The Alpine Fay

It was plain to see that it had not been easy for the young fellow to keep his resolution; his eyes turned longingly to the window that looked out on the road to Heilborn, while Benno sat lost in admiration of his cousin's strength of character. He himself would have made any sacrifice to a tyrannical mother-in-law rather than grieve a woman whom he loved.

They were interrupted by the entrance of Veit Gronau. He still limped, but otherwise seemed quite well, as he deposited a large package on the table.

"What have you there?" asked Gersdorf.

"Genuine Turkish tobacco," Gronau replied; "and Herr Waltenberg sends his regards and he will come over this afternoon with the ladies from Wolkenstein, who wish to see the holiday dance. Said brought the message and this tobacco, which I asked Herr Waltenberg to send in pity for the doctor, who smokes wretched stuff, begging his pardon. Let me fill the pipes; I understand that business."

"That's true," said Benno, laughing. "You and Herr Waltenberg would smoke up my entire income in a year. I cannot afford to be fastidious."

Veit, who was entirely at home here, hobbled to a little cupboard, whence he took three pipes, which he proceeded to prepare, and the three men were soon filling the room with clouds of fragrant smoke.

Suddenly the door opened, and a most unexpected apparition appeared upon the threshold, in the person of a young lady in a very elegant travelling-dress, a veil wound about her hat, and a handsome travelling-bag in her hand. She was about to enter hastily, but paused as if petrified by the scene which was presented to her gaze. Gronau in all his length of limb lay stretched out on the sofa; the doctor, in his shirt-sleeves, was comfortably established in his arm-chair; Gersdorf sat near him astride of a chair, while the room was filled with a thick but unfortunately transparent cloud of blue tobacco-smoke.

"Herr Doctor," the voice of the old housekeeper was heard to say from the corridor behind the stranger, "a young lady has arrived, and wants–"

"I want my husband," the young lady interposed, in a resolute tone, advancing into the room, where she created a sensation indeed.

Gronau sprang up from the sofa, uttering a cry of pain as he did so, for his ankle resented the sudden motion; Benno started up in dismay and began looking for his coat, which it seemed impossible to find; and Gersdorf emerged from the cloud of smoke, exclaiming, in a tone of delighted surprise, "Molly I–is it you?"

"Yes,–it is I!" Frau Gersdorf declared in accents so annihilating that one might have supposed her husband had just been detected in the commission of a crime, and as she spoke she advanced with extreme dignity into the middle of the room, where, unfortunately, the smoke interfered with the solemnity of the occasion, for she began to cough and seemed almost ready to choke.

Poor Benno was crushed. He had privately exulted when he had learned that there was no danger of a visit from his new distinguished relative, of whom he stood in such awe that for her reception he would have donned his grandest attire, and now here she was, and he in his shirt-sleeves! In his confusion he took his pocket-handkerchief and tried to flap away the smoke, but, unfortunately, he flapped it directly into the young lady's face, at the same time sweeping his clay pipe off the table where he had laid it, and overthrowing his arm-chair, the leg of which was broken in the fall. At last Gersdorf seized him by the arm: "Pray stop, Benno, or you will make things worse," he said, kindly. "First of all let me present you to my wife. My cousin, Benno Reinsfeld, Molly dear."

Molly bestowed a most ungracious glance upon this man in his shirt-sleeves who was presented to her as a relative,–really it was exceedingly provoking.

"I regret extremely having disturbed the gentlemen," she said, with a withering look at her husband. "My husband informed me that he should pay you a visit. Dr. Reinsfeld, but no time was appointed for his return."

"Madame," stammered Benno, in great confusion, "it is a great honour–and certainly–"

"I am glad to hear it," the lady interrupted him without more ado. "My luggage is outside; pray have it brought in. I shall stay here for a while."

This was too much; the doctor was in despair. He thought of the bare little garret room which was all he had had to offer to his cousin, and now here was a Baroness Ernsthausen about to occupy it also! Suddenly his wild, wandering glances fell upon the jacket he had been looking for so anxiously: it lay on the floor beside him; he snatched it up, and vanished into the next room. Gronau, whose distaste for 'the ladies' was as decided as it was respectful, hobbled after him, closing the door, as he left the room, with a crash that shook the house.

"Have I fallen among savages?" Molly asked, indignant at this reception. "One shrieks, another runs away, and the third–!" She fairly shuddered at the thought that this third was her husband.

But Gersdorf cared not a whit for the frown upon her pretty face. Now that they were alone, he hurried towards her with outstretched arms: "And you really came, Molly?"

Molly withdrew from his embrace, retreated a step, and declared solemnly, "Albert,–you are a monster!"

"But, Molly–!"

"A monster!" she repeated, with emphasis. "Mamma says so, and she thinks I ought to requite you with scorn. That is why I came."

"Ah, indeed, is that why?" said Albert, relieving her of her travelling-bag. She allowed this attention, but maintained her dignified attitude.

"You have deserted me,–me, your lawful wedded wife,–deserted me shamefully, and upon our wedding-tour!"

"Pardon me, my child, you deserted me," Gersdorf protested. "You drove off with the picnic-party–"

"For a few hours! And when I returned you were gone,–gone to the wilderness,–for this Oberstein is no less,–and now here you sit in this detestable tobacco-smoke, smoking and laughing and joking. Don't deny it, Albert, you were laughing. I heard your voice plainly from outside."

"I certainly was laughing, but that is no crime."

"When your wife was away!" Molly exclaimed, angrily,–"when your deeply-injured wife was at that very moment bewailing the fate that has fettered her to a heartless husband! Oh, how could you!"

She sobbed aloud, and in her despair threw herself upon the sofa; bouncing up again instantly, however, in dismay at its extreme hardness.

"Molly," her husband said, seriously, as he approached her, "you knew why I wished to avoid those people, and I thought my wife would have stood by me. I was very sorry to find myself mistaken."

The reproof went home; Molly cast down her eyes and replied, meekly "I care nothing for all those stupid people; but mamma thought I ought not to allow myself to be tyrannized over."

"And you complied with your mother's request rather than with mine, and preferred to mine the company of strangers."

"You did so too," sobbed Molly; "you drove away without a thought of your poor wife consumed with grief and longing!"

Albert put his arm around her caressingly, as he said, tenderly, "And were you really unhappy, my little Molly? So was I."

His young wife looked up at him through her tears, and nestled close to him: "When were you coming back?" she asked.

"The day after to-morrow, if I could have managed to stay away so long."

"And I came to-day. Is not that enough for you?"

"Yes, my darling, quite enough!" said Gersdorf. "And if you choose we will return to Heilborn this very day."

"No, we will not," said Molly, resolutely. "I have quarrelled with mamma, and with papa too; they did not want me to come. I have brought our luggage, and now we will stay here."

"So much the better," said Albert, much relieved. "I went to Heilborn solely for your sake, and here we are really in the midst of the mountains. I am only afraid that we must try to find some other quarters; the doctor's house can hardly hold you with all your trunks."

The little lady turned up her nose as she surveyed the room, where the smoke still lingered and the broken pipe and the three-legged chair encumbered the floor.

"Yes, this seems a detestable bachelor establishment. You would grow careless enough with this cousin of yours, who rushes away like a madman if a lady makes her appearance. Has he no manners at all?"

"Poor Benno was so terribly embarrassed," Albert said, by way of excuse. "He completely lost his head. Be kind to him, Molly, I pray you, for he is the best fellow in the world. And now let me go look after your luggage."

He went, and Frau Gersdorf took her seat upon the sofa, with more caution than before. In a few moments another door was softly and timidly opened, and the master of the house appeared. He had employed the time of his absence in arranging his dress, and he now approached his guest with much humility. At first she seemed scarcely inclined to be as amiable as her husband had entreated her to be; on the contrary, she eyed her new cousin with judicial severity.

"Madame," he began, with hesitation, "pray pardon me that, upon your unexpected arrival–I was very sorry for it, very sorry–"

"For my arrival?" Molly interrupted him, indignantly.

"God forbid, no!" exclaimed Benno. "I only meant–I wished to observe that I am a bachelor."

"Unfortunately," said Molly, still ungraciously. "It is very sad to be a bachelor. Why do you not marry?"

"I?" cried Benno, dismayed at the question.

"Certainly; you must marry as soon as possible."

The words sounded so dictatorial that the doctor did not venture to contradict them; he merely bowed so profoundly that Frau Molly began to feel her irritation evaporate, and she added, in a milder tone,–

"Albert is married and likes it extremely. Do you doubt it?"

"Oh, no, assuredly not," poor Benno hastened to reply; "but I–"

"Well, you, Herr Doctor?" his new relative persisted.

"I am not accustomed to ladies' society, and my manners are very rude," he said, sadly,–"very rude, madame,–and that unfits me for social enjoyment."

This confession found favour with Molly. A man who felt his deficiencies so profoundly deserved sympathy. She laid aside her air of severity and rejoined, kindly,–

"They can easily be improved. Come, sit down, Herr Doctor, and let us discuss the matter."

"What! Marriage?" Benno asked, in renewed dismay. This seemed like an immediate settlement of his future life, and he was naturally startled.

"Oh, no: only your manners, for the present. You are anxious to learn, I can see; all you want is some one to advise and train you. I will do it!"

"Oh, madame, how kind you are!" said the doctor, with so touching an expression of gratitude that his instructor of eighteen was entirely won over.

"I am your cousin, and my name is Molly," she rejoined. "We must call each other by our first names; so, Benno, come and sit down by me."

He complied with her invitation rather shyly, but the little lady soon put him entirely at his ease. She questioned him closely, and he soon grew very confidential; he told her about his awkwardness at the Nordheim villa, his consequent mortification, and his desperate but fruitless attempts to attain some degree of ease of manner. As he went on, all his awkwardness vanished and he showed himself as he was, frank, true, intelligent, and kindly. When Gersdorf returned at the end of a quarter of an hour, he found his wife and his cousin talking together like the best of friends.

"I have had the luggage brought here for the present," he said, "and I have sent to know if we can have rooms at the inn."

"Not at all necessary," said Molly; "we can stay here. I am sure Benno will make room for us; will you not, Benno?"

"Of course I will," the doctor exclaimed, eagerly. "I shall move out. Gronau and I can move into the garret, and you can have the lower rooms, Molly. I will go and have it arranged immediately."

He sprang up, and hurried out to do as he said.

"Benno?–Molly? You seem to have made astonishing progress in a few minutes!"

"Albert, your cousin is a very superior man," Molly declared. "We must befriend the young fellow; it is our duty as his relatives."

Her husband burst out laughing: "The young fellow? Allow me to observe, madame, that he is just twelve years your senior."

"I am a married woman," was the dignified reply, "and he, unfortunately, is a bachelor. But it is not his fault, and I shall have him married as soon as possible."

"Good heavens!" exclaimed Gersdorf, "you have scarcely seen poor Benno, and you are already scheming to marry him? I beg you–"

He got no further, for his wife confronted him with an indignant air: "'Poor,' do you call him, because he is to be married? You think marriage a misfortune, then. Is it because your own is unhappy? Albert, what can you mean by such words?"

But Albert only laughed the more; undismayed by his wife's impressive manner, he clasped her in his arms, and said, "I mean that there is only one little woman in the world who can make her husband as happy as I am. Does this explanation content you?"

And Frau Gersdorf was content.

CHAPTER XIV.

MIDSUMMER BLESSING

The afternoon sun shone merrily down upon the gay assemblage on the green before the inn at Oberstein. Insignificant as the place was, it was a gathering-point for the inhabitants of all the scattered hamlets and farms in the country round, and all who could had come to the festival, which began with the service in church in the morning, while the afternoon was given over to the usual holiday enjoyments.

The St. John's dance, which, in accordance with ancient custom, was always danced in the open air, had been going on for some time upon the improvised dancing-floor in front of the inn. The young peasants, both men and maidens, were engaged in it, while their elders were seated at small tables with their beer-glasses. The country musicians fiddled away unweariedly, and the children played hide-and-seek and ran hither and thither among the happy crowd. It was a lively, merry scene, and its charm was much enhanced by the picturesque holiday costumes of the mountaineers.

The presence of the 'city folk,' who had just appeared, did not in the least disturb the festivities, for the young engineers quartered in Oberstein joined in the dance, and the two swarthy servants brought by the foreign gentleman from Heilborn were objects of admiring wonder for the peasants.

Waltenberg and the Nordheim ladies were seated at a table in the little garden on one side of the inn, and here Herr Gersdorf and his wife joined them. Greatly pleased by this meeting, the entire party was in a very merry mood, with the exception of Frau von Lasberg.

She took no pleasure in any peasant festivities, even as a spectator, and she had, besides, had a slight headache, so she had resolved to decline joining the party. Elmhorst, however, had sent word that it would be impossible for him to escort his betrothed on this occasion, as there had been some damage caused to the lower portion of the railway by a freshet, and he was obliged to drive down to inspect it. Upon this the old lady had resolved to sacrifice her comfort to her sense of propriety, which would not allow her to leave the two young ladies to be escorted only by Waltenberg, who was not as yet Erna's declared lover. She drove up the mountain with them, suffering an increase of headache in consequence, and now here was Molly, who had been in deep disgrace with the old lady since her marriage.

Molly knew this perfectly well, and took no pains to regain the lost favour. She expressed an ardent desire to join in the dance, declared that the elegant seclusion of the garden was a great bore, and finally proposed to mingle with the peasantry; in short, she nearly drove poor Frau von Lasberg to desperation.

"And if Benno comes, I shall dance with him although it should make Albert jealous," she said, with a glance towards her husband, who was standing with Erna and Waltenberg at the picket-fence looking on at the merriment on the green. "The poor doctor never has a moment's pleasure; just as we were setting out he was called to a patient, fortunately here in Oberstein, so he promised to follow us in half an hour. Alice, I hear that you are now under Benno's care."

The young lady nodded assent, and Frau von Lasberg remarked, condescendingly, "Alice conforms to the wishes of her betrothed, but I greatly fear that Herr Elmhorst over-estimates his friend when he attaches more value to his diagnosis than to that of our first medical authorities. And there is, at all events, great risk in intrusting his betrothed to the care of a young physician who, by his own confession, has practised almost exclusively among peasants."

"I think Herr Elmhorst perfectly right," Molly declared, with dignity. "Our cousin can easily compete with the 'first medical authorities,' I assure you, madame."

Baroness Lasberg smiled rather contemptuously: "Ah, excuse me! I really forgot that Dr. Reinsfeld is now a relative of yours, my dear Baroness."

"Frau Gersdorf, if you please," Molly corrected her. "I am very proud of my husband's name, and of my dignity as a married woman."

"So I perceive!" the old lady remarked, with an indignant glance at the young wife who so paraded her matrimonial satisfaction, and who, nothing daunted, chattered on merrily,–

"What did you think of Benno, Alice? He was perfectly inconsolable for his awkwardness on that first visit. Were you really as annoyed by it as he thinks you were?"

"Your cousin's deportment was certainly not calculated to inspire confidence, Frau Gersdorf," the Baroness remarked, emphasizing the plebeian name; but to her immense surprise she here encountered opposition from her usually passive charge. Alice raised her head, and said, with unwonted decision, "Dr. Reinsfeld made a very agreeable impression upon me, and I entirely share Wolfgang's confidence in him."

Molly glanced triumphantly at the old lady, and was about to launch forth in praise of her 'relative,' when the man himself made his appearance.

To-day Benno was clad in his trim Sunday costume, which differed but little from that of the mountaineers of the district, and was generally adopted by gentlemen among the mountains. The gray jacket braided with green and the dark-green hat with its chamois beard became him admirably, setting off his powerful, well-knit frame to the best advantage; and here where all around him was familiar he almost lost his shyness. He greeted his relatives and Erna cordially, and received Waltenberg courteously; even his bow to Frau von Lasberg was quite correct. It was only when he turned to Alice that the composure hitherto so bravely maintained forsook him; he blushed, and stammered, and cast down his eyes. At first he hardly understood what she said to him, hearing only the sweet, gentle voice, as kind in its tone as it had been before in 'fairy-land.' He partially recovered his self-control only when she spoke of her companion. "Poor Baroness Lasberg is suffering from a violent headache, and it has been worse since she sacrificed herself by driving up here with us. Can you suggest a remedy?"

Frau von Lasberg, who was sniffing at her vinaigrette, looked dismayed; she had no idea of intrusting her precious health to this peasant doctor. Reinsfeld modestly suggested that the pain had been increased by the broad sunshine and the noise, and proposed that she should retire for an hour to some cool, quiet room in the inn. He hurried away to call the hostess, who came immediately and conducted the old lady, who really felt quite ill and saw the advisability of taking the rest suggested, to a quiet room on the side of the house that looked away from the revellers.

"Thank heaven, now we are left to ourselves, and can go to the dance!" said Molly, rising to lead the way.

"What! among the peasants?" Alice asked, in alarm.

"In their very midst," the young wife undauntedly replied. "Do not look so horrified. You ought to thank God that your duenna has the headache, for else she never would have let you go. Benno, offer your arm to Fräulein Nordheim."

Benno looked equally horrified at this command; but Molly had taken possession of her husband, and Waltenberg had given his arm to Erna, so there was nothing for it but to obey.

"Fräulein Nordheim,–will you allow me?" he asked, timidly.

Alice hesitated a moment, but then, either tempted by the gaiety outside, or induced by the timid address, she smiled, and took the offered arm, to follow the others, who had already left the garden.

The pair walked slowly; the doctor was a rather mute cavalier: he hardly spoke, but looked with shy admiration at the young girl beside him, who did not, however, seem to him half so unapproachable and distinguished as she had been on their first interview. She looked graceful and simple in her light-blue muslin and her flower-trimmed straw hat; it was just the frame for her face, if only the face were not so pale. She was apparently somewhat afraid of the crowd, and when loud shouting was heard from the dancing floor she paused, and looked up timidly at her escort.

"Are you afraid, Fräulein Nordheim?" he asked. "Then let us go back."

Alice shook her head, and replied, in an undertone, "I am unused to it; but I do not believe the people are really rude."

"Indeed they are not!" Benno declared. "There is nothing to fear from our Wolkensteiners,–that I can testify, having lived as long as I have among them."

"Yes, for five years, Wolfgang tells me. How have you managed it?"

The question was put in a tone of such compassion that Benno smiled: "Oh, it is not so terrible as you suppose. It is, to be sure, a lonely life, and at times a laborious one, but it has its pleasures."

"Pleasures?" Alice repeated, dubiously, raising her large brown eyes to his, which so confused the doctor that he forgot to reply.

Suddenly there was a movement among the crowd: they perceived Reinsfeld for the first time,–for on his arrival he had come through the inn,–and instantly a circle was formed about him. "The Herr Doctor! Our Herr Doctor! Here he is!" resounded from all sides, while twenty, thirty heads were bared, and as many brown hands were stretched out to the young physician. Old and young thronged about him eager for a word or a look or to bid 'God bless' him. There was an outburst of enthusiasm at sight of their 'doctor.'

Reinsfeld glanced with some anxiety at his companion,–he feared she might be annoyed by these stormy demonstrations; but Alice seemed, on the contrary, to enjoy them; she clung rather closer to his arm, but she looked unusually happy and interested.

No sooner did the doctor explain that the young lady wished to look on at the dance than all began eagerly to arrange a place for her. The entire crowd about the doctor accompanied them to the dancing-floor; the rows of spectators were ruthlessly parted asunder, a chair was brought, and a few moments later Alice was seated in the midst of all the joyous tumult of St. John's day, and the sturdy mountaineers formed a sort of garde d'honneur on each side of her, taking care that the whirling couples did not fly past her close enough to brush the Fräulein's skirt. There was a certain rude chivalry in the way in which they arranged the place for the companion of their doctor.

"The people seem very fond of you," said Alice. "I did not imagine that the peasantry were so devoted to their physician."

"They are not usually," was Reinsfeld's reply. "They are apt to see in him only a man who costs them money, and they try not to avail themselves of his help. But the relation between the Wolkensteiners and myself is exceptional. We have gone through some hard times together, and they give me credit for not leaving them in the lurch, and for going indiscriminately to every one who needs me, even although the poor wretch have only a 'God bless you!' by way of fee. There is a great deal of poverty among the people, and it is impossible to think only of one's self; at least I have found it so."

"Yes, that I know," Alice interposed, with unusual vivacity. "You did not think of yourself when a better position was offered you. Wolfgang mentioned that during your visit the other day."

As she referred to it Benno coloured slightly: "Do you really remember that remark of his? Yes, Wolf was very much provoked with me at the time, and I suppose he was right. The position was undoubtedly a good one, in a hospital in one of our large cities, and by a lucky chance I was preferred beyond any of my colleagues; but the condition attached was that I should report myself at the election, and enter immediately upon the duties of my office."