviction that only this momentary danger to 
 which she had exposed herself could have enforced 
 the protection he had denied her. She had con- 
 quered, but it had been only at the last moment. 
 
 They had now reached the crowd, which made a 
 movement as if to surround their leader, but a 
 brief yet most emphatic command from him bade 
 them give way and start at once for the mines. 
 Their obedience was, as usual, unquestioning and 
 unhesitating ; and Ulrich, who had not halted for a
 
 GOOD LUCK. 323 
 
 moment, drew his companion swiftly onward. Now 
 for the first time she saw how impossible it would 
 have been to pass through this crowd alone, or 
 indeed with any other escort than the man at her 
 side. 
 
 The whole expanse of the meadow, usually so 
 silent, was to-day the theater of a violent tumult, 
 although the only conflict had taken place at the 
 mines. Throngs of miners passed to and fro or 
 gathered in wildly excitedg roups : everywhere were 
 angry faces and threatening gestures; everywhere 
 shouting, confusion, and uproar. The wildly ex- 
 cited mob seemed to seek only an object upon 
 which to wreak its whole lust for vengeance. Hap- 
 pily, the foot-path led along the edge of the meadow, 
 a little away from the immediate scene of the 
 tumult ; but even here Ulrich, as soon as he ap- 
 peared, became the center of general attention. 
 
 But a strange surprise mingled with the uproar- 
 ious shouts which everywhere greeted him. Many 
 wondering, distrustful glances fell upon the woman 
 at his side. In her dark traveling-suit and behind 
 her thick veil no one had recognized the wife of the 
 chief, and if from her gait or bearing any one had 
 imagined it to be her ladyship, the supposition, if 
 made audible to the crowd, would have been scouted 
 with derisive laughter. It was Ulrich Hartmann 
 who had taken her under his protection, and he 
 certainly would protect nothing which belonged to 
 the house of Berkow. But it was still a lady who 
 walked near him near this rough, wild son of the
 
 324 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 overseer, who was not wont to concern himself 
 about women, not even about Martha Ewers, an 
 object of interest to every unmarried miner upon 
 the works. Could this be Ulrich Hartmann, who 
 regarded and treated the wives of his comrades as 
 a superfluous burden to be shaken off as much as 
 possible could this indeed be he who accompanied 
 this strange lady, and with an expression upon his 
 face as if he would fell any man who approached 
 a step too near? Who was the lady? and what 
 did it mean ? 
 
 This short walk of scarce ten minutes was a ven- 
 ture even for the young leader, but he showed that 
 he was absolute master of his comrades and knew 
 how to use his authority. Now, with some imperious 
 words, he dispersed a group which stood in his way ; 
 now he hurled commands or directions to the crowd 
 pressing on toward him, which made it take 
 another course ; now he dismissed the solitary in- 
 dividuals who came with questions or tidings with a 
 " By and by" or " Wait until I return ;" and amid 
 all he kept drawing on the young woman so rapidly 
 as to prevent discovery. At length they reached the 
 latticed gate at the entrance of the park. Ulrich 
 pushed open the gate and led Eugenie under the 
 protection of the trees. 
 
 " I have gone far enough with you," said he. let- 
 ting go her hand. " The park is yet safe, and in 
 five minutes you will be at the house." 
 
 Eugenie still trembled at thought of the danger 
 she had just escaped, and her hand still ached from.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 305 
 
 the iron pressure of his. Slowly she threw back 
 her veil and looked up into the face of her pro- 
 tector. 
 
 " Now be sure to hasten, your ladyship," said he 
 with bitter irony. " I have honorably aided you to 
 see your husband again. You will not keep him 
 waiting." 
 
 The young miner's face betrayed what torture 
 she had inflicted upon him as she left him the 
 choice of exposing her to attack or of conducting 
 her to her husband. The young woman had not the 
 courage to thank him. Silently she extended to 
 him her hand. 
 
 But Ulrich thrust back the hand. 
 
 "You have dared demand much from me, my 
 lady," he said, " so much that you came near losing 
 all. Now you have your will ; but do not again 
 seek to compel me, as to-day, at least when he is 
 near. If you do, then, by Heaven, I will give you 
 both up to the mercy of the mob !" 
 
 Upon the terrace stood Franz and Anton, with 
 anxious yet curious faces, gazing over to the works. 
 As their lad} r , whom they had supposed safe in the 
 Residence, suddenly stood before them, without the 
 sound of carriage- wheels having been heard, with- 
 out her maid or any other company, they started 
 back in no less terror than the overseer when, just 
 before, she had appeared to him. 
 
 She could not have come through the works, still 
 less through the park, they thought ; for behind 
 there, upon the meadow, the tumult was at its
 
 326 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 height ; and yet she was here ! Both servants were 
 so confounded that they could scarce answer their 
 lady's hurried questions ; but Eugenie learned that 
 Herr Berkow was just now in. the house and 
 hastened up the steps. 
 
 Franz, who followed her, found still more occa- 
 sion to wonder at her ladyship, for when she had 
 arrived in the antechamber she scarce allowed him 
 to take her hat and cloak. As he was hastening to 
 the wing occupied by Herr Berkow to announce 
 her arrival she ordered him back, saying that she 
 would go to her husband at once and without 
 announcement. With the traveling-cloak still in 
 his hands, Franz stood there and gazed after his 
 mistress in open-mouthed wonder. This had all 
 come like a clap of thunder. What could have 
 happened in the Residence ? 
 
 Eugenie passed quickly through the hall and the 
 two anterooms; then she suddenly paused, for from 
 che adjoining cabinet she heard Arthur's voice. 
 The young wife had certainly reckoned upon find- 
 ug her husband alone, and now she found him in 
 the company of another. This meeting must not 
 take olace in the presence of strangers : anything 
 but that! Still hesitating as to whether she should 
 turn back or remain, she at length stepped softly 
 behind the portiere, whose folds concealed her from 
 view. 
 
 "It is impossible, Herr Berkow," said the clear, 
 sharp voice of the chief engineer. " If you still 
 allow yourself to be ruled by such forbearance, all
 
 GOOD LUCK. 327 
 
 you have now begun to bring back to order will 
 turn against you. Hartmann's party has this time 
 withdrawn from the field because it is the weaker; 
 but the scene of this morning will be repeated, and 
 with greater violence when we have something 
 more to deal with than a mere fight with unarmed 
 men. Hartmann has shown that he will not spare 
 his own comrades if they rebel against his terrorism. 
 In carrying out his obstinate designs he is regard- 
 less alike of friend and foe." 
 
 The open door gave Eugenie an unobstructed 
 view of the room. Arthur stood directly opposite 
 her at the open window, and the full light fell upon 
 his face, which had grown strangely sad since she 
 saw him last. The shadow of care, which at that 
 time had lain upon the forehead as yet so little 
 accustomed to wear it, had now engraven itself 
 there in two deep folds which no after-time could 
 perhaps obliterate. Every line of the face had be- 
 come sharper and stronger. The expression of 
 energy, which at its first dawning had been notice- 
 able only in moments of excitement, now absolutely 
 predominated and had quite obliterated the former 
 listless, dreamy look. It was evident that in a few 
 weeks the young chief had learned what would for 
 others be the work of years. 
 
 " I am certainly the last man who would advise 
 outside assistance," continued the chief engineer, 
 " but I think we all, and particularly our chief, 
 have done enough to restrain the revolt. We 
 certainly cannot be blamed for resorting to a
 
 328 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 measure the other works took long ago, and with 
 no such urgent necessity as ours." 
 
 Arthur gravely shook his head and replied : 
 
 " The other works can be no rule for us. There 
 a few wounds and imprisonments settled all ; there 
 fifty soldiers and a few shots fired into the air 
 sufficed to put down the whole revolt. Here Hart- 
 mann stands at the head, and we all know what 
 that means. He himself would not quail before a 
 bayonet-charge, and with him also stand or fall his 
 entire band of followers. If we should resort to 
 military force, peace for us could only come over 
 the bodies of the slain." 
 
 The officer was silent, but his deep gravity proved 
 that he fully shared the apprehensions of his chief. 
 
 "But if peace is not to be obtained other- 
 wise " began he again. 
 
 " If it could be obtained in that way," returned 
 Arthur ; " but it cannot, and the sacrifice would be 
 in vain. For the moment I might subdue the in- 
 surrection, only to have it the next year, perhaps 
 the next month, break forth anew ; and you know 
 as well as I that this will take from me the last 
 possibility of holding the works. In other places 
 the workmen show some leaning toward justice 
 and confidence ; in other places they begin to return 
 to reason ; with us nothing of this kind can be 
 hoped. This distrust, sown for so man}' years, 
 cannot easily be uprooted. "When I entered upon 
 the control of the works hatred and revenge was 
 the watchword which greeted me ; it is the same
 
 GOOD LUCK. 329 
 
 today; and if 1 place bloodshed between them and 
 me, then all is over. In an open conflict Hartmann 
 might conquer ; he might perhaps by bloodshed and 
 violence drive his men to obedience ; he still re- 
 mains to them the Messiah from whom alone they 
 expect their redemption. If I allow a single shot 
 to be fired, if I take up arms even in self-defense, 
 then I am the tyrant who allows murder in cold 
 blood the oppressor who takes delight in their 
 destruction. The old overseer once said to me 
 and they were no idle words 'If rebellion once 
 breaks out among us, then God help us !' " 
 
 There was no repining, there was not the least 
 trace of despondency in his words ; they expressed 
 only the deep resentment of a man who finds him- 
 self drawn to the edge of an abyss, to keep away 
 from which he has vainly put forth all his strength. 
 Perhaps the young chief would not thus have 
 spoken to any other, but the head engineer was the 
 only man who of late had been taken into his clos- 
 est confidence, the only one who, in all the dangers 
 which had menaced him, in all the measures he had 
 undertaken, had stood firmly and unwaveringly at 
 his side. He was also the only one who sometimes 
 heard from the chief other things than the direc- 
 tions and encouraging words which were alone 
 vouchsafed the other officers. 
 
 " But a portion of the miners have already at- 
 tempted to resume work," said the chief engineer. 
 
 "And that very reason," replied Arthur, "will 
 compel me to make war upon the others. No rec-
 
 330 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 onciliation with Hartmann is to be hoped for. I 
 have once sought it in vain." 
 
 " With whom ? What have you sought, Herr 
 Berkow ?" asked the officer with such an expression 
 of horror that the young chief looked at him in 
 astonishment. 
 
 " An understanding with Hartmann. It cer- 
 tainly did not happen officially ; that one might 
 have considered cowardice. It was at an accidental 
 meeting between us two alone, where I once again 
 offered him my hand." 
 
 "That you could not do! Offer your hand to 
 that man !" interposed the engineer excitedly. 
 " My God ! but in truth you as yet know noth- 
 ing." 
 
 "I could not?" repeated Arthur somewhat sharp- 
 ly. " What do you mean by that, sir ? You may 
 be assured that I know how to fully maintain my 
 dignity, even on such an occasion as that." 
 
 The officer had already recovered his self-control. 
 
 "I beg your pardon, Herr Berkow," he said. 
 "My expression was not intended as a criticism 
 upon our chief : it referred only to the son, who 
 certainly has no suspicion of the reports connected 
 with his father's death. We had pledged our word 
 to say nothing of these to you, and we did this with 
 the best intentions. But I now see that we were 
 wrong, that you ought to know. You would have 
 offered your hand to Hartmann ; and this, I repeat, 
 should not be." 
 
 Arthur looked fixedly at him. His face had all 
 at once become colorless and the lips trembled.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 331 
 
 "You speak of Hartmann and of ray father's 
 death. Is there any connection between the two ?" 
 
 " I fear so : we all fear it. Common suspicion 
 attaches to Hartmann, and not alone with us also 
 among his comrades." 
 
 " At that time, in the mines ?" broke out Arthur 
 in fearful excitement. " A treacherous attack 
 against a defenseless man 3 I cannot believe that 
 of Hartmann." 
 
 " He hated the dead man," said the chief engi- 
 neer significantly, "and he never denied this ha- 
 tred. Herr Berkow might have enraged him by a 
 command, by a word. Whether the rope really 
 broke through mere accident, and he employed the 
 moment of danger to rescue himself and hurl the 
 other back into the abyss, or whether the whole 
 was a deliberate plan this question truly is 
 shrouded in mystery. But he is not innocent ; for 
 that I would vouch." 
 
 The young chief showed how this view of the 
 case excited him. He leaned heavily against the 
 table for support. 
 
 "The inquest decided that it was an accident/' he 
 returned with faltering voice. 
 
 "The inquest decided nothing. They assumed it 
 to be an accident and let it pass as such. No one 
 ventured a public accusation. Every proof was 
 wanting, and it would have led to an interminable 
 contest with our miners if we had made use of this 
 suspicion to take from them their leader, who in all 
 probability would have been exculpated. We
 
 332 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 knew, Herr Berkow, that as things then were you 
 could not avoid a conflict with this rival ; and we 
 would at least spare you the bitterness of knowing 
 with whom you fought. That was the reason of 
 our silence." 
 
 Arthur passed his hand over his moist forehead. 
 
 "I did not suspect that not that!" he said. 
 "And even if it is only a suspicion, you are right: 
 I should not offer the man my hand." 
 
 " And this man," interposed the officer excitedly, 
 "has, at the head of his comrades, brought all this 
 misfortune upon you and us. This man has inces- 
 santly fomented and prolonged the quarrel ; and 
 now, when his power is declining, he seeks to make 
 the rupture incurable and reconciliation impossible. 
 Would you spare him now if you could ?" 
 
 "Him ? No ! I was already done with him when 
 he so roughly repelled my overtures, and after the 
 scene of to-day I can no longer spare the others ; 
 they driv me to extremities. This morning two 
 hundred of the men wished to resume work, and 
 they certainly have the right to demand protection 
 for their work. The mines must be made secure 
 at any price. I cannot accomplish this alone, 
 and " 
 
 "And we await your commands, Herr Ber- 
 kow." 
 
 There was a momentary pause, but the visible 
 struggle in Arthur's face gradually gave way to an 
 expression of grave determination. 
 
 " I will write to M ! The letter shall be sent 
 
 to-day : it must be 1"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 333 
 
 " At last /" said the chief engineer half-aloud and 
 almost half-reproachfully. " It is high time." 
 
 Arthur turned to his writing-table. 
 
 " Go now and take care that the director and the 
 other gentlemen remain at the posts which I as- 
 signed them when I was upon the works. They 
 must not move until I come myself. This morning 
 it would have been useless to interfere in all that 
 tumult ; perhaps it is now possible. In half an hour 
 I will be with you. If, meantime, anything special 
 happens, send me word immediately." 
 
 The officer, just about to withdraw, stepped once 
 again to his chiefs side. 
 
 " I know what this decision costs you, Herr Ber- 
 kow," he said gravely, " and we none of us take the 
 matter lightly ; but one need not always fear the 
 worst. Perhaps it will pass over without blood- 
 shed." 
 
 As with a hast}' parting saluation the chief engi- 
 neer left the room, he was much too hurried and 
 had his head too full of other things to remark the 
 woman who at his approach withdrew still further 
 to the protection of the portiere. Without even a 
 side glance he strode through the adjoining room 
 and closed the door behind him. The husband and 
 wife were alone. 
 
 Arthur had only a bitter smile for the last words 
 of his officer. 
 
 " It is too late !" said he now to himself in a hol- 
 low voice. " They will not yield without blood- 
 shed. I must reap what ray father sowed."
 
 334 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 He threw himself down upon the lounge and 
 rested his head in his hand. Now, when he no 
 longer had to endure the glances of inquisitive eyes, 
 when he no longer had to play the chief, upon 
 whose decision all the others hung now the ener- 
 gy vanished from his features, to give place to that 
 expression of deathly weariness which overpowers 
 even the strongest man if for weeks long all his 
 strength of mind and body has been strained and 
 exercised to the utmost limits of possibility. 
 
 It was a moment of deep, utter despondency, such 
 as well might approach a man who must ever, and 
 ever in vain, contend against the curse of a past in 
 which he is guilty of nothing save an indifferent 
 alienation from its interests, and whose momentous 
 heirship, with all its oppressive burdens, has fallen 
 upon him alone. The bitter accusations against his 
 father which often came involuntarily from his lips 
 were stricken dumb at the moment he heard those 
 dreadful hints as to his father's death. 
 
 And still it was the father's fault alone that after 
 this desperate struggle the son was now confronted 
 by this dire necessity, that with ruin before his 
 eyes, forsaken by his wife, deserted by all the world, 
 he grasped at the last means of saving himself and 
 what he still called his from a hatred which, for 
 long years sown and fostered by another hand, had 
 left him to reap its whole terrible harvest. 
 
 Arthur, as if in deathly weariness, closed his eyes 
 and leaned his head upon the arm of the lounge : he 
 could endure no more.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 335 
 
 Eugenie quietly left her corner and stood upon 
 the threshold. The dangers she had just passed 
 were forgotten forgotten the accusation of the 
 officer which had just thrilled her with such shud- 
 dering horror ; forgotten, also, him whose daughter 
 she was and all that dignity due to her ancient and 
 noble race. 
 
 Now as she approached her husband she thought 
 of him alone. The thick veil which had so long 
 lain between them should be rent at last. All must 
 and should be explained. At the very idea of di- 
 vorce she trembled, as if with that decree her death- 
 sentence would be spoken. 
 
 If she deceived herself, if she was not received as 
 she wished and ought to be received after this sacri- 
 fice which she had extorted from her pride with 
 stormv violence the blood rushed to the heart of 
 
 ^ 
 
 this young wife and this heart beat in nameless 
 anguish. Upon the next minute hung all for her. 
 
 " Arthur !" said she softly. 
 
 Arthur started up as if a spirit-voice had touched 
 his ear and glanced around him. There, upon the 
 threshold where she had bidden him adieu forever, 
 stood his wife ; and at the moment he recognized 
 her sense and reflection vanished. He made a ges- 
 ture to rush toward her, and the outcry of happiness 
 which burst from his lips, the uplighting of his eyes, 
 betrayed all which by a self-mastery of long months 
 he had until this hour concealed. 
 
 ' Eugenie !" 
 
 The young woirjan breathed lightly, as if a moun-
 
 336 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 tain's weight had fallen from her breast. The 
 glance, the tone with which he called her name, 
 gave her at last the certainty so long despaired of ; 
 and if in the midst of his violent excitement he, too, 
 restrained himself if, as if for protection against 
 his own self, he strove again to put on the old mask 
 and to veil the treacherous glances it was too late : 
 she had seen too much. 
 
 " Whence come you here," he asked at last, with 
 difficulty controlling his emotion, " so sudden, so 
 unexpected ? And how did you reach the house ? 
 The works are all in an uproar : you could not pos- 
 sibly have passed them." 
 
 Eugenie slowly approached him. 
 
 " I came only a few minutes ago," she said. " I 
 certainly had to win my way by force: do not now 
 ask me how, it is enough that I won it. I wanted 
 to come to you before danger reached you." 
 
 Arthur made an effort to turn away. 
 
 " What does this mean, Eugenie? What would 
 you have with this tone ? Curt must have alarmed 
 you with his reports in spite of my request, in spite 
 of my express for bid dance. I wish for no sacrifices 
 from duty and magnanimity. You know it." 
 
 " Yes, I know it," returned the young wife de- 
 cidedly. " With these words you have once already 
 thrust me from you. You could not forgive me for 
 having once done you wrong, and in revenge for 
 that you had almost sacrificed yourself and me. 
 Arthur, who was the more revengeful, the harder 
 of us two?"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 337 
 
 ' It was not revenge," said he gently. " I gave 
 you freedom you had yourself wished it." 
 
 Eugenie now stood close before him. The word 
 which once for no price would have found its way 
 through her lips now became easy, since she knew 
 herself beloved. She lifted her dark, tear-moist 
 eyes imploringly up to him. 
 
 " And it I now tell my husband that I Avill not 
 have this freedom without him, that I have come 
 back to share all with him, whatever may happen, 
 that I have learned to love him will he then for 
 the second time bid me go ?" 
 
 She received no answer, at least none in words; 
 but she was already clasped in his arms : and in 
 these arms, which so passionately and firmly in- 
 closed her as if they would never let the treasure 
 won at last go from them, under these passionate 
 caresses Eugenie felt how deeply her loss must have 
 wounded him and what her return in such a moment 
 must be to him. 
 
 She saw the uplighting of those great brown eyes 
 in a luster such as, in spite of all those other light- 
 ning-like gleams, she had never yet seen in them. 
 The banished, sunken world had mounted up from 
 its abyss to the clearest sunlight, and the young 
 wife must indeed have had a suspicion of all the 
 treasures which it had in store for her ; for with an 
 expression of the most entire confidence she laid her 
 head upon her husband's breast as, bending down, 
 to her, he said softly : 
 
 "My wife! My all I"
 
 338 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Through the open window, as a blessing and a 
 greeting, swayed the voices of the green wooded 
 hills. These voices must have blended their whispers 
 with this newly found happiness, for they had 
 helped bring it about. They had long known they 
 had helped to bring it about. For those solitary 
 fir-crowned hill-tops had long known these two as 
 they did not know themselves; when both stood 
 arrayed in bitter scorn and hostility and spoke that 
 word of separation spoke it just there when each 
 heart had found in the other its destiny. 
 
 But they are of no avail, this scorn and contention 
 of the children of men, if with their loves and long- 
 ings they are betrayed within the spell the spirit of 
 the mountain throws around his kingdom in the 
 swaying mists of the first spring hours. And what 
 there unites is united for all eternity !
 
 GOOD LUGK. 339 
 
 CHAPTEK XVIII. 
 
 THE day which for the Berkow colony had begun 
 so tempestuously ended far more calmly than could 
 have been expected from the scenes of the morning. 
 One unacquainted with the circumstances would 
 perhaps have taken the tranquillity which toward 
 evening lay over the works for the deepest repose ; 
 and still it was only the lull of the storm which re- 
 strains itself for a moment, only to break loose 
 again with renewed fury. 
 
 In the overseer's dwelling also reigned that dull, 
 oppressive stillness which concealed so much calam- 
 ity in its bosom. The overseer sat silent in his arm- 
 chair by the stove ; Martha, busied in her household 
 affairs, went to and fro, and every now and then 
 threw a glance upon Ulrich, who with folded arms 
 paced silentty up and down the little room. No 
 one spoke to him ; he spoke to none. The former 
 confidences which from the ungovernable character 
 of the young master-miner had often enough led to 
 violent scenes and explosions, but just as often had 
 ended in reconciliation, had long since ceased. Ul- 
 rich now ruled within the house absolutely as out- 
 side of it among his comrades : even his father no 
 longer ventured to oppose his plans and undertak-
 
 340 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 ings ; but here, as there, fear was the impelling 
 force ; love and confidence were at an end. 
 
 The silence had alread} 7 lasted for some time, and 
 might have endured still longer if Lorenz had not 
 entered. Martha, who saw him from the window, 
 met him at the door. The relations between this 
 betrothed couple were singularly cold. This had 
 been a serious, eventful day, and the young girl's 
 greeting might have been warmer, ought perhaps to 
 have been warmer, on that very account. The 
 young miner seemed to feel this, for his face assumed 
 an almost offended expression and he paused in the 
 midst of his salutation ; but Martha did not remark 
 either, and with a hasty movement he turned to 
 Ulrich. 
 
 " Well . ? " asked Ulrich, pausing in his walk. 
 
 Lorenz shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 "It is as I have before told you. To-morrow 
 four hundred will declare themselves ready to go to 
 work, and there are just as many wavering and 
 hesitating ones. You can scarce count upon half." 
 
 Ulrich did not fly into a rage, as usually upon 
 such occasions. The wild passion which he had 
 this morning shown when he had learned of a much 
 smaller defection among his comrades strangely 
 contrasted with the almost unnatural repose of his 
 manner as he replied : 
 
 " Upon scarce half ? And how long will they hold 
 out?" 
 
 Lorenz evaded a direct answer. 
 
 " It is entirely the younger miners. They have
 
 GOOD LUCK. 341 
 
 stood by you from the first and will still remain 
 with you, even if there should be another conflict 
 at the mines to-morrow. Ulrich, will you really 
 push matters so far ?" 
 
 " He will push them to such a length," said the 
 overseer, rising, "that the men will all fall away 
 from him, one after the other, until at last he re- 
 mains quite alone. I have told you, Ulrich, you 
 could not succeed with your senseless demands and 
 your senseless hatred, which might have been in 
 place with the father, but which the son certainly 
 has not deserved. What he offered you was enough, 
 that I tell you I, who have worked so long in the 
 mines and know how to sympathize with my com- 
 rades. Most miners would gladty have taken what 
 has been offered to ours, but they have been so 
 much threatened and have become so intimidated 
 that no one longer ventures to lift a hand, because 
 Ulrich has put it into their heads to demand im- 
 possibilities. Now for weeks long this has been 
 going on; and yet all this misery, anxiety, and 
 need has been in vain. There must at last come a 
 day when wife and children, with their hunger, will 
 rise above all else. And that day has now come. 
 You have brought all this upon us, Ulrich you 
 alone ; now make an end of it." 
 
 The old man had risen and now gazed almost 
 threateningly at his son, but Ulrich, with sullen 
 composure, endured this silent reproach, which at 
 another time might have called forth all his rage. 
 
 " I must not quarrel with you, father," he re-
 
 342 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 turned coldly : " that I have long known. You 
 are content if you can eat your hard bread in peace, 
 and all which lies beyond that you call folly 
 and wickedness. I have ventured all. I thought I 
 could carry this through, and I should have done it 
 if young Berkow had not all at once risen up and 
 showed us a brow of iron. If it now fails well. I 
 am still sure of half ray comrades, as Carl says ; 
 and with these I will show him what conquering us 
 means He shall pay dearly enough for the 
 victory." 
 
 The overseer looked up to Lorenz, who stood 
 there with bowed head, without taking part in the 
 conversation ; then he turned to his son. 
 
 *' First see if the half will remain true to you 
 when the chief again steps between you as he did 
 to-day noon. This has cost you the other half, 
 Ulrich. Do you think it has not had its effect 
 the manner in which he has borne himself from the 
 very day you began to threaten him ? Do you 
 think the} 7 do not all feel that he is a match for you 
 and them, and that he alone must of necessity 
 control them when you once cease to be their 
 master ? This morning some of them for the first 
 time went back to their work : they would have 
 done so three weeks ago if they had dared. Now 
 that the beginning is made, there will be no more 
 pause." 
 
 " You may be right, father," said Ulrich sullenly : 
 " there will be no more pause. I have built upon 
 them as upon the rock, and they have proved
 
 GOOD LUCK. 343 
 
 wretched sand, which melts away beneath my 
 hands. Berkow has learned how to cajole these 
 cowards : with his eloquence, with his accursed 
 manner, to step among them as if there was never 
 a stone which might be hurled against his forehead, 
 never a mallet which in extremities might hit the 
 high-born chief ; and therefore no one ventures to 
 attack him. I know why to-day he all at once 
 carried his head so high why he rushed into the 
 midst of the tumult with an air as if victory and hap- 
 piness could no longer fail him ; and I also know that 
 both have now come back to him I myself this 
 morning conducted them to his arms." 
 
 The last words were lost by the violent closing 
 of the door which he had meantime opened. No 
 one understood them. Ulrich stepped out into the 
 open air and threw himself down upon the bench. 
 It was a weird, unnatural repose which had fallen 
 over him to-day. It seemed almost painful in a 
 man so accustomed to give loose rein to his wild 
 passion. Whether the desertion of his comrades 
 had so affected him or whether it was something 
 far different which since this morning had come 
 over him, we cannot say : the proud certainty of 
 victory which he had as yet shown at every hour 
 appeared now weakened, almost destroyed. 
 
 Over past the little garden flowed the wide stream 
 which further on drove the wheels of the works 
 now standing still. It was a wild, treacherous 
 stream, this brook ; it had nothing of the gentle
 
 344. GOOD LUCK. 
 
 murmurs, the silver-clear glances of its comrades up 
 in the mountains ; and still it came forth from the 
 depths of those mountains, just there where the 
 mines lay. How often had it sought to draw inno- 
 cent, playing children into its torrent, and at least 
 to frighten and torment where it could not wound 
 and kill ; to revenge itself because man had made it 
 a servant to execute his will. With a threatening 
 murmur the mad, restless waters had dashed on in 
 the last evening twilight, and still more ominous 
 now rang out their voice. They hissed mockingly 
 and maliciously, as if down in their depths they had 
 learned of the earth-demons those perfidious wiles 
 with which they lure to death the men who would 
 fain wrest from them their secrets ; as if they, too, 
 would demand as their sacrifice young, glowing, 
 hopeful lives, and bury them in the eternal night of 
 their rayless caves. It was nothing good which 
 rang out of it this rushing and roaring of the 
 waters, and it was in no good hour that this weird 
 murmur fell upon the young miner's ear. Immov- 
 able he stared down into those depths as if a 
 mysterious voice were calling to him. 
 
 He must have sat there for a long time, when he 
 heard a step approaching, and immediately after 
 Martha stood before him. 
 
 ""What do you wish?" asked Ulrich, without 
 turning his glance from the stream. 
 
 " I wished to see where you were, Ulrich." 
 
 There seemed to be a restrained anguish in the 
 girl's voice.
 
 OOOD LUCK. 345 
 
 "Where I was? Your betrothed husband is in 
 the house ; for him you should care. Leave me 
 where I ain." 
 
 "Carl has gone already," said Martha quickly, 
 " and he best knows that what I say to you need 
 not concern him." 
 
 Ulrich turned and looked at her. It seemed as if 
 he would break loose from the thoughts the rushing 
 of the waters awoke in him. 
 
 " Listen, Martha," he said : " no one else would 
 bear from you what Carl bears. I cannot allow 
 you to meet me in this manner. You should not 
 have said yes if you did not love him." 
 
 With a gesture almost of scorn the young girl 
 turned away. 
 
 " He knows that I do not love him. I told him 
 so when I gave him my promise. He understands 
 all this. I cannot change, at least not now. Perhaps 
 after marriage I shall learn to love him." 
 
 " Perhaps /" said Ulrich, in a tone too deep and 
 cutting to refer merely to these words. " So many 
 others learn this after marriage, and why not 
 you F 
 
 Again he gazed down into the dark, raging 
 waters as if he could not break loose from its spell. 
 That on-rushing tide, in its wild, unearthly mur- 
 murs, seemed to whisper very evil thoughts to him. 
 
 Martha stood some few steps from him, for she 
 was not quite free from the fear which since that 
 accident in the mines Ulrich had inspired in all. 
 For weeks she had avoided every association, every
 
 346 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 solitary interview with Ulrich ; but to-day the old 
 love had awakened mightily within her soul and 
 had driven her almost forcibly to him. This strange 
 calm did not deceive her : she suspected what lay 
 behind it. 
 
 " You cannot get over the desertion of your com- 
 rades ?" asked she gently. " Half of them yet re- 
 main true to you, and Carl will stand by you to the 
 last minute." 
 
 Ulrich smiled disdainfully. 
 
 " To-day it is half, to-morrow it will be a quarter, 
 and day after to-morrow let it rest, Martha. As 
 for Lorenz, he has from the first been with me only 
 with half a heart. He has stood by me. and not by 
 the revolt, because I was his friend ; but there will 
 soon be an end of friendship. Besides, his heart is 
 so much engrossed in you that he cannot now hon- 
 orably love me." 
 
 " Ulrich !" said the young girl with a passionate 
 gesture. 
 
 "Well, that can no longer wound you. You 
 would not consent when I begged you to be my 
 wife. If you had, it would have been far better." 
 
 " It would not have been better," said Martha 
 decidedly. " I am not made to endure what Carl 
 so patiently endures day after day ; and as it is be- 
 tween him and me, it would have been between us 
 two, only it would have been I who must endure. 
 I had no share in your heart ; your love was wholly 
 another's." 
 
 There lay a bitter reproach in the words, but
 
 GOOD LUGS'. 347 
 
 even this did not enrage Ulrich to-day. He had 
 risen and was looking over to the darkening park 
 as if he sought some object between the trees. 
 
 " You think I could have found this love nearer 
 and better if I had only sought it; and there you 
 are right. But one does not seek this, Martha : it 
 suddenly seizes one and does not release him while 
 a breath remains in his breast. I have learned this. 
 I have done you wrong, girl how great wrong I 
 now know for the first time ; but believe me there 
 is no blessing in such a love as mine ; it often op- 
 presses one more heavily than the bitterest hatred." 
 
 It sounded strangely, this half-entreat} 7 for for- 
 giveness in the mouth of Ulrich Hartmann, who 
 usually asked little whether he had done one wrong 
 or no ; and there was something else in the words 
 which lay infinitely far from his character a dumb 
 resignation, a sorrow which no longer had anything 
 wild or passionate, but which on that account was 
 so much the more touching. Martha forgot timid- 
 ity and fear ; she stepped close to his side. 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Ulrich ? You are 
 so strange to-day, as I have never before seen you. 
 What is wanting to you ?" 
 
 He stroked the blond hair from his temples and 
 leaned for support against the wooden fence. 
 
 " I do not know. An undefined something has 
 oppressed me the whole day long a something 
 from which I cannot free myself and which robs 
 me of all my strength. I certainly shall need all 
 this strength to-morrow ; but whenever I would
 
 348 GOOD LUCK 
 
 think of it everything grows black and obscure, as if 
 nothing lay beyond this to-morrow, as if with it all 
 was at an end all !" With a touch of his old ob- 
 stinacy Ulrich started up. " Idiotic thoughts ! I 
 believe the water down there has done all this to 
 me with its accursed roaring. And I have just now 
 time to listen. Farewell." 
 
 He was about to go, but the girl anxiously held 
 him back. 
 
 " Where will you go? To your comrades?" 
 
 " No. I must take one more walk alone. Fare- 
 well." 
 
 " Ulrich, stay, I implore you !" 
 
 The young miner's short-lived weakness was al- 
 ready over. He broke impatiently away. 
 
 " Let me go ! I have no time to talk with you 
 some other day !" 
 
 He burst open the garden gate and shortly after 
 vanished in the twilight of the way leading to the 
 park. 
 
 Martha stood there with folded hands and gazed 
 after him. Mortification and bitter sorrow strug- 
 gled in her features, but grief still held the mastery. 
 " There is no blessing in ruch love !" The words 
 yet again echoed in her heart ; she also felt that 
 there was no blessing in hers. 
 
 Meantime Eugenie Berkow found herself alone in 
 her husband's cabinet. There remained to this 
 husband and wife but little time to give themselves 
 up to love and to love's happiness. Twice already 
 bad Arthur been, forced to leave her side : to-day
 
 GOOD LUCE. 349 
 
 noon, when he had thrown himself into the midst 
 of the revolt and for the moment had overpowered 
 it ; and now again, when a conference with his offi- 
 cers summoned him away. But in spite of her 
 uneasiness about him, in spite of her anxiety 
 in regard to the present, still so dark and threat- 
 ening, the young wife's face glowed with the 
 reflection of a deep inward happiness which, won 
 after so long a conflict, no longer trembled before 
 any outward storm. She was with her husband, at 
 his side, in his protection ; and Arthur seemed only 
 too well to understand how to make his wife forget 
 all else but him. 
 
 A door was opened and steps were heard in the 
 adjoining room. Eugenie rose hastily to greet the 
 new-comer, whom she naturally supposed to be her 
 husband, but her first astonishment at sight of the 
 strange form yielded to terror as in the man who 
 entered she recognized Ulrich Hartmann. 
 
 He also' paused in astonishment as he became 
 aware of her presence. 
 
 " Is it you, my lady ? I seek Herr Berkow." 
 
 ' He is not here. I was just now expecting him," 
 replied Eugenie quickty, but with trembling voice. 
 
 She knew what a dangerous man this was for 
 Arthur what r le he played here upon the works ; 
 still she had not hesitated to confide herself to his 
 protection when this morning no other choice had 
 remained to her ; but between this morning and 
 evening lay those hours in which she had heard the 
 accusations the chief engineer had made against
 
 350 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 him. It was only a suspicion, but even the suspi- 
 cion of the treacherous, under-handed murder of a 
 defenseless man is something terrible. The very 
 thought of it had filled this young woman with 
 horror. She had confided herself to the open, reck 
 less enemy of her husband, but she drew back shud- 
 dering from the hand which perhaps was red with 
 the blood of Arthur's father. 
 
 Ulrich remarked this movement only too well. 
 He remained standing upon the threshold, but there 
 was an unmistakable irony in his voice as he said : 
 
 " I have perhaps frightened you with my en- 
 trance ? It was not my fault that I did not have 
 myself announced. Your ladyship is badly served. 
 I found none of your lackeys either on the stairs or 
 in the corridors. I might perhaps have thrust them 
 aside had they refused me entrance, but their out- 
 cry at this would have been a sort of announce- 
 ment." 
 
 Eugenie knew that he could have entered un- 
 hindered. Franz and Anton, at Arthurs express 
 command, were in the anteroom of her own apart- 
 ments. Now, when all minds were excited, when 
 all the bands of order were loosened, he did not 
 know but the lawlessness of some might lead to an 
 attack, or at least an intrusion into the house. Un- 
 rest and anxiety had driven the young wife over to 
 her husband's chamber, which lay in the other wing, 
 and from whose windows she could see him coming. 
 Here, in truth, the entrance was unguarded ; and 
 she was entirely alone in these rooms.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 351 
 
 " What do you wish here, Hartraann ?" she asked, 
 summoning all her courage. "I did not suppose 
 that after all which has happened you would seek 
 to enter our house, and even intrude yourself into 
 the apartment of your chief. You must know that 
 he no longer can receive you." 
 
 " It is for that very reason I seek him to speak a 
 few words with him. I expected to find him alone. 
 It was not you I sought, your ladyship." 
 
 At the last words he had stepped nearer. Eugenie 
 involuntarily drew back to the furthest part of the 
 room. He laughed bitterly. 
 
 " Can a few hours have made such a change ? 
 This morning you demanded my protection and 
 leaned upon my arm as I conducted you through 
 the tumult: now you flee from me as if near me 
 you were not sure of your life. Herr Berkow has 
 well employed the time to represent me to you as a 
 robber and a murderer has he not ?" 
 
 The young woman's delicate brows contracted as, 
 subduing her fear, she sternly replied : 
 
 " Leave me ! My husband is not here ! You see 
 this ; and even if he were to come now I should 
 hardly like to leave you alone with him." 
 
 " Why not ?" asked Ulrich slowly, but with a 
 lowering glance. " AVhy not ?" repeated he more 
 passionately, as she was silent. 
 
 Eugenie's fearless character had often betrayed 
 her into inconsiderate expressions, and even now 
 she did not think of the possible consequences of 
 her words as, firmly returning his glance, she was 
 hurried on to give this dangerous answer :
 
 352 UOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Because your nearness has already proved fatal 
 to a Berkow." 
 
 Hartraann shuddered and turned pale. For a 
 moment it seemed as if he would break forth into 
 all his old savagery, but it did not happen. The 
 dumb repose remained upon his features, and his 
 voice retained the masked, hollow tone it had had 
 during the whole interview. 
 
 " Ah, that was it ?" said he half-aloud. " Truly, 
 I might have thought that this at last had found its 
 way to you." 
 
 The young woman looked with surprise upon this 
 calmness, which she had not expected here, and 
 which, in spite of all, seemed unnatural to her ; but 
 even this incited her to a still greater venture. This 
 morning he had shown her how unlimited was her 
 power, and for Arthur's sake she wished to be cer- 
 tain as to who stood opposed to him in this conflict. 
 She had a presentiment that the truth, eveh if con- 
 cealed from all the world besides, would not be de- 
 nied her. 
 
 " You must know what I mean ?" she began anew. 
 "You understand my hint? Hartmann, can you 
 pronounce the reports false which since that un- 
 happy hour have been connected with your name?" 
 
 He crossed his arms and gazed morosely at the 
 floor. 
 
 " And even if I did, would you believe me ?" 
 
 Eugenie was silent. 
 
 " Would you believe me ?" he asked yet again, but 
 with a tone as if life and death for him hung upon 
 her answer.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 353 
 
 She let her glance sweep over his face, which be- 
 trayed the same agonized suspense as his voice. It 
 was still deathly pale, this face, but it was now 
 again fully turned toward her. 
 
 " I hold you capable of crime when your passion- 
 ate nature is aroused, but not of falsehood." 
 
 Ulrica's powerful breast rose and fell under its 
 deep pulsations, and as if to relieve her fears he 
 stepped back. 
 
 " As it is you who ask, my lady, I will answer." 
 
 The young woman trembled and leaned for sup- 
 port on the arm of the divan. She felt the danger 
 of such an interview with such a man, but still she 
 put the momentous question. 
 
 " They declare to my husband that it was more 
 than a mere accident which caused the rope to break 
 on that unlucky day. What was it, Hartmann ?" 
 
 " It was accident, or rather it was something bet- 
 ter, if you will force me to say it it was retribu- 
 tion. Our chief had caused a change to be made in, 
 the elevator, which, like all he did, was for neces- 
 sity, not for security. What mattered it if a few 
 hundreds of miners, who must every day go up and 
 down this elevator, were every day exposed to dan- 
 ger ? Double and treble what it was able to bear 
 was demanded of the senseless thing, and it at last 
 had its revenge, but not upon the workmen it was 
 upon the chief himself. It was not a human hand, 
 your ladyship, which made the rope break just at 
 that moment when it must bear its weight ; and it 
 was mine least of all. I saw the danger coming:
 
 354 GOOD LUCK 
 
 we were already at the last platform ; I made a 
 spring upward, and " 
 
 " Pushed him back ?" interrupted Eugenie breath- 
 lessly as he paused. 
 
 " No ! I only let him fall. I could have rescued 
 him if I had wished. A half-minute was time 
 enough for that. In truth, it might have cost my 
 own life ; he might have pulled me down with him 
 if I had come to his help : but for every one of my 
 comrades, for every one of the officers, I would have 
 risked this ; for that man I would not. At that 
 moment all he had done to us shot through my 
 brain. I thought that the fate to which, for the 
 sake of sparing his money, he every [day exposed 
 us was only coming to him, and I would not inter- 
 fere with the just retribution of Heaven. In spite 
 of his outcries I did not lift my hand, and a minute 
 after it was too late. The elevator fell and he with 
 it." 
 
 Hartmann was silent. Eugenie in mingled hor- 
 ror and sympathy gazed up at him. She knew only 
 too well that his accusations against the dead were 
 just, and she felt that even if she herself at such an 
 hour might have put forth her hand to rescue the 
 hated Berkow, tjie man before her had been tried 
 past forgiveness or forgetful ness. He had but let 
 his enemy perish before his eyes when perhaps at 
 the peril of his own life he might have rescued him. 
 
 "Have you told me the whole truth, Hartmann?" 
 she asked. " Upon your word and honor ?" 
 
 "Upon my word and my honor, your ladyship!"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 355 
 
 His eyes sullenly yet firmly met hers. The young 
 woman no longer doubted as she reproachfully 
 asked : 
 
 " And why did you not solve this mystery ? Why 
 did you not speak to others as you have to me ?" 
 
 An expression of bitter disdain passed over his 
 face. 
 
 " Because no one would have believed me not a 
 single one, not even my father. He is quite right. 
 I have been wild and uncontrollable beyond all 
 measure my whole life long. I have thrown down 
 all which stood in my way and never troubled my- 
 self as to what others said of me ; that I must now 
 confess. They all know that I hated the dead man, 
 and as the accident happened when I was near I 
 knew they would lay it to me. There was no doubt 
 of that. My own father said it to my face ; and as 
 I could not say 'Yes' when he asked me if I was 
 entirely innocent of Berkow's death I had only to 
 stretch forth my arm to rescue him and I did not 
 do it as I could not say * Yes,' he would not hear 
 another word from me. He would not have be- 
 lieved me even upon my oath. I have now and 
 then sought to convince my comrades of my inno- 
 cence, and although they did not contradict me, I 
 saw in their faces that they considered me a liar. 
 I would not sue for their confidence, so I let things go 
 as they would. I retained their friendship and 
 comeradeship all the same. If I had been arrested 
 by process of law I should certainly have spoken, 
 but it would still have been questionable whether 
 any one believed me."
 
 356 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Eugenie shook her head. 
 
 " You should have forced them to believe you, 
 Hartraann, and they would have done it if you had 
 only seriously demanded it, but your pride and ob- 
 stinacy would not suffer this. You met the suspi- 
 cion with disdain, and that very thing strengthened 
 it. Now you are suspected throughout the works, 
 by the officers, by my husband 
 
 " What do I care for Herr Berkow ?" he inter- 
 posed roughly. "What for all the rest? Whether 
 they condemn me or not, it is all the same to me. 
 But I could not bear, my lady, to have you turn 
 from me in fear and detestation ; from you alone I 
 could not bear it ; and you believe me now. I see 
 it in your eyes. I am perfectly indifferent to the 
 rest." 
 
 " I believe you," said Eugenie gravely, " and I 
 will see that my husband exculpates you from the 
 worst suspicion at least. We must not judge you 
 for not saving life where you might have saved it ; 
 for that you are answerable to your own conscience. 
 But Arthur shall no longer believe that the mur- 
 derer of his father stands opposed to him. It is cer- 
 tainly too late for reconciliation. You have gone 
 too far. For the first time, two hours ago I learned 
 all that had happened, all that perhaps would hap- 
 pen if the attack upon the mines is renewed to- 
 morrow. Hartmann " the young woman thought- 
 lessly approached him and imploringly laid her 
 hand upon his arm " Hartmann, we stand upon 
 the brink of a fearful catastrophe. You have
 
 GOOD LUCK. 357 
 
 forced my husband to protect himself and his from 
 danger, and he has concluded so to do. To-morrow 
 morning blood will flow, must flow ; reflect upon 
 whom the responsibility will fall." 
 
 Her nearness, her hand upon his arm, did not fail 
 of their effect upon Ulrich, but this effect was no 
 salutary one. His voice lost more and more its 
 calm, indifferent tone as he answered : 
 
 " Upon me, do you think? Have a care, my 
 lady ! It might also fall upon you if it harmed the 
 one you love. Herr Berkow certainly will not re- 
 main here in the house if there is fighting outside ; 
 that I know, and I also know whom I shall first 
 seek when the conflict breaks out." 
 
 Eugenie had tremblingly withdrawn her hand 
 and retreated from him. She heard this tone, and 
 at the same time saw a glance which warned her. 
 He was always the uncontrollable tiger who one 
 moment listened to her voice, perhaps the next to 
 rise against her in the whole terrible might of his 
 rage ; and the moment seemed to have come ; that 
 glance threatened even her. 
 
 " Hartmann, you speak with the wife of your 
 chief !" she cried with an unavailing effort to re- 
 cover her self-possession. "If you hate him " 
 
 " The chief ?" interrupted he with wild irony. 
 " It matters not with whom I at the head of my com- 
 rades have to deal. It is Arthur Berkow I hate, 
 because you are his wife, because you love him, and 
 I I love you, Eugenie, more than all else in the 
 wide world ! Do not be so horrified at this ; you
 
 358 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 must have known it long ago ; I could not help it 
 from the first moment I saw 3 7 ou. I have tried by 
 force to crush and annihilate this love, but I could 
 not. I cannot to-day, even though I again feel 
 more than ever the old truth that only equal must 
 unite with equal, and that for the like of us there 
 can remain nothing but an aristocratic shrug of the 
 shoulder, even though we have periled life for her 
 we love. But if a life is again in peril, I am not the 
 one so senselessly to expose my own as I did under 
 the hoofs of your horses when you came here on 
 your wedding-journey ; for that, another life must 
 be risked than mine. I have already hated a Ber- 
 kow to the death. I then believed I could hate no 
 man on earth so bitterly : now I know better. I 
 have not yet been guilty of murder, but there is one 
 I could murder, one only ! I did not kill the father, 
 but if I should ever be thus alone with the son, 
 then it would be he or I or both !" 
 
 It was terrible, this moment, when the passion of 
 this man, mounting almost to madness, burst its 
 barriers an impetuous, devastating torrent which 
 nothing could any longer dam or restrain. Eugenie 
 saw that here any word, any outcry, would be too 
 late, and felt that her power was at an end. She 
 could not fly : he stood in the way to the door; but 
 she hastened to the bell-pull and rang with all her 
 might. The servants were in the other wing, but 
 still it might be possible for the sound to reach 
 them. 
 
 Hartmann had followed her. He sought to
 
 GOOD LUCK. 359 
 
 snatch her hand from the bell-wire, but at the same 
 moment he was seized by an arm to which indigna- 
 tion now lent strength to hurl aside this giant fig- 
 ure as if it had been that of a child. It was Arthur 
 who stood between them, and with an outcry of 
 joy, but also of mortal terror, Eugenie fled to her 
 husband. She knew what must now come. 
 
 Ulrich rushed forward without a word, but with 
 features so distorted by rage as to be past recogni- 
 tion. That which now flamed up in his eyes as they 
 met his rival betokened inevitable destruction ; but 
 Arthur, with ready presence of mind, had taken 
 down a pistol which hung over his writing-desk, 
 and throwing his left arm around his wife, with the 
 right he pointed the deadly weapon toward his rival. 
 
 " Back, Ilartmann ! Do no again venture to ap- 
 proach ! One more step toward my wife, a single 
 one, and you lie upon the floor !" 
 
 The threatened man paused. In spite of the fury 
 with which he was about to rush forward, he saw 
 that the muzzle of the weapon pointed directly at 
 him and that the hand which held it did not 
 tremble. If he took another step forward he would 
 be shot and his rival remain conqueror. He clinched 
 his unarmed right hand. 
 
 " I have no pistol," said he, gnashing his teeth. 
 "If I had, then we should stand equal against 
 equal, Herr Chief ; but certainly we never have stood 
 thus. You have better prepared yourself than I. 
 I have only my fist to place against your ball, and 
 there is no doubt which would do the quickest 
 work."
 
 300 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 Arthur did not take his eyes from him. 
 
 " It is your doing, Hartmann," he said, " that we 
 must now always have loaded weapons in our hands. 
 I will at least protect my house and my wife against 
 you, even if it costs your life. Back, I tell you 
 once again !" 
 
 There was once more that same steady, unflinch- 
 ing glance from both men as at their first interview, 
 when each appeared to measure the other's 
 strength ; and now as then the young chief re- 
 mained conqueror, though things had now gone so 
 far that he needed other weapons than his eyes 
 alone. He stood there immovable as yet, his finger 
 upon the lock of the pistol, and with the same 
 glance as at t'hat former meeting he followed his 
 rival until he reached the door. 
 
 "I have never yet placed much value upon my 
 life," said Ulrich defiantly: "I think you both 
 must have had proof of this ; but I will not allow 
 myself to be shot down upon your threshold. I 
 have still to reckon with you, sir. Do not tremble 
 so, my lady ! You are in his arms and he is safe 
 now he is safe, but we are not yet at an end. And 
 even if you both stood there as if nothing could 
 ever sunder you, as if you were linked one to the 
 other for all eternity, still some time my hour 
 would come ; and then, then you would think of 
 me !" 
 
 He went. The heavy step echoed first in the 
 adjoining room, then in the antechamber ; at last it 
 died away outside. The young wife nestled more
 
 GOOD LUCK. 361 
 
 closely in her husband's arms. She Lv:i vow proved 
 in what manner they knew how to jrizaio her. 
 
 "You came at the right time, Arthur/' she said, 
 still trembling with horror at the cceiv.j just past. 
 " I had left my room in spite of your warning: it 
 was an imprudence, I know ; but I wanted to await 
 you here, and I believed I should at least be safe 
 anywhere in the house." 
 
 Arthur let the weapon fall and drew her closer 
 to him. 
 
 " But you were not, you have just learned," he 
 said. " What did Hartmann wish here in my 
 cabinet ?" 
 
 " I do not know. He sought you, but evidently 
 with no good intention." 
 
 " I am prepared for all that may happen from 
 this side," Arthur returned calmly as he laid the 
 pistol on the writing-desk. " You see I was ready 
 for this attack ; but I fear it is only a prelude to to- 
 morrow, when the real drama begins. Do you 
 tremble before it, Eugenie? The help I have sum- 
 moned may arrive toward evening, but we shall 
 have to hold out all day against the rioters." 
 
 " At your side I tremble at nothing more. But, 
 Arthur" here her voice took an expression of 
 anguished entreaty "do not again go out alone 
 into the midst of the uproar as you did to-day noon. 
 He is there and he has sworn your death." 
 
 Arthur gently lifted his young wife's head and 
 gazed deep and steadily into her eyes. 
 
 " Life and death are not in Hartmann's hands,"
 
 362 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 he said : " over them there is Another, who must 
 decide. Be calm, Eugenie ! I will do my duty, but 
 I shall Jo it otherwise than in all these days before, 
 for I now know that my wife is anxious about me. 
 That I shall not easily forget." 
 
 Outside upon the terrace stood Ulrich Hartmann. 
 The twilight had deepened. One could no longer 
 decide as to the expression of his face as he glanced 
 in the windows of the house he had just left, but his 
 voice betrayed it. Half-aloud, as an oath, he 
 repeated the threat he had before hurled at Arthur 
 Berkow : 
 
 " He or I, or, if it must be both of us !"
 
 GOOD LUCK 363 
 
 CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 IT had come the morning of that momentous 
 day to which Arthur Berkow and all connected 
 with his interests had looked forward with such 
 anxious foreboding. And their most serious ap- 
 prehensions seemed about to be realized. 
 
 At an early hour all the officers assembled at the 
 house of their chief. They might have come to 
 take counsel or fear might have driven them there. 
 It seemed as if the latter were the impelling motive, 
 for the faces of the gentlemen were pale and 
 agitated and their manner betrayed great anxiety. 
 
 " I insist that it was a mistake to imprison the 
 three miners," declared Ilerr Schaffer to the di- 
 rector. "We might have ventured this if military 
 assistance had been at hand, but we never should 
 have done so on our own responsibility. Now they 
 will storm the house to free the prisoners, and we 
 shall have to give them up." 
 
 " Begging your pardon, that we shall not do !" 
 exclaimed the chief engineer, who, as usual, placed 
 himself in direct opposition to his colleague. " We 
 will endure the storm, and, if necessary, defend 
 ourselves here in the house. Herr Berkow has 
 fully decided to do this."
 
 364 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Well, you certainly must best know his de- 
 cisions. You are his sole adviser," returned the 
 director, somewhat piqued. 
 
 He certainly could not boast of a similar intimacy 
 with the young chief, although his place perhaps 
 would sooner have entitled him to it. 
 
 "Herr Berkow usually forms his conclusions 
 without help from others," replied the chief engi- 
 neer dryly; " but in this case I, as usual, fully agree 
 with him. It would have been against law and 
 conscience, it would have been pitiable baseness to 
 let these three rascals go free. It was their fixed 
 intention to destroy our machines." 
 
 " At Hartmann's command," interposed Schaffer. 
 
 " But they lent themselves to its execution. The 
 master did right to hinder this knavish trick, and I 
 would like to see the man who in such a case would 
 have let these fellows go unpunished. He had 
 them shut up, and he was right. Hartmann cer- 
 tainly was not at hand : he was at the mines, where 
 the excitement was already at its height, and 
 where, after all, he could not hinder the workmen 
 going down, because his own father withstood 
 him." 
 
 '* Yes, it was a lucky thing that the overseer came 
 to our help," said the director. " He must have 
 seen that no other means was left him to prevent 
 extreme measures when he this morning, of his own 
 free will, offered to lead the workmen to the mines, 
 although that is not his office. He knew that, 
 come what would, his son would not attack him,
 
 GOOD LUCK. 365 
 
 and none of the others would raise a hand against 
 their comrades when they saw the leader quail. 
 We must thank the old man solely that the descent 
 into the mines has been really accomplished." 
 
 " Yes, I admit that the descent has been accom- 
 plished. More than half the miners remained 
 neutral, and if they had not been enraged by the 
 arrest of their comrades the whole thing would 
 have passed over in peace and tranquillity." 
 
 " In peace and tranquillity while Hartmann com- 
 mands !" laughed the chief engineer bitterly : " you 
 most woefully deceive yourselves. He seeks an ex- 
 cuse for attack, no matter what, and in an emer- 
 gency would have made it without any excuse. 
 The events of this morning must have showed him 
 that his power is fast declining that perhaps he 
 can control his men only to-day, and therefore he 
 dares all. The fellow knows that he is lost and 
 recklessly carries with him into ruin all who follow 
 him from fear or habit. He has n6thing more for 
 which to care and he will spare us least of all." 
 
 They were interrupted by Herr Wilberg, who 
 with a blanched face came from the window where 
 he had posted himself for the last ten minutes. 
 
 " The tumult increases," he said timidly. " There 
 is no doubt that they intend an attack upon the 
 house if Herr JBerkow does not yield. The park 
 fence is already down, the grounds are stamped and 
 trodden over. Ah, the magnificent roses upon the 
 terraces !" 
 
 " Keep away from us with your sentimentality !"
 
 366 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 spoke up the chief engineer, while the director and 
 Schaffer hastened to the window. "Now, when 
 the rebels are storming the house, you think of the 
 down-trodden rose-bushes. Would you not like to 
 withdraw and put this lament over the roses into 
 verse ? I should think it would be just the right 
 subject for a poet." 
 
 "I have lor some time had the misfortune of ex- 
 citing the displeasure of the Herr Engineer with all 
 I say and do," returned Herr Wilberg, offended, but 
 still with an air of secret self-satisfaction, which 
 seemed to rise above the malice*of his superior. 
 
 " Because you neither say nor do anything sen- 
 sible," growled the engineer, turning his back to 
 Herr Wilberg and joining his colleagues, who from 
 the window were watching the ever-increasing 
 tumult. 
 
 "This will become serious," said the director 
 restlessly. "They are threatening the entrance. 
 We must inform the chief." 
 
 " Leave him in peace for the moment at least," 
 interposed the chief engineer. " I thought he had 
 remained so persistently at his post since dawn we 
 might now allow him five minutes with his wife. 
 The necessary measures have all been arranged, and 
 wherever danger is there he will be. That you 
 must know." 
 
 The officer was right. Since the early morning 
 hours Arthur had been uninterruptedly engaged in 
 giving commands, making arrangements and per- 
 sonal inspections, and had now for a few minutes
 
 GOOD LUCK. 367 
 
 withdrawn with his wife into an adjoining room. 
 He must have informed her of the exact state of 
 affairs, for the young wife's arms, in agonized 
 excitement, were flung around his neck. 
 
 " You must not go out, Arthur," she said : " it is 
 a rash, a desperate venture. What can you do 
 alone against this raging multitude? Yesterday 
 they were quarreling among themselves when you 
 stepped between : to-day they will all turn against 
 you. You will atone for this daring. I cannot let 
 you go." 
 
 Arthur gently but decidedly released himself from 
 her arms. 
 
 " I must, Eugenie," be said. " It is the only 
 possibility of quelling the storm, and it is not the 
 first time I have been forced to encounter such 
 scenes. What did you do yesterday on your ar- 
 rival ?" 
 
 " I wanted to come to you," said Eugenie, in a 
 tone as if this ought to justify every venture. "But 
 you will break away from me to deliver yourself 
 up to the blind fury of this Hartmann. Think of 
 the scene of yesterday evening of his threats! If 
 you must go out, if no choice is left you, then let 
 me at least go with you. I am not timid ; I tremble 
 at danger only when I know you are exposed to it 
 alone." 
 
 He bent gravely but lovingly down to her. 
 
 " I know that you have courage, my Eugenie, but 
 I should be a coward in the midst of that mob, 
 when I knew tha,t a stone from their midst might
 
 368 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 also hit you. I want ray full courage to-day, and I 
 should not have it if I saw you near me threatened 
 and had not the power to protect you. I know why 
 you wish to accompany me : you believe me secure 
 from one arm so long as you stand at my side. Do 
 not deceive yourself. Since yesterday evening that 
 is past ; since then you have a share in the hatred 
 with which he follows me ; and even if this were 
 not so " here his voice lost its gentle, pleading 
 tone and his brow contracted " I will not owe my 
 security to a sentiment which is an insult to you as 
 well as to me, and which alone demands the re- 
 moval of this man, even if his other proceedings 
 did not." 
 
 The young wife must have felt the truth of these 
 words. She bowed her head in silent resignation. 
 Arthur continued : 
 
 " The tumult is breaking out anew. I must go. 
 Our meetings to-day must be limited to minutes, 
 and they will be full enough of anguish, my peor 
 wife. You could not have come back at a worse 
 time." 
 
 " Would you rather endure the storm alone with- 
 out me ?" asked Eugenie softly. 
 
 A glow of passionate tenderness illuminated the 
 young man's clouded features. 
 
 " Without you ? I have hitherto endured like the 
 soldier upon a forsaken post. Since yesterday I 
 have learned that a struggle may be worth some- 
 thing when one has a life's happiness and a future 
 to win through it. You have brought both back to
 
 GOOD LUCK 369 
 
 me, and if from all sides the tempest breaks forth 
 more fiercely upon us, I again believe in victory, 
 since I again have you." 
 
 The debate among the officers, growing ever 
 more excited, was silenced as Berkow entered with 
 his wife, but the emotion visible on all sides was 
 more than mere respect for the entrance of the 
 chief. All the grave, anxious, apprehensive glances 
 were fixed upon his face, as if from it they would 
 read hope or fear. All pressed around him as 
 around a central prep, against which they sought a 
 support and stay ; all breathed more freely at his 
 entrance, as if with it alone a part of the danger 
 were removed. This emotion, involuntary as it 
 was. sufficed to show Eugenie what a position her 
 husband had won among those around him, and his 
 manner as he stepped among them showed still 
 more that he knew how to retain it. His face, 
 which only a few moments before the young wife 
 had seen so deeply troubled, now, when he met all 
 these anxious faces, betrayed only a calm serious- 
 ness, nothing more ; and his bearing was so confi- 
 dent that it must have infused courage into even 
 the most timid. 
 
 " Well, gentlemen, it looks rather hostile and 
 threatening outside there," he said. "We must 
 prepare ourselves for a sort of siege, perhaps for an 
 attack. Do you not think so ?" 
 
 " They want the prisoners released," said the di- 
 rector with a glance at Schaffer, as if demanding 
 his support, and Schaffer now interposed ;
 
 37'0 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Yes, certainly, Herr Berkow, and I fear we 
 shall not be able to maintain ourselves against the 
 uproar. The incarceration of the three miners is 
 for the moment their only ground or excuse for it. 
 If we took this from them 
 
 " Then they would find others," interrupted 
 Arthur sharply, " and the weakness betrayed by us 
 would give them new courage. We must show 
 neither weakness nor fear, or we shall lose the 
 game at the last moment. I foresaw the conse- 
 quences when I had the three mischief-makers ar- 
 rested, but to meet this attack only the most urgent 
 measures will suffice. The prisoners remain in con- 
 finement until the soldiers arrive." 
 
 The director stepped back and Schiiffer shrugged 
 his shoulders. They had now learned to know their 
 young chief well enough to understand that this 
 tone would admit of no contradiction. 
 
 "I miss Hartmann among the mob," said Arthur, 
 turning to the chief engineer. " He is usually the 
 leader in all uproar and tumult, but to-day he seems 
 to have only urged the men on to the attack and 
 then to have left them alone. He is nowhere 
 visible." 
 
 " And I, too. have missed him for a quarter of an 
 hour," returned the engineer thoughtfully. " I hope 
 he is not stirring up new mischief somewhere else. 
 You commanded the guards stationed at the 
 machine-houses to be withdrawn, Herr Berkow ?" 
 
 " Certainly. We want the few men at our dis- 
 posal here at the house : and now that entrance has
 
 GOOD LUCK, 371 
 
 been forced into the mines, they as well as the 
 machines are quite 1 secure. Nothing can be done 
 there without endangering the workmen below." 
 
 " With such a leader would this be a considera- 
 tion ?" asked the officer doubtfully. 
 
 Arthur's brow grew dark. 
 
 " I might have thought of that ! Hartmann is 
 an uncontrolled, savage nature when enraged, but 
 he is not a villain, and what you have hinted at 
 would be villainy. He would have destroyed the 
 machines so as to hinder the descent, and as he 
 could not hinder it, why do you believe that he 
 would so insanely fall upon the machine-houses? 
 It certainly would not be to expose his father and 
 comrades to destruction. He wished to recall his 
 former orders, and when he saw that we were ahead 
 of him he became enraged at the failure of his 
 plans against us. The descent alone has saved us 
 the machines. No one lifts his hand against them 
 while the overseer and the rest are in the mines, but 
 instead they direct the storm against the house. I 
 will go out and make an effort to quell it." 
 
 During the last weeks the officers had become 
 accustomed to see their chief enter into scenes like 
 this with the utmost daring and without regard to 
 personal danger, but to-day warnings and entreaties 
 were heard from all sides. Even the chief engineer 
 for this once joined in, while Schaffer, who well 
 knew from what source alone expostulation could 
 avail, turned to Eugenie, who still stood at her hus- 
 band's side.
 
 372 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 " Do not let him go, your ladyship not to-day. 
 To-day it is more perilous than upon all days be- 
 fore. The miners are terribly excited, and this 
 time Hartmann is playing a desperate game against 
 us. Keep our chief back !" 
 
 The young wife became deathly pale at this 
 warning, which only too well confirmed her own 
 fears, but she retained her self-possession ; a part of 
 Arthur's calmness seemed to have passed over to 
 her. 
 
 " My husband has declared to me that he must 
 make the effort," she returned firmly, " and he shall 
 not say that I with tears and entreaties kept him 
 back from what he deemed his duty. Let him 
 go!" 
 
 Arthur clasped her hand still more firmly in 
 his own, but he thanked her only with a glance. 
 
 " Now, gentlemen," he said, " take an example 
 from the courage of my wife. She certainly has 
 the most to tremble for. I repeat to you, the at- 
 tempt must be made. Let the doors be opened." 
 
 " We all go with you !" cried the chief engineer. 
 "Fear nothing, my lady. I will not leave your 
 husband's side." 
 
 Arthur calmly but firmly declined the proffer. 
 
 " I thank you ; but you remain here, and the 
 other gentlemen likewise. I go alone. In such a 
 case the solitary man is safest from the mob. The 
 appearance of you all might seem a challenge. 
 Only hold yourselves ready, if things come to the 
 worst, to cover my retreat into the house. Fare- 
 , well, Eugenie !"
 
 GOOD LUCK. 373 
 
 He went, accompanied to the steps by the chief 
 engineer and the other officers. No one made any 
 further effort to hold him back. They all knew 
 that in his appearance among the mob outside lay 
 the only possibility of averting a danger, to with- 
 stand which for many hours here within the house 
 seemed difficult, if not impossible. 
 
 Eugenie hastened to a window. She did not see 
 that all present in anxious suspense pressed to the 
 other windows ; she did not hear the half-audible 
 remarks exchanged between the director and 
 Schaffer, who stood immediately behind her : she 
 saw only the wild, excited multitude, which, head 
 crowding above head, surrounded the house, and 
 with savage yells demanded the release of the 
 prisoners the multitude which would now hurl it- 
 self against her husband alone and the next 
 
 O 
 
 moment perhaps threaten his life. 
 
 The more elegant than strong iron fence of the 
 park had already yielded to the storm : it lay in 
 ruins on the ground. The costly and carefully kept 
 pleasure grounds, trodden down by hundreds of 
 footsteps, presented only a wild chaos of earth, 
 flower-pots, and trampled shrubs. The foremost 
 had already reached the terrace, and from there 
 had forced their way close up to the house ; already 
 some fists were armed with stones to hurl against 
 the windows. Shouts, threats, cries of all kinds 
 blended wildly together ; the tumult increased from 
 minute to minute, until it mounted to a howl of a 
 moment's duration which had no longer anything 
 human in its sound-
 
 374 GOOD LUCK 
 
 Then all at once there was a deep, breathless 
 calm. The tumult died away suddenly, as if some 
 celestial power had commanded silence. The wildly 
 excited groups paused ; the mob swayed back as 
 if it had encountered some sudden resistance ; 
 and all eyes, all faces, turned in one direction. 
 The front door was opened and the young chief 
 stepped out upon the terrace. 
 
 The silence was of only a few moments' duration ; 
 then the momentary surprise yielded to a renewed 
 outbreak of fury more terrible than the first ; and 
 now it had a better object. All these furious out- 
 cries, all these faces distorted by rage, all these 
 threateningly lifted arms, which just before had 
 menaced the house and its inmates, now turned 
 against a single one ; but this one was the chief, the 
 master of the works : and what the father, with his 
 mechanical genius, with his persistent endurance 
 and his tyrannical will, had not been able to 
 establish in many years, the son had enforced in a 
 few weeks his absolute personal authority. It 
 availed even here, where all the bands of order were 
 loosened. Calmly he let the storm rage around 
 him ; the slender form erect, the large eyes steady 
 and clear turned to the throng, every one of which 
 was his superior in strength and from which he 
 had no protection save his authority. There he 
 stood opposed to them, entirely alone and unarmed ; 
 but he stood there as if these surging waves of in- 
 surrection must break against him. 
 
 And in truth they did break. Gradually the up-
 
 GOOD LUCK. 375 
 
 roar subsided ; it subsided into cries, then mur- 
 murs ; at last these also died away. And now 
 arose Berkow's voice, at first inaudible amid the ex- 
 citement and still often interrupted by the tumult 
 which by fits and starts again broke forth, but 
 which, often as it rose, again sank powerless and at 
 last entirely ceased ; so that only the voice of the 
 young chief was heard, which, clear, loud, and dis- 
 tinct, rose above all and became intelligible to the 
 most distant. 
 
 " God be thanked !" murmured Schaffer as he 
 wiped his forehead with his pocket-handkerchief; 
 " now he has them in rein. The mob foams at the 
 mouth and rears, but it obeys. Only see, your 
 ladyship, how the excitement is subsiding how all 
 fall back ! They are really leaving the terrace ! 
 and see there, the stones also are falling to the 
 ground ! If Heaven only keeps Hartraann away 
 just now the danger is over." 
 
 He did not know with what mental anguish 
 Eugenie was repeating this prayer in her soul. She 
 had been continually seeking that dreaded form 
 amid the mob, and so long as it was not visible she 
 kept up her courage, so long she believed Arthur 
 safe. But now hope and security were at an end. 
 
 It might be that the sudden cessation of the up- 
 roar he had intentionally aroused called back the 
 missing one, or that a suspicion of what had hap- 
 pened drew him hither at the decisive moment. 
 As if he stepped out of the earth, Ulrich Hartmann 
 suddenly stood at the park gate behind the mob, 
 and a single glance told him how matters were.
 
 376 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 " COWARDS you are. all of you !" he cried in a 
 voice of thunder to his comrades as, followed by 
 Lorenz and the master-miner Wilms, he forced his 
 way through the dense mass. " I hardly supposed 
 that you would allow yourselves to fall into his net 
 while we went to ascertain where the prisoners had 
 been taken. We know now. They are there in the 
 lower story of the right tower, close behind the 
 great hall. Break in the plate-glass window, and 
 then we have no need to storm the door." 
 
 No one obeyed the command, and yet it did not 
 remain ineffectual. There is nothing more waver- 
 ing of soul, more will-less, than an excited mob 
 which is wont to allow itself to be controlled by the 
 will of one man. In all this tumult and uproar, 
 just subsided, there had been a lack of purpose, an 
 indecision which would never have gone so far as a 
 direct attack. The eye, the arm of the leader had 
 been wanting; now they were present, and the 
 moment his hand again grasped the reins he gave 
 the mob a decided purpose. They now knew 
 where the prisoners could be found ; they knew the 
 way to them ; and this awakened anew the danger 
 which had been only partially overcome.
 
 GOOD LUCK 377 
 
 TJlrich at this moment gave himself little con- 
 cern whether or not his orders were obeyed. He 
 had forced his way to the terrace and now stood 
 close before the young chief, with the whole ob- 
 stinacy and pride of his uncontrollable nature, with 
 his giant form towering almost a head above all the 
 others He was the born leader of the masses, 
 whose wild energy, whose despotic will impelled 
 them on to a blind obedience, and who, in spite of 
 all that had happened, all that perhaps might 
 happen, still for the moment had unlimited power 
 over them. The whole victory which Arthur had 
 won was imperiled, if not destroyed, by the mere 
 appearance of this man, whose individuality was 
 at least as powerful in its workings as his own. 
 
 "Where are our comrades?" asked Hartmann 
 threateningly as he stepped still nearer. " We will 
 have them released this instant. We allow no out- 
 rage against any of our men." 
 
 " And I allow no destroying of my machines," 
 interrupted Arthur with calm dignity. "I have 
 had the men shut up, although they were only the 
 tool of another hand. Who ordered the attack 
 upon the machines ? " 
 
 Ulrich's eyes flashed fearfully but triumphantly. 
 He had foreseen this firmness and had built his 
 plans upon it He indeed wanted no excuse for an 
 attack ; he would, at any cost, gratify his hatred ; 
 but his men, who were already wavering and threat- 
 ened to desert their colors, needed such excuse. 
 This would goad on anew the faint-hearted ones,
 
 378 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 
 
 and the rival was brave and proud enough to allow 
 him this. 
 
 " I need not bandy words with you !" he cried 
 derisively, '' and I certainly need not allow you to 
 listen to me with that arrogant air. Once again I 
 tell you, release those prisoners ! The miners 
 demand it x or 
 
 His glance finished the threat 
 
 '' The prisoners remain in confinement," declared 
 Arthur unmoved. " And you, Hartmann, have no 
 longer a right to speak in the name of all the 
 miners : more than half have already deserted you. 
 I have nothing more to say to you." 
 
 *' But I have to you !" cried Ulrich, beside him- 
 self. "To our comrades!" he shouted, turning to 
 the excited mob. "Strike down all that opposes 
 you ! Forward !" 
 
 He was about to fall upon Berkow first of all and 
 thereby give the signal for attack, but before this 
 could happen, before it was decided whether the 
 mob would yield or deny him obedience, there was 
 heard a strange sound, which made all tremble and 
 caused even the wild leader to pause in horror, 
 while he like the others listened spell-bound and in 
 breathless silence It was a sound like distant, hol- 
 low thunder, which seemed to come from the depths 
 ot the earth, and was followed by a momentary un- 
 der o-round reverberation. Then all became still as 
 death, and hundreds ol faces white with terror 
 turned in the direction of the works. 
 
 ' God of heaven ! That came from the mines.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 379 
 
 Something has happened there!" cried Lorenz, 
 starting up. 
 
 " It was an explosion," said the chief engineer, 
 who during the last critical moments had stood in 
 the vestibule below, at the head of the younger offi- 
 cers and the whole available force of servants, so as 
 to be ready to hasten to the help of the chief. "An 
 accident has happened in the mines, Herr Berkow. 
 We must go over." 
 
 For an instant horror seemed to palsy all around. 
 No one stirred ; the warning had been too terrible. 
 At the very moment when one part} 7 with deadly 
 hatred would have hurled itself against the other, 
 a mortal danger had overtaken their brethren down 
 in the mines and imperiously summoned them from 
 assault to rescue. Arthur was the first to recover 
 his self-possession. 
 
 " To the mines !" he cried to his officers, who now 
 rushing out of the house gathered around him, and 
 he himself gave the example as in advance of all he 
 hastened to the works. 
 
 " To the mines !" thundered Ulrich also to the 
 miners, but the command was no longer needed. 
 The whole mass, in bewildered haste, were already 
 rushing in that direction, their leader at their head. 
 He and Berkow were the first to reach the works, 
 and both reached them almost at the same moment. 
 
 There was no outward evidence of the work of 
 the destroying element, none but the dense pillars 
 of smoke which rose above the shafts. These told 
 what had happened, and they told enough. In less
 
 380 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 than ten minutes the whole space around the mines 
 was filled with men whose first dunrb horror had 
 now yielded to loud outbursts of anguish, terror, 
 and despair. 
 
 There is something terrible and yet sublime in 
 such a great misfortune which does not come from 
 mortal hand, for it almost always redeems the honor 
 of human nature and purifies it from those baser 
 passions which usually disfigure and overshadow it. 
 
 Here the change in the people's mood had been 
 so sudden, so lightning-like in its swiftness that it 
 no longer seemed the same mob which a few min- 
 utes before had raged around the house, menacing 
 all its inmates with violence and perhaps murder 
 because their insane demands were not granted. 
 Strife, hostility, hatred, fostered for months long, 
 all had now subsided into the one thought of res- 
 cue. To this rescue alike hurried miners and offi- 
 cers, friend and foe ; and the most violent of the 
 rioters now led the band. An hour ago they had 
 threatened their comrades, had laid violent hands 
 on them, and would have stricken them down if it 
 had not been the father of Ulrich Hartmann who 
 led them to the mines ; and now when these very 
 comrades were in mortal danger now every one 
 would have risked his life to save them. The fear- 
 ful warning had borne its fruit. 
 
 " Back !" cried Arthur imperiously as he con- 
 fronted the bewildered, aimless throng. " You 
 cannot just now help : you only hinder the efforts 
 of the officers. It must first be decided how anci
 
 GOOD LUCK. 381 
 
 where we can enter the shafts. Let the chief en- 
 gineer take the lead." 
 
 " Let the chief engineer take the lead !" repeated 
 the foremost; and the cry went throught the line, 
 and the dense mass at once opened a path for that 
 officer, who with his subordinates was already upon 
 the spot. 
 
 " To enter down yonder will be an impossibility," 
 said the chief engineer to Arthur, pointing to the 
 lower shaft, which was connected with the others, 
 and at whose mouth smoke and vapor arose in mighty 
 columns. " We have made the attempt, but in vain : 
 nothing human can breathe in that infernal air. 
 Hartmann tried it, but after a few steps he re- 
 treated half-stifled, and had to bring out Lorenz 
 with him, who had followed but had fallen at the 
 very entrance. Our only hope lies in the upper 
 shaft. Set the machinery in motion : we must as- 
 cend there." 
 
 The machine-master, to whom the last words were 
 addressed, and who had stood near pale and agi- 
 tated, made no motion to obey. 
 
 " The machines refuse to do their work." he said 
 in a voice of anguish : " they have for an hour. I 
 should before have announced this to the officers, 
 but ray messenger could not make his way to them 
 through the mob, and I thought that in any event 
 the miners could ascend through the lower shaft. 
 We have already worked, a long time upon the 
 elevator, but in vain. It cannot be made available." 
 
 " Heaven and earth ! do they fail us now ?" cried 
 the chief engineer, rushing into the machine-house.
 
 382 GOOD LUCK 
 
 " But the foot-way shaft ?" said Arthur hastily, 
 turning to the director. "Can we not go down 
 there?" 
 
 The director shook his head. 
 
 " The foot-way shaft has been impassable since 
 this morning. You know, Herr Berkow, that Hart- 
 mann had all the upper ladders destroyed because 
 he would at any price hinder the descent of the 
 miners. He did not fully succeed. The workmen 
 went down the main shaft, and at present this is 
 our only entrance into the mines." 
 
 Ulrich now appeared, with Wilrns and several of 
 his usual companions. 
 
 " Nothing is going on down there/' he said to his 
 comrades as he made his way through all. " We 
 are sacrificing life needlessly when we ought to be 
 rescuing it. Perhaps we can do so here. Why is 
 the elevator not at work ? We must go down by 
 its help." 
 
 As he was violently rushing forward he suddenly 
 met the young chief, who gazed sternly at him. 
 
 " The elevator will not work," he said loudly and 
 sharply. " It ceased an hour ago, and ten minutes 
 ago the accident happened. These two events have 
 no connection, but it was just an hour ago we ar- 
 rested your three men. What had they done, Hart- 
 mann ?" 
 
 Ulrich staggered back as if he had received a 
 blow. 
 
 " I recalled my order," said he, u the moment my 
 father went down and the others followed. I went
 
 GOOD LUCK. 383 
 
 myself to hinder its execution, but the mischief had 
 already been done. I did not wish it. God knows 
 I did not !" 
 
 Arthur turned from him to the chief engineer, 
 who had just come out of the machine-house. 
 
 " Well, ho\v is it ?" he asked quickly. 
 
 The officer shrugged his shoulders. 
 
 " The machinery will not work," he said. " Still 
 we have not been able to find where the trouble 
 lies. The injury has not come from the explosion : 
 it is from a human hand. If we do not succeed in 
 repairing it, all entrance into the mines is denied 
 us and all belo\v are lost wiihout hope of rescue, 
 Overseer Hartmann among them." 
 
 At these last words he had raised his voice and 
 fixed his eyes upon Ulrich, who with a face white 
 as that of a corpse stood there dumb and motion- 
 less. But now he trembled and made a hasty move- 
 ment forward. Arthur stepped into his way. 
 
 " Where would you go ?" 
 
 "I must go down!" he said breathlessly. "I 
 must help. Let me go, Herr Berkow. I must, I 
 tell you !" 
 
 " You cannot help," interposed Arthur bitterly. 
 " We can do nothing with our arms alone. You 
 could destroy and make the danger tenfold. The 
 work of restoration must be left to the officers. 
 They alone can make it possible for us to rescue our 
 imperiled workmen, and they must be neither dis- 
 turbed nor hindered in their task. Keep guard 
 around here, Herr Director, and you, Herr Wilberg,
 
 384 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 bring the three prisoners here immediately. They 
 must know where they have laid their hands. Per- 
 haps they may give an intimation to the engineers. 
 Hasten !" 
 
 Wilberg obeyed, and the director also made prep- 
 arations to carry out the commands of his chief. 
 He met with no resistance. All knew what hung 
 upon the efforts of the officers and all obeyed will- 
 ingly. They felt something of the truth of those 
 words Herr Berkow had once flung back against 
 the obstinate demands of their leader. 
 
 "Try all this if the hated element is wanting 
 which gives direction to your arms, force to your 
 machinery, and intellect to your work !" 
 
 Here were hundreds of arms, hundreds of strong 
 men ready to help ; and the whole power, the whole 
 possibility of rescue lay in the hands of the few 
 who must lend science to their work so as to bring 
 help where the multitude and their leader could do 
 nothing at the utmost but rush blindly into certain 
 death. These officers, once so hated and despised 
 upon them all glances now hung; and wherever one 
 of them came in sight all crowded around him. 
 They would now at any cost have protected them 
 and their work had they needed such protection. 
 
 Minute after minute passed in anxious, agonized 
 suspense. Wilberg had long since returned with 
 the three prisoners. They knew what had hap- 
 pened. They came in breathless haste, like all the 
 others ; like them to stand there aimless and de- 
 spairing. They were no longer needed, for the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 385 
 
 reason of the stoppage of the machinery was already 
 found. The injury had proved slight and its im- 
 mediate reparation was possible. The engineers, 
 under the direction of their superior, did their ut- 
 most, while outside they organized their plans for 
 rescue and constantly, but still in vain, sought to 
 force entrance into the mines on other sides. The 
 danger had, as at one stroke, firmly reunited the 
 loosened bands of discipline. All obeyed, and obeyed 
 better and more quickly than even before the out- 
 break of the revolt. 
 
 But the chief himself accomplished more than all 
 the rest. His eyes, his voice were everywhere. 
 Everywhere he knew how to work himself, how to 
 inspire others. Arthur possessed little or nothing 
 of the science and experience so needed here. The 
 } r oung heir had been reared in the fullest ignorance 
 of what it most concerned him to know, but one 
 faculty he possessed which cannot be instilled by 
 culture or training the genius of command. And 
 this was the faculty most of all wanted here, where 
 the chief engineer, the only energetic one among 
 the officers, was kept inside occupied with the 
 machinery, and the director, as well as the others, 
 half-stunned at the sudden change of affairs and at 
 the catastrophe itself, in spite of their science, 
 experience, and capability, had all lost their presence 
 of mind. 
 
 It was Arthur who gave it back to them Arthur 
 who with his quick glance posted every one in the 
 right place and incited all to do their utmost ; it
 
 386 OOOD LUCK. 
 
 Avas he who by bis energy impelled and inspired all. 
 The character of this young man, so long misunder- 
 stood by those around him and by himself most of 
 all, had never shone forth so brilliantly as in this 
 hour of peril. 
 
 At last was heard the heavy, groaning sound 
 with which the machinery resumed its work ; then 
 followed the panting and creaking of its mighty 
 frame, at first fitfully and interruptedly, then at 
 regular intervals. The works rose and fell with 
 their wonted obedience. The chief engineer 
 stepped to Herr Berkow, but his face had become 
 no more cheerful. 
 
 " The machinery is again in order." he said, " but 
 I fear it is too late or too early for the descent. 
 The vapor rises even here. The fire-damp must 
 again be breaking out. We shall have to wait." 
 
 Arthur made an impatient gesture. 
 
 " Wait! We have waited a whole hour already, 
 and the lives of these unfortunate men hang upon 
 every moment. Do you think it will be possible to 
 go down ?" 
 
 "It is perhaps possible; this seems to be only 
 vapor which rises here ; but every one who goes 
 down risks his life. I Avould not venture." 
 
 "But I will!" cried Ulrich with grim determina- 
 tion. At the moment when the machinery began 
 to work he had rushed violently forward and now 
 stood close by the shaft. " I will go down," he 
 repeated ; " but one alone can do nothing there. I 
 raugt have help. Who goes with me ?"
 
 GOOD LUCK 387 
 
 No one answered ; every one seemed to recoil 
 from a descent into this smoking abyss. They had 
 all seen how the courageous ones who at the first 
 had sought to force an entrance had reeled back or 
 fallen. Lorenz still lay senseless from a venture 
 which his stronger comrade had made without 
 injury. But no one possessed the courage to follow 
 Ulrich in a descent where return or retreat were 
 almost impossible. 
 
 " No one f" asked Ulrich after a pause. " Very 
 well, then, I will go alone. Give the signal !" 
 
 He sprang into the seat, but suddenly a small 
 white hand was laid upon its blackened edge and a 
 clear voice said firmly : 
 
 " Wait, Hartmann ! I go with you." 
 
 A cry of horror from the lips of the assembled 
 officers gave answer to this decision ; from all sides 
 arose the most violent opposition. 
 
 " For God's sake, Herr Berkow, do not go !" 
 " You are needlessly sacrificing your life." " You 
 cannot help !" These exclamations were heard 
 from all sides and in every tone of horror and 
 anguish. 
 
 Arthur rose erect. The full self-consciousness of 
 the lord and master flashed from his eyes. 
 
 " I do not do this for aid : it is for the example," 
 he said. "If I go others will follow. Do all 
 possible above here to rescue us, Herr Engineer. 
 The director will maintain order. For the moment 
 1 have nothing to offer my workmen but courage, 
 and that I intend to show them.
 
 388 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "But not alone, and not with Hartmann," ex- 
 claimed the chief engineer, almost forcing him 
 back. "Beware, Herr Berkow ! It is the same 
 elevator and the same company which proved fatal 
 to your father, and below there something might 
 menace you more dangerous than the explosive fire- 
 damp." 
 
 It was the first time the accusation had been 
 publicly and boldly made in the presence of the 
 miners, and although none ventured to join in it, 
 the faces of all betrayed that they fully believed it. 
 Ulrich yet stood in his place silent and motionless. 
 He did not contradict ; he did not defend himself ; 
 but his eyes, with steady, open gaze, were fixed 
 upon the young chief, as if from that mouth alone 
 he expected absolution or condemnation. 
 
 Arthur's glance met his for a moment only ; then 
 he broke loose from the strong arms which sought 
 to restrain him. 
 
 " Below there in the mines there are more than a 
 hundred lost men if we do not help them, and there 
 I think no hand will be raised but to save. Give 
 the signal ! Lend me your arm, Hartmann. You 
 must help me." 
 
 Trembling, Ulrich reached forth his arm to give 
 the required assistance. The next minute, Arthur 
 stood at his side. 
 
 " As soon as we arrive safe below," he said, " send 
 down all who wish and are able to follow us. Gluck 
 auf!" 
 
 " Oluck auff" repeated Ulrich in a hollow voice, 
 but with the same firmness.
 
 GOOD LUCK 389 
 
 It had a weird, almost ghost-like sound, this 
 salutation which both men threw up from the 
 depths of the abyss which now received them. The 
 elevator sank slowly. Those standing above saw 
 only how the young chief, giddy at the strange 
 descent, stupefied at the vapor now happily but 
 faint, reeled backward, and how with a quick 
 movement Hartmann placed his. strong arm around 
 him and held him up ; then both vanished in that 
 suffocating pit of vapor. Arthur was right. His 
 descent decided all, while that of Ulrica remained 
 without effect. They were accustomed to see the 
 steiger Hartmann imperil his life for immeasurably 
 less cause than this, and always to rescue it unharmed ; 
 so that there was already among his comrades 
 a sort of superstitious belief that no danger could 
 reach him. It was he who had made the foot-way 
 shaft impassable, and his attempt upon the elevator 
 had caused more than an hour's delay, and his father 
 was down there with the others, lost, perhaps, 
 through his act ; and so, as a matter of course, he 
 would without hesitation rush into a danger none 
 else could wish to share. 
 
 But when the chief set the example this deli- 
 cately reared, aristocratic man who had never 
 entered his mines when they were supposed to be 
 safe, and who now forced his way down when death 
 threatened every one as he went before so all fol- 
 lowed. Next him were the three miners who this 
 morning had laid their hands upon the elevator, 
 which now carried them down under the guidance
 
 390 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 of one of the engineers. Then came new and still 
 new helpers: no exhortation, no command was 
 needed. The chief engineer very soon had to keep 
 back the rushing throng because the services of only 
 a part could be made available. 
 
 Hour after hour went by. The sun had long 
 since reached the meridian, long since neared its 
 setting, and still below there, in the bosom of the 
 earth, human intellect and human will contended 
 with the destroying elements to wrest from them 
 their sacrifices. It was a battle more terrible than 
 could have been fought in the light of day ; every 
 foot's-breadth must first be conquered, every step 
 be won in the face of mortal danger to make it a 
 possibility to press forward ; but they still pressed 
 forward, and it seemed as if these unheard-of exer- 
 tions would receive an unheard-of reward. 
 
 Universal sympathy was awakened for these un- 
 fortunate men ; all hoped to rescue them, for they 
 still lived, or a part of them at least. A happy 
 accident the discovery of two miners lost or be- 
 wildered in their haste to escape furnished the 
 right clew. The explosion seemed to have only 
 partially affected the upper shaft, and the miners 
 must have had time enough to flee for refuge 
 to one of the side passages, where the vapor 
 could not reach them, but where the falling 
 in of a portion of the outside wall had blocked 
 them up and cut off their escape. The aim of the 
 rescuers was now to work through to their com- 
 rades by a way which at least seemed possible, and
 
 GOOD LUCK. 391 
 
 to the carrying out of this hastily formed and 
 reasonable plan all lent their utmost endeavors. 
 
 "Even if the whole earth lies above them \ve 
 must make our way to them !" Ulrich had exclaimed 
 as the first clew was found, and this had become 
 the rallying-cry of all. 
 
 There was not one who quailed, not one who 
 shunned the perilous duty imposed upon him. With 
 most, strength and ardor kept equal pace, and yet, 
 not to increase the number of victims, many had to 
 be sent back exhausted and half-stupefied, to be 
 replaced by new helpers. There were only two 
 whom nothing moved, nothing wearied Ulrich 
 Hartmann with his iron body and Arthur Berkow 
 with his iron will. This will to-day had lent that 
 tenderly reared, frailly built man nerves as of steel 
 and helped him to endure amid surroundings and 
 in dangers to which so many stronger men were 
 not equal. 
 
 Both held out ; side by side they pressed forward, 
 always in advance, always the first. While Ulrich's 
 giant strength accomplished almost incredible 
 things and triumphed over obstacles which seemed 
 invincible to human hand, it sufficed to the " mas- 
 ter" that he stood at the head, that he was the 
 head. He could in truth not do much more 
 than inspire the men with courage for their 
 work, but this was enough, far more than his 
 arm could have accomplished. Three times 
 already had the hand of his more experienced 
 companion snatched him back, when, unacquaint-
 
 392 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 ed with the dangers of the mines, he had im- 
 prudently exposed himself; repeatedly the chief 
 engineer had entreated him to turn back, now that 
 there were men enough to help and officers enough 
 to assist ; every time Arthur most decidedly refused. 
 He felt how much depended upon his remaining 
 among the workmen, who from mutiny and sedi- 
 tion had hastened to this work of rescue. They all 
 looked upon the chief who, since he had been 
 aroused to self-dependence, had always been op- 
 posed to them, and who to-day for the first time 
 stood with them in need and death ; who like the 
 humblest of them periled his life ; like them, had 
 left up above there a young wife in mortal anguish. 
 
 In this hour of common labor and danger there 
 was at last extorted from them the confidence they 
 had so long denied. There below, in the depths of 
 those rocky mines, the old hatred and the old dis- 
 sension were buried ; there the quarrel ended. 
 Arthur knew that for him the remaining here 
 meant more than a mere risk of his life, which 
 any other in his place might have offered ; he knew 
 that by this perseverance he contended for the 
 future of his works ; and for this price he left Eu- 
 genie alone in her anguish and remained. 
 
 The work went on with unwearied energy, un- 
 wearied persistence. They pressed forward slowly, 
 step by step, but still they pressed forward, and soon 
 the malicious powers of the mines yielded to the will 
 of men who had forced a path to their brothers there 
 below. When the sun above neared his setting the
 
 &OOD LUCK. 393 
 
 way to rescue had been found, and the rescued were 
 lifted up to the light of day, wounded indeed, half- 
 suffocated, stupefied by terror and mortal agony, 
 hut still living ; and there followed them, as it were 
 wearied to death, the rescuers. The chief and 
 Hartmann, the two foremost in this heroic under- 
 taking, were the last to return : they would not 
 leave the mines until all were saved. 
 
 " I do not know what it means that the chief and 
 Hartmann still linger down there," said the chief 
 engineer anxiously to the surrounding officers 
 "They were already at the outlet when the last 
 men were brought up, and Hartmann certainly 
 knows the dangers of the mines too well to linger a 
 moment longer than necessity demands. The ele- 
 vator still waits below; they give no sign, answer 
 none of our signals. What does that mean ?" 
 
 " What if an accident should happen at the very 
 last moment !" said Wilberg nervously. " Just now 
 I heard a strange noise in the mines, just as the last 
 men came up. The distance was too great and the 
 creaking of the elevator too loud for me to distin- 
 guish plainly, but the whole earth around seemed 
 shaken. I only hope that no falling in of the shafts 
 has followed." 
 
 " God grant that it may be so !" cried the chief 
 engineer. ; ' Give the signal with all your might ! 
 If it remains unanswered we must go down and see 
 what has happened."
 
 394 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 BUT before he or the others could carry out this 
 decision the signal for ascent was quickly and vio- 
 lently given from below. All above ground tx-eathed 
 more freely and pressed nearer to the mouth of the 
 shaft, in which, after a short delay, the elevator ap- 
 peared. 
 
 TJlrich stood upon it, his face distorted by pain 
 and blackened by the soot of the mines, his clothes 
 torn and covered with earth and gravel, while blood 
 oozed from his forehead and temples. As at the 
 descent, his arms were around the young chief ; but 
 now he supported not merely a staggering man. 
 Arthur's head lay upon his shoulder. The face was 
 white as death, the eyes were closed, and the form 
 hung lifeless and motionless in the arms which 
 held it upright only by the exertion of all their 
 strength. 
 
 A cry of horror rose from all sides. The men 
 scarce waited until the machine stood still. More 
 than twenty arms were outstretched to receive the 
 unconscious man and bear him to his wife, who, 
 like all the others, during the whole time had not 
 moved from the scene of the accident. All crowd- 
 ed around Arthur and his wife. They called for 
 assistance, for the physician ; and none in all the
 
 GOOD LUGS'. 395 
 
 confusion had a thought for Ulrich, who, strangely 
 silent and submissive, had let them take the burden 
 from his arms. 
 
 He did not spring with his wonted quickness and 
 agility from the elevator ; slowty, painfully he 
 stepped out, and had to grasp twice at the chain for 
 support. Not a syllable was heard from him, but 
 the young miner's teeth were set in silent agony, 
 and the blood now flowed in a torrent, although, 
 under the thick coating of dust and soot, none saw 
 that in deathly pallor his face quite equaled that of 
 the young chief. He staggered a few steps for- 
 ward, until near the group which was now pressing 
 around Arthur ; then he suddenly paused, and with 
 both amis embraced a pillar of the building for 
 support. 
 
 " Calm yourself, my lady : it is only a swoon," 
 consolingly said the physician who had hastened to 
 the aid of Arthur Berkow. " I do not find that 
 your husband has sustained the slightest injury. 
 He will recover." 
 
 Eugenie did not hear the comforting words ; she 
 saw only the closed eyes, only the prostrate form 
 which gave no sign of life. 
 
 There had been a time in this young wife's ex- 
 perience when only a few hours after her marriage a 
 stranger hand had rescued her from mortal peril, 
 and she was still in uncertainty as to her husband's 
 fate a time when with cool self-composure, almost 
 indifference, she had said to the rescuer : " See 
 after Herr Berkow 1"
 
 396 GOOD LUCK 
 
 That sin of coldness and disdain was now bitterly 
 atoned for by the anguish of these last hours, in 
 which she had learned what it means to tremble for 
 the loved one without being able to help him or 
 even to be near him. Now she allowed no other at 
 his side ; now she knelt by his prostrate form, and, 
 like any other wife, in hopeless agony called her 
 husband's name : 
 
 " Arthur !" 
 
 It was a cry of passionate love, of utter despair ; 
 and as it rang forth a convulsive quiver passed 
 through the frame of the young miner, who still 
 leaned against the pillar for support. 
 
 Yet once again he turned his melancholy blue 
 eyes and fixed them upon both, but in them there 
 lay nothing of the old hatred and defiance, only a 
 deep, silent agony. Then their glance was veiled ; 
 the hand rose, not to the bleeding forehead, but to 
 the breast, which, though it bore no wound, he 
 pressed tightly, as if there were the worst pain of 
 all ; and at the very moment when Arthur, in the 
 arms of his wife, opened his eyes, Ulrich fell sense- 
 less behind them. 
 
 Although all had been rescued from the mines, a 
 strange silence and oppression rested upon the as- 
 sembled throng. No shouts, no expressions of joy 
 were audible : the appearance of the rescued men 
 forbade. They did not yet know who would really 
 be restored to life, or if Death might not yet de- 
 mand the victims with such difficulty snatched from
 
 GOOD LUCK. 397 
 
 his grasp. The young chief had recovered from his 
 swoon more quickly than had been hoped. It had 
 been a caving in of earth which at the very last 
 moment had struck him and his companion, but 
 which, strange to relate, had not wounded Arthur 
 in the least. He again stood upright, although still 
 weak and pale, and leaning upon his wife's arm 
 tried to collect his scattered thoughts so as to an- 
 swer her anxious inquiries. 
 
 " We had already reached the outlet of the shaft, 
 Hartmann some steps ahead, and therefore in 
 safety ; then he must have remarked some token of 
 danger. I saw him suddenly rush back to me and 
 grasp my arm : but it was too late ; already all 
 above and around us wavered. 1 only felt how he 
 flung me to the ground and threw himself over me ; 
 I felt how with his own body he covered me from 
 the down-rushing fragments ; then my senses left 
 me." 
 
 Eugenie made no answer. She had so unspeak- 
 ably feared the nearness of this man ! she had 
 trembled with such indescribable terror when she 
 heard that Arthur was about to take this venture 
 in his company ! And now she must thank his 
 presence alone that she held her husband alive and 
 safe in her arms. 
 
 The chief engineer approached these two. His 
 face was very grave and his voice was deep and 
 mournful as he said : 
 
 " The physician thinks they will all recover all 
 "Dut one, and that is Hartmann ; him no help can
 
 398 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 avail. What he did down in the mines to-day was 
 too much for even his giant nature, and the wound 
 has done the rest. I cannot at all comprehend how, 
 in spite of this severe wound, he succeeded in lift- 
 ing you up from the mass of earth and stones, Herr 
 Berkow, in placing you in the elevator, and hold- 
 ing you fast until you came safe to the light of day. 
 He did it, but he must atone for it with his life." 
 
 Arthur looked at his wife. Their glances met 
 and each understood the other. In spite of his ex- 
 haustion Arthur roused himself, and grasping 
 Eugenie's hand led her forth to the place where the 
 rescued miners had at first been taken to receive 
 the aid and sympathy so abundantly offered. 
 
 Friends and relatives had borne away all but one. 
 Ulrich Hartmann lay stretched upon the ground. 
 His father had not yet returned to consciousness 
 and knew nothing of the fate of his son ; but he 
 was not alone nor dependent upon stranger aid. At 
 his side knelt a young girl, who held the dying 
 man's head in her arms and with an expression of 
 heart-rending agony gazed into his face, without in 
 the least regarding her betrothed, who stood on the 
 other side and held the hand of his friend, now 
 growing cold. Ulrich did not see either: he per- 
 haps did not know that they were near him. His 
 wide-open eyes were fixed upon the flaming even- 
 ing sky, upon the sinking sun, as if he would re- 
 ceive yet one beam of the eternal light and take it 
 with him over into the long rayless night before 
 him,
 
 GOOD LUCR. 399 
 
 Arthur had addressed a half-audible question to 
 the physician who stood near ; he answered with a 
 silent shrug of the shoulders. The young chief 
 knew enough. Loosening his hand from that of 
 his wife, he whispered some words in her ear and 
 then stepped aside, while Eugenie bent over Ulrich 
 and called his name. 
 
 Then, even through the mists of death, broke 
 forth a mighty flame. The whole fire and passion 
 of a lifetime were for a moment concentrated in 
 that glance which with the fullest consciousness he 
 gave the young woman, from whose lips came this 
 low, sorrowful question : 
 
 " Hartmann, are you severely wounded ?" 
 
 The agony of a few moments before again quiv- 
 ered through his features ; his voice sounded hollow 
 and broken, but calm. 
 
 "Why do you ask after me? You have him 
 again. Why should I want to live ? I have al- 
 ready said to you, ' he or I.' I certainly then sup- 
 posed things would turn out quite differently from 
 this, but that threat passed through my mind when 
 the wall fell in. I thought of you and of your sor- 
 row, and I remembered also that he had reached 
 me his hand as no other man would have done ; and 
 then, then I threw myself upon him to shield him 
 irom the impending danger." 
 
 He sunk back. While he yet spoke the spark, 
 kindlii.g into a fitful momentary gleam, went out ; 
 ou ire wild, glowing life, without pain or struggle, 
 bled slowly and calmly away to death.
 
 400 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The man whose whole existence had been only 
 hatred and warfare against those whom destiny 
 had placed above him had found his death in rescu- 
 ing the chief he hated. The prophecy the waters 
 of the stream had yesterday murmured in his ear 
 was now verified. From the depths of the mines, 
 from a deed of self-sacrifice, the death-greeting had 
 come to him. There was now no need that he 
 should gaze with anxious foreboding out into a to- 
 morrow so thickly veiled from his sight. With 
 that to-morrow all had ended for him all ! 
 
 From the highway yonder sounded the measured 
 tread of an advancing host, words of command, 
 and the clatter of arms. The military help ex- 
 pected from the garrison had arrived to put down 
 the revolt. Immediately upon entering the colony 
 the commanding officer learned what had happened, 
 and bidding his men halt he had come, accompanied 
 by a few of his subordinates, to the scene of the 
 disaster, where he asked an interview with the 
 chief. 
 
 " I thank you, colonel," said Arthur Berkow with 
 quiet gravity, " but you came too late. I do not 
 need your help against my men. In a mutual ten 
 hours' struggle for the lives of our miners we have 
 made peace let it be hoped forever 1"
 
 GOOD LUCK 401 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AGAIN it was summer ; again summer's splendor 
 and sunshine lay upon wooded hills and valleys and 
 over all the Berkow colony, where life, as stirring 
 and vigorous as ever, had become more free and 
 happy. There floated now, as it were, an atmos- 
 phere of freedom and prosperity over all the 
 works, which had lost nothing in magnitude, while 
 they had won all which had been wanting to them. 
 This certainly had not been a work of weeks or 
 months : it had taken years ; and they had been full 
 of anxiety and toil those years which had followed 
 the catastrophe. 
 
 When work upon the mines was resumed a heavy 
 burden lay upon the shoulders of the young chief, 
 who, although he had made peace with his work- 
 men, stood upon the brink of ruin. That time of 
 danger, when by his personal courage and sacrifice 
 he had opposed the excesses of a rebellious mob, was 
 over ; but now came other, graver duties a time of 
 care, of steady, arduous work, of often despairing 
 conflict with the might of circumstance ; and these 
 almost crushed Arthur to the earth. 
 
 In the first struggle he had learned and proved 
 his strength ; in the second he knew how to use it.
 
 402 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 For more than a year it had remained doubtful 
 whether the mines would retain their organization 
 or their possessor, and even after this first dan- 
 gerous crisis was past there were still enough 
 dangers and losses to challenge the utmost endur- 
 ance. 
 
 During the later years of the elder Berkow dar- 
 ing speculations, boundless expenditures, and, above 
 all, a system of operations based only upon im- 
 mediate gain a system whose disastrous con- 
 sequences had at last fallen upon the proprietor 
 himself had imperiled both the Berkow position 
 and fortune. The cessation of the works, which for 
 almost a month had lain idle, the accident in the 
 mines, to repair which great sums were necessary, 
 threatened utter ruin to the already half-ruined 
 chief. More than once it seemed impossible to 
 maintain the works; more than once it seemed as if 
 the wounds which past dissensions and more than 
 all this last quarrel had inflicted must be incurable ; 
 but Arthur's character, aroused at so late an hour, 
 grew firm as steel and became fully developed in 
 this school of enforced uninterrupted activity. 
 
 All had tottered and threatened to collapse when, 
 years before, the young chief had assumed the 
 arduous task of creating a new order of things out 
 of the chaos of business obligations and demands 
 which must first of all be arranged. But he had 
 learned confidence in himself ; he had his wife at his 
 side ; and he had a whole future, a life's happiness 
 for her and himself to win. This it was which lent
 
 GOOD LUCK 403 
 
 him courage, where perhaps any other would have 
 given up, will-less and despairing; this it was which 
 sustained him when the task seemed beyond his 
 strength ; this it was which at the last won for him 
 the victory. 
 
 Now the last painful consequences of that catas- 
 trophe were overcome, and the old prosperity had 
 been restored to all the enterprises attached to the 
 name of Berkow. But this name had been divested 
 of its former ill- repute : it now stood pure and 
 honorable before all the world. The works, with 
 their giant extent and their vast activity, were more 
 firmly and securely grounded than ever before, and 
 Avith them also the wealth of their possessor. This 
 wealth had once threatened to prove fatal to the 
 young, spoiled heir and had in a measure become 
 so, because without eifort of his own a fortune had 
 been laid at his feet and he had regarded it with 
 scornful indifference. Now, when in a struggle of 
 years' duration he had been obliged to win back the 
 lost fortune now, when in his hands it had become 
 a blessing for many, it had also become of worth 
 to him. 
 
 It was toward mid-day, and the director and the 
 chief engineer were going home from the mines. 
 Both had grown older with the lapse of years, but 
 they had not changed. The one had retained his 
 good-nature, the other his malice, which once more 
 gave intonation to his voice as he said, continuing 
 the conversation before begun :
 
 404 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 "The Herr Baron Windeg has announced his 
 coming through his eldest son. It seems they now 
 plume themselves somewhat on a relationship to 
 which at first they vouchsafed to descend very 
 much against their will. Since our business and 
 our organization have received such wonderfully 
 flattering attention from government, those in 
 higher places have become interested in us and the 
 old aristocracy consider our works worthy of repre- 
 sentation at court. This son-in-law certainly can 
 rank with the Windegs. The whole Rabenau heir- 
 ship and magnificence does not half-equal the 
 Berkow possessions and the influence of our chief. 
 The baron now sees that with his estates he is lost 
 in the multitude of other proprietors, while we have 
 become a power in the province to which no one 
 any longer denies recognition." 
 
 " But we are accomplishing more than any of the 
 other works," said the director. "They are every- 
 where studying our organization and our improve- 
 ments ; and yet none have imitated us." 
 
 "Ah, yes; and if things go on as now we shall 
 soon be ranked among those ' philanthropic institu- 
 tions' against which the late Herr Berkow once so 
 vigorously protested. Well, God be thanked " 
 here the chief engineer raised his head with intense 
 self-satisfaction^" we are able now to be one of 
 these ! It does not at all embarrass us to expend 
 upon our workmen sums that other proprietors 
 must anxiously hide in their pockets; and these 
 sums are not small. And yet only a little while
 
 QOOD LUCK. 405 
 
 ago we had neither means nor influence, but had to 
 struggle for the very existence of the works ; and 
 we could not have saved them if at the decisive 
 crisis two lucky accidents had not come to our 
 help." 
 
 " And if our miners had not conducted themselves 
 so excellently," added the director gravely. " It 
 was no slight thing for them to remain calm while 
 mutiny and insurrection continued all around us upon 
 the other works. That acccident in the mines cost 
 us vast expenditures of money when every thousand 
 was difficult for us to obtain, but I believe that with 
 these outlays we have not paid too dearly for what 
 we have won from our workmen. No man forgets 
 to-day, none will ever forget, those hours of anxiety 
 and danger our chief shared with them in the mines 
 to rescue their comrades. These have bound him 
 and his miners together. Since that day they have 
 believed in him and in his promise to do all in his 
 power to promote their interest, if they would only 
 give him time and permission to proceed in the 
 way he thought best. They have honorably 
 waited, and it is no wonder that he has done more 
 than he promised." 
 
 " All very well !" said the chief engineer dryly. 
 " He can now afford himself some luxuries in the 
 way of benevolence. But under the circumstances 
 it is a consoling fact that we are carrying on a most 
 flourishing business with our philanthropy, as our 
 yearly accounts prove. They are far more con- 
 siderable than under the old regime, which could
 
 406 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 not be reproached with any especial philanthropic 
 acts ; and still at that time all that could be forced 
 out of the works was forced out of them." 
 
 " You are an incorrigible scoffer !" said the di- ,. 
 rector angrily. " You know best of all that Herr 
 Berkow does not allow himself to be actuated by 
 such motives." 
 
 " No, he is too much of an idealist for that," re- 
 plied the chief engineer, taking the reproach very 
 indifferently. " Happily he is no more so than ac- 
 cords with practice, for he has been led through too 
 bitter a school not to know that in the end the prac- 
 tical must remain the foundation and prime condi- 
 tion of all such efforts. For my part, I am no ideal- 
 ist : you must know that." 
 
 The director laughed somewhat maliciously. 
 
 " Yes, we all know that," said he ; " but may it 
 not in a measure change matters when such a highly 
 ideal element as Herr Wilberg enters your family ? 
 That is very soon to happen, is it not, Herr Col- 
 league ?" 
 
 By this reminder the director seemed to have re- 
 turned a sly thrust to his colleague, for the latter 
 drew down his face and said petulantly : 
 
 " Don't speak of this to me again ! I hear enough 
 of it at home. That must suffice me me who de- 
 test nothing so much as sentimentality and affecta- 
 tion! And even for me destiny seems to have 
 raised up a prospective son-in-law who makes verses 
 and plays the guitar ! The fellow is not to be got 
 rid of, with his wooing and his sighing ; and
 
 GOOD LUCK. 407 
 
 Melanie will not listen to reason. But I have not 
 yet said ' Yes,' and it is doubtful if ever I do." 
 
 " Well, we will leave all that to Melanie," laughed 
 the director. " She has her father's obstinacy in 
 many things and knows how to carry out her will. 
 I can assure you that Wilberg already goes about 
 with an air as if certain of victory, and waives all 
 congratulations with a very expressive ' Not yet /' 
 The two young people must feel sure of success. 
 Adieu, dear colleague ! Will you not announce this 
 joyful family event to me first of all ?" 
 
 This time the malice was on the director's side, 
 and it seemed to have its effect, for with a very de- 
 cided air the chief engineer mounted the steps of 
 his dwelling, where his daughter already had come 
 to meet him. Fraulein Melanie to day showed an 
 extraordinary tenderness for her father. She kissed 
 him, she took his hat and gloves, she flattered him 
 a little; and after these preliminaries took him 
 aside to make a request of him. 
 
 " Papa, there is some one here who wishes to 
 speak with you," she said, " who wishes to speak at 
 once and urgently. He is within with mamma. 
 Shall I bring him out?" 
 
 " I am not to be spoken to !" growled the father, 
 who already suspected what lay before him. 
 
 But the young girl did not take the slightest 
 notice of the refusal. She vanished into the adjoin- 
 ing room and the next minute pushed out the " some 
 one," after she had hastily whispered a few encour- 
 aging words in his ear.
 
 40B GOOD LUCK. 
 
 The latter precaution seemed necessary, for Herr 
 Wilberg, who, with his blond hair carefully brushed, 
 presented himself in a dress coat and other especial 
 tokens of the official wooer, stood there as if he had 
 unawares been cast into a lion's den. He had pre- 
 pared an elegant, well-arranged speech for this 
 momentous occasion, but the grim mien of his 
 superior officer, who in any other than an encour- 
 aging tone asked what he could possibly want of 
 him, made him quite forget it all. 
 
 " My wishes and hopes " stammered he ; " em- 
 boldened by the affection of Fraulein Melanie the 
 highest happiness to be able to call her mine 
 
 "I thought as much. The man cannot make even 
 a sensible proposal !" muttered the chief engineer, 
 not thinking that the reception he had given poor 
 Wilberg was quite enough to deprive any wooer of 
 his self-possession. But as the young man grew 
 more and more embarrassed, more involved in his 
 speech, he cut short his words. 
 
 " Now just be silent ! It is certainly no secret to 
 me what you wish and hope. You wish to have me 
 for a father-in-law." 
 
 Wilberg looked as if this last unavoidable ap- 
 pendage to his future marriage inspired him with 
 no especial rapture. 
 
 " I beg your pardon. I wished first of all to have 
 Fraulein Melanie for my wife," remarked he timidly. 
 
 " Ah ! and you very unwillingly take me into the 
 bargain ?" asked the enraged father-in-law in spe. 
 " I cannot at all understand ho\v you dare come to
 
 GOOD LUCK. 409 
 
 me with such a proposal. Have you not loved her 
 ladyship? Have you not filled sheet after sheet 
 with verses to her? Why do you not go on with 
 this Platonic love ?" 
 
 " Good heavens ! that was years ago !" pleaded 
 the young officer in self-justification. "Melanie 
 knew that long ago ; and it was that very thing 
 which brought us together. There are two kinds 
 of love, my dear sir a youthful enthusiasm which 
 seeks its ideal in unattainable heights, and an en- 
 during affection which finds upon the earth alone 
 what can really make it happy." 
 
 " And so my daughter is good enough for this 
 earthly, home-bred love ! Get out with your non- 
 sense !" cried the chief engineer in a rage. 
 
 " You will not understand me," said Wilberg, 
 deeply wounded, but still with some self-possession. 
 He knew what a powerful ally he had in the next 
 room. " Melanie understands me. She has already 
 given me her hand and heart." 
 
 " That is a pretty state of things !" growled the 
 enraged father. "If daughters thus unhesitatingly 
 make presents of their hands and hearts, I would 
 really like to know what fathers are for. Wilberg" 
 here his voice became somewhat milder " I do 
 you the justice to say that during these last few 
 years you have become somewhat more sensible, 
 yet not sensible enough by a great deal. For ex- 
 ample, you have never been able to leave off this 
 poetizing. I would wager that you even now carry 
 some lyric about you."
 
 410 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 He leered rather suspiciously at the young man's 
 breast-pocket. Wilberg blushed. 
 
 " As a betrothed man, might I not legitimate^ 
 do this ?" he remarked in a timid, questioning way. 
 
 "Ah, yes! and serenades too. This will be a 
 beautiful summer," muttered the chief engineer 
 despairingly. " See here, Wilberg ! If I did not 
 know that Melanie has my nature and will carry 
 out this romantic whim in spite of me, I should say 
 'No,' absolutely No! But I believe you need a 
 sensible wife, and, above all things, a sensible father- 
 in-law who from time to time will set your head 
 right. And so, as I really cannot help myself, I 
 will let you marry each other." 
 
 Whether the latter acquisition seemed a very en- 
 viable one to Herr Wilberg may well be doubted, 
 but in his rapture over the former he forgot all 
 else and hastened to embrace the prospective father- 
 in-law, who made rather short work with this 
 formality. 
 
 " No sentimentality !" he said very decidedly. " I 
 cannot suffer it and we need not delay for this. 
 Now come with me to Melanie. You long ago 
 planned all this behind my back, but I tell you if I 
 ever catch you making verses and my child with red 
 weeping eyes, then Heaven help you 1" 
 
 While the chief engineer thus yielded to an in- 
 evitable distiny, up on the terrace of the country- 
 house stood Arthur Berkow and Curt von Windeg. 
 The latter, who had already bidden adieu to his sis- 
 ter, was waiting for his horse to be led up.
 
 GOOD LUCK. 411 
 
 The deep and mighty change Arthurs inward 
 being had experienced was also visible outwardly. 
 He was no longer the delicate, slender, pale young 
 man whose youthful strength and freshness had so 
 nearly been lost by his life in the Residence. His 
 appearance now fully coincided with the idea one 
 would naturally form of the chief who knew how 
 to conduct such giant enterprises with such energy. 
 In truth, the lines which had so early been en- 
 graven upon his forehead, and which years of care 
 and toil had deepened, had not been obliterated by 
 the fortune and the future now so securely and per- 
 manently established. If such lines once find place 
 they do not lightly vanish ; but they did not ill be 
 come this forehead and these features, where a.V 
 was strengthened to a firm, earnest manhood. Curl 
 remained the young, high-spirited officer whose 
 lively eyes and fresh lips had lost nothing of their 
 brightness and merriment. 
 
 "And I tell you, Arthur," he said excitedly, 
 " you do papa wrong if you imagine he has still any 
 prejudice against you. I wish you could have 
 heard with me how he answered old Prince Wald- 
 stein, when he declared that our mining proprietors, 
 in the present state of excitement and insurrection 
 among the workmen, could have no enviable 
 position. ' This cannot at all apply to my son-in- 
 law,' said papa with full aplomb. ' He stands too 
 firmly in his position and has too unlimited authority 
 among his workmen, who really idolize him ; and 
 my son-in-law is certainly equal to any emergency.'
 
 412 GOOD LUCK 
 
 But he will never forgive you for having refused 
 the diploma of nobility, and he cannot become rec- 
 onciled to having his grandson bear the plebeian 
 name of Berkow." 
 
 A somewhat disdainful smile played around 
 Arthur's lips. 
 
 " Well, I do not intend that the name shall be a 
 disgrace to my boy," he said, " when he bears it out 
 into the world, and I hope your father may live to 
 see him placed beside a young Windeg. How 
 stands it with your betrothal, Curt ?" 
 
 The young officer drew down his face. 
 
 " Well," drawled he, " I suppose that will be the 
 next thing to happen when we are again in Rabenau. 
 Count Berning's estates join ours, and the Countess 
 Alma will be eighteen next spring. Papa thinks 
 that in my position of head of the house and future 
 heir it is time I seriously thought of marriage. He 
 has commanded me to make proposals to the young 
 countess this summer." 
 
 " Commanded . ? " laughed Arthur. " And will you 
 marry at command ?" 
 
 u Well, what did you do, then, in your marrying ?" 
 asked Curt rather pettishly. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! you are right. But with us it was an 
 exceptional case." 
 
 " And it is not at all one with us," said Curt in- 
 differently. " It is usually so in our circle. Papa 
 wishes to see me married soon and according to my 
 rank, and he will allow no contradiction unless from 
 you. You have so impressed him that whatever
 
 GOOD LUCK. 413 
 
 you do is sure to please him. But I have no par- 
 ticular objections to the marriage : only I would 
 like to remain longer free." 
 
 Berkow shook his head. 
 
 " I believe you -do quite right in this case, Curt, 
 to submit to your father's wishes. Alma Berning, 
 so far as I could remark at our last visit to 
 Babenau, is an amiable girl ; and it is really time 
 for the future heir to step forward and for the wild 
 young lieutenant to retire. He has played some 
 mad pranks, this lieutenant." 
 
 Curt petulantly flung back his head. 
 
 " Ah, yes ! and from the paternal side, on all 
 such occasions, his brother-in-law is held up before 
 him as a pattern and loaded with such extravagant 
 praises that, if it were not for the young officer's 
 firmly grounded preference for this much-extolled 
 exemplar, he might come to hate him thoroughly. 
 And from just here springs that plan for my mar- 
 riage. One time, at a scene of paternal admonition, 
 I ventured to say, ' Arthur was once far wilder 
 than I, and now, as a married man, he has become 
 your highest type of excellence ;' and then and 
 there papa secretly formed the idea of making just 
 such a model husband out of me ! Well, for my 
 part I have nothing against Alma ; and besides, I 
 will take an example from Eugenie and you. With 
 perfect indifference, even with a perfect hatred, you 
 came together in marriage, and have at last founded 
 a real romance which is not yet ended. Perhaps 
 we, too, shall be as happy."
 
 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 An unmistakable expression of irony passed over 
 Arthur's lips. 
 
 " I doubt that, dear Curt," hs eaid. " You do not 
 seem at all created for a romance after marriage ; 
 and, above all things, remember every woman is not 
 an Eugenie." 
 
 The young baron laughed alond. 
 
 " I thought that was what I was going to hear 
 again. With exactly the same tone, Eugenie said 
 to me this morning, as we were speaking upon this 
 subject, ' You will not rank Arthur with other men, 
 will you ?' You really are spinning out your honey- 
 moon to a great length." 
 
 " We had to renounce it at the beginning and 
 must doubly atone for the delay. Can you really 
 not remain longer ?" asked Arthur. 
 
 ; My leave of absence extends only to this even- 
 ing. 1 come principally to announce the visit of 
 my father and brothers. Auj Wiedersehen, Arthur !" 
 
 He swung himself upon his horse, gave another 
 farewell greeting to his brother-in-law, and galloped 
 away. Arthur was just going into the house, when 
 an old miner appeared on the terrace and took off 
 his hat to his chief. 
 
 "Ah, Overseer Hartmann !" said Berkow cordially. 
 " Would you speak with me ?" 
 
 The overseer approached respectfully and yet 
 confidentially. 
 
 " With your permission I would, Herr Berkow. 
 I have just been up yonder at my post and saw you 
 take leave of the young baron. Then I thought I
 
 GOOD LUCK. 415 
 
 would come and thank you for having made 
 Lorenz master-miner. It has given great joy in 
 our house." 
 
 " Lorenz has during these last years shown such 
 efficiency that he deserved the post, and with his 
 increasing family he must need it." 
 
 " Well, he has enough for wife and children : I 
 see to that," said the overseer good-humoredly. 
 " It was a sensible idea in Martha to make him 
 agree to live in my house, so I am not quite alone 
 in my old age and have great joy in their children. 
 If it were not for them I should have nothing in 
 the wide world." 
 
 At these last words the old man's face grew sad 
 and his eyes moist. Arthur looked sympathetically 
 down on him. 
 
 " Can you never get over this sorrow, Hartmann ?" 
 he asked. 
 
 The overseer shook his head. 
 
 " I cannot, Herr Berkow. He was my only one ; 
 and although he too often caused me more sorrow 
 than joy, although at the last, with his uncontrol- 
 lable nature, he quite broke away from me, I can- 
 not forget Ulrich. Merciful God ! why must I, an 
 old man, be rescued with all the others, to endure 
 this ? With that one all else was buried from me." 
 
 "You should not speak so, Hartmann," said 
 Arthur, gently chiding him. " You have still a firm 
 dependence in Martha and her husband." 
 
 The old man sighed. 
 
 " Yes, in Martha ! She also, like me, cannot get
 
 416 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 over this trouble. Although she has husband and 
 children, and a good husband he is, I see many a 
 time how it is at her heart. It is a strange thing 
 with many people, Herr Berkow. They can cause 
 us anguish and misery, can grieve us to the in- 
 most heart, and still we love them better than the 
 noblest and best, who have never given us a sorrow- 
 ful hour ; we cannot loose our thoughts from them. 
 Such a one was my Ulrich. What he was to his 
 comrades before that unfortunate quarrel broke out, 
 none before or after him has been ; and though no 
 blessing followed where he led them, the} 7 have not 
 to this day forgotten him." 
 
 The old man wiped the bitter tears from his eyes 
 as he grasped the hand Arthur had offered in silent 
 sympathy and went quietly away. Eugenie, who 
 during the last moments had appeared in the door 
 without wishing to interrupt the conversation, now 
 stepped to her husband. 
 
 " Can Hartmann never be reconciled ?" she asked 
 softly. " I never supposed that he loved his son so 
 deeply and passionately." 
 
 Arthur gazed after the retreating form. 
 
 " I comprehend that," he said, " as I comprehend 
 the blind devotion of his comrades. There was 
 something mightily fascinating in the nature, in the 
 whole individuality of this man. If I experienced 
 this I who had to wrestle with him for life and 
 death how much more those for whom he wrestled ! 
 What might this Ulrich and his followers not have 
 accomplished if he had only understood his mission
 
 GOOD LUCK. 417 
 
 in the world to be something other than hatred and 
 destruction to all existing things !" 
 
 The young wife looked almost reproachfully up 
 to her husband as she replied : 
 
 " And yet he proved to us that he could do some- 
 thing else than blindly hate. He was your avowed 
 enemy, but when only one of you two could be 
 saved he wrested you from destruction and plunged 
 into death himself." 
 
 A shadow passed over Arthur's face, which might 
 well grow sad at the remembrance of that time. 
 
 " I, of all, have least right to accuse him," said 
 he, "and I have never done so since his hand 
 rescued me from certain death. But, believe me, 
 Eugenie, entire reconciliation with such an element 
 would never have been possible. He would always 
 have imperiled the future of my works, prevented 
 peace with my workmen, and have forced me to a 
 continual struggle for the mastery; and things 
 between us had been carried too far for me to 
 allow him to go on unpunished. If I had not accused 
 and condemned him others would have done so. 
 This has been spared to him and to us." 
 
 Eugenie leaned her head upon her husband's 
 shoulder. It was still the beautiful blond head 
 with the dark eyes, but the face was rosier and 
 sunnier than in the earlier days of her married life. 
 The old pallor and marble-like coldness had van- 
 ished from its expression, which was now beaming 
 with happiness. 
 
 "It was a sad time, Arthur, that which followed
 
 418 GOOD LUCK. 
 
 the catastrophe," she said with a voice slightly 
 tremulous. " You had a terrible battle to fight, so 
 terrible that my courage often threatened to give 
 way utterly when I saw your brow always clouded, 
 your eyes always sad, and I could still do nothing 
 but remain at your side." 
 
 "With the deepest tenderness he bent over her. 
 
 " And was that not enough, my Eugenie ?" he 
 said. " In that struggle I proved the might of two 
 words which alone gave me joyfulness and courage 
 and which often and again bore me up when the 
 waves threatened to overwhelm me. They at 
 the last have helped me to victory : My wife and 
 my child!" 
 
 The sun stood high in the clear summer heaven 
 and threw its beams upon the Berkow house and 
 its flower-gemmed terraces, upon the works in the 
 distance, where all this thousand-fold life and ac- 
 tivity had developed in such mighty and many- 
 sided forms that it seemed indeed no small thing to 
 be called ruler of such a world. And these same 
 sunbeams shed their glory around the mountains, 
 with their forest crowns upon their heads, and 
 that deep, mysterious life throbbing within their 
 bosoms. 
 
 The somber realm, which these rocky arms would 
 fain have eternally enfolded in their embrace and 
 shut out from every mortal gaze, had still been 
 compelled to open to the intellect of man. Science 
 had forced those barriers and had wrested from the
 
 GOOD LUCK. 41& 
 
 clefts and abysses of the earth those treasures so 
 long imprisoned in deepest night. And now they 
 had been borne upward to the light of day, unfet- 
 tered by that ancient magic word of the mountains, 
 QluckauJ ! 
 
 THE END.
 
 BURT'S HOME LIBRARY. 
 
 Oomprising four hundred and fourteen titles of 
 standard works, embracing fiction, essays, poetry, 
 history, trpvel. etc.. selected from the world's best 
 literature,writteu by authors of world-wide reputa- 
 tion. Printed from large type on good paper, and 
 bound in handsome uniform cloth binding. 
 
 Uniform Cloth Binding. Gilt Tops* Price, $1.00. 
 
 Abbe Constantln. By L. Halevy. 
 
 Abbot. By Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 #dam Bedo. By George Eliot. 
 
 Aesop's Fables. 
 
 Alhambra. Washington Irving. 
 
 Alice in Wonderland, and Through 
 the Looking Glass. By Lewis 
 Carroll. 
 
 Alice Lorraine. R. D. Blackmore. 
 
 AH Sorts and Conditions of Men. 
 By Besant and Rice. 
 
 Ami.'l's Journal. Translated by 
 Mrs. Humphrey Ward. 
 
 Andersen's Fairy Tales. 
 
 Anne of Geiersteln. By Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott. 
 
 Antiquary. Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Arabian Nights' Entertainments. 
 
 Ardath. By Marie Corel!!. 
 
 Armadale. By Wilkie Collins. 
 
 Arniorel of Lyonesse. W. Besant. 
 
 Arnold's Poems. Matthew Arnold. 
 
 Around the World In the Yacht 
 Sunbeam. By Mrs. Brassey. 
 
 Arundel Motto. Mary Cecil Hay. 
 
 At the Back of the North Wind. 
 By George Macdonald. 
 
 Attic Philosopher. E. Souvestre. 
 
 Auld Licht Idyls. J. M. Barrle. 
 
 Aunt Diana. By Rosa N. Carey. 
 
 Aurelian. By William Ware. 
 
 Autobiography of B. Franklin. 
 
 Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 
 By O. W. Holmes. 
 
 Averil. By Rosa N. Carey. 
 
 Bacon's Essays. Francis Bacon. 
 
 Barbara Heathcote's Trial. Rosa 
 N. Carey. 
 
 Barnaby Rudge. Charles Dickens. 
 
 Barrack-Room Ballads. Rudyard 
 Kipling. 
 
 Betrothed. Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Beulah. By Augusta J. Evans. 
 
 Black Beauty. By Anna Sewell. 
 
 Black Dwarf. Sir Walter Scott. 
 
 Black Rock. By Ralph Connor. 
 
 Bleak House. Charles Dickens. 
 
 Bondman, The. By Hall Caine. 
 
 Bride of Lammermoor. Sir Wal- 
 ter Scott. 
 
 Bride of the Nile, The. George 
 Ebers. 
 
 Browning's Poems. Elizabeth Bar- 
 rett Browning. 
 
 Browning's Poems. (Robert.) 
 
 Bryant's Poems. W. C. Bryant. 
 
 Burgomaster's Wife. Geo. Ebers. 
 
 Burns' I'oems. By Robert Burns. 
 
 By Order of the King. V. Hugo. 
 
 Byron's Poems. By Lord Byron. 
 
 California and Oregon Trail. By 
 Francis Parkman, Jr. 
 
 Carey's Poems. By Alice and 
 Phoebe Carey. 
 
 Cast Up by the Sea. By Sir Sam- 
 uel Baker. 
 
 Cartons. Bulwer-Lytton. 
 
 Chandos. By "Ouida." 
 
 Charles Auchester. E. Berger. 
 
 Character. By Samuel Smiles. 
 
 Charles O'Malley. Charles Lever. 
 
 Chevalier de Maison Rouge. By 
 Alexandre Dumas. 
 
 Chicot the Jester. Alex. Dumas. 
 
 Children of the Abbey. By Regina 
 Maria Roche. 
 
 Children of Gibeon. W. Besant. 
 
 Child's History of England. By 
 Charles Dickens. 
 
 Christmas Stories. Chas. Dickens. 
 
 Clara Vaughan. R. D. Blackmore. 
 
 Cloister and the Hearth. Charles 
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 Coleridge's Poems. Samuel Taylor 
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 Complete Angler. Walton & Cot- 
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 Confessions of an Opium Eater. 
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 Conquest of Granada. Washing- 
 ton Irving. 
 
 Consuelo. By George Sand. 
 
 Corlnne. By Madame De StaeL 
 
 Countess de Charny. A. Dumas. 
 
 Countess Gisela. E. Marlitt. 
 
 Countess of Rudolstadt. By Geo. 
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 Count Robert of Paris. W. Scott. 
 
 Courtship of Miles Standish. By 
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 Cousin Pens. By H. de Balzac. 
 
 Cradock Nowell. By R. D. Black- 
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 Cranford. By Mrs. Gaskell. 
 
 Cripps the Carrier. R. D. Black- 
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