“The letter could only be a trap if you took it seriously, in which case it would be a very dangerous one.”
“What do you mean?”
“The young lady has written it on her own account; I mean without her father’s knowledge, who had probably left the house before she wrote it.”
“Impossible!”
“Why?”
“She would not have dared to do it.”
“What does a girl not dare when she thinks it becomes her? Do not you see that her hand faltered as she wrote the words, ‘Papa, who sends you his best love,’ and only became steady again when she had got to the truth, ‘he has another meeting this morning?’ It is interesting and promising to see that the girl cannot even lie with the pen in her hand. We shall be able to learn from her everything we want to know.”
“But what do we want to know?”
“What?”
The faintest glimmer of a smile passed over Giraldi’s dark eyes.
“Mi fai ridere, cara mia—we! Why, you do not yet know half.”
“Then it must be your fault, my dear friend, for only telling me half. What could I know without your telling me?”
He bent over her and took her hand which he pressed to his lips.
“Could I know anything, soul of my soul, that I should not immediately impart to you, as the eye and the ear impart their impressions to the mind, whose servants and slaves they are? And as faithful servants, because they are faithful, do everything for the best interests of their master, so I come this morning with the rich spoils of the four and twenty hours that have passed since I was last with you, to lay them at your feet and receive my reward in the smile of your lips.”
“And why only this morning, faithless slave?”
“Yesterday evening, lady, my pockets were still almost empty; since then—”
“A miracle has happened?”
“Scarcely less.”
Giraldi looked at the clock. “; I have just time; in a quarter of an hour I expect Councillor Schieler. I only want to speak to him for a few minutes—in continuation of a long conversation which I had with him yesterday evening—so I shall be at hand when your relations arrive, and shall be able to lighten for you the unpleasantness of the first meeting.”
“And the Councillor is the miracle-worker?”
“The Councillor is a useful tool—voilà tout! so much the more useful that he is used by many, and in his vanity and stupidity, which are not the same thing, though they produce the same effect, always shows the traces of the hand that has last used him, as a trophy of his supposed importance and wisdom. It is as well that a certain person does not appear quite conscious that such a tool cuts both ways, or he would be more prudent in the use he makes of it. But that is not to the purpose. For the rest, we owe him gratitude so far as one can owe gratitude to a person who does one a great service without being aware of it. It was he who made us aware of the favourable opportunity of selling the property to Count Golm, when it became apparent to him and his company that they could obtain the Count, whom they wanted particularly, for no less a price. The Count snapped as eagerly at the tempting bait as they snapped at the Count; they do not see the angler who looks complacently on at the game, in order, when the right moment comes, to land the silly fish with one jerk of his line on the dry land at his feet, where it may gasp out its life. But this does not interest you.”
“It does—it does!” exclaimed Valerie.
“I see by the absent smile on your lips and the fixed look of your eyes that you have hardly heard me. Luckily I have something else in petto, which may excite your interest.”
“The miracle?”
“Not yet; I have only to tell you of natural events as yet. For what is more natural than that Count Golm wishes to obtain as cheaply as possible the property which he is so anxious to possess in order to round off his estate and arrange his affairs? And how could he get it cheaper than by receiving a third part as the dowery of his future wife, and another third as the probable inheritance of the said wife, that is to say both as good as given? There remains only one third, which unfortunately appears, since yesterday, to be irrevocably lost. Does my lady see now? It is only necessary to bring a little love into the game, the interest of the women is excited at once.”
Valerie’s heart beat. How true had been her foreboding! The dear child, whom she had but now looked up to as to an angel, in the next moment drawn away, dragged down into the sordid game of intrigue by this cruel, inexorable hand!
“Does Count Golm love my niece?”
“I did not say that; in fact, without wishing to detract from the charms of the young lady, I am convinced that it is not the case. He has only known her a very short time—since the General’s journey at the end of last month. Your North German country people are in general not very subject to the dangers of a Romeo-like passion; besides, a too strikingly material advantage is not very favourable for the blossoming of the tender plant, love, and therefore the young lady is either really affronted by the too evidently mercenary intentions of her suitor, or pretends to be so, in order to keep herself disengaged in another direction; I shall come to that presently. At least the Count complains bitterly of her behaviour towards him, and threatens, to the Councillor’s alarm, to withdraw, only he has fortunately committed the imprudence of accepting from the Councillor earnest-money for the projected alliance in the form of a
