The Sign Of Flame Part 6

But since matters have gone so far, I will have to break the silence.

You thought your mother dead, and I have silently allowed you to think so, for I wished to save you from reminiscences which have poisoned my life. I meant that your youth, at least, should be free from it. It seems that it cannot be, so you may hear the truth."

He paused for a moment. It was torture to the man, with his delicate sense of honor, to talk on this subject before his son, but there was no longer a choice--he must speak on.

"I loved your mother pa.s.sionately when a young officer, and married her against the wish of my parents, who saw no good to result from a marriage with a woman of foreign race. They were right, the marriage was deeply unfortunate, and we finally separated at my desire. I had an undeniable right to demand the separation, and also the possession of my son, which was granted me unconditionally. I cannot tell you any more, for I will not accuse the mother to the son; therefore let this suffice you."

Short and harsh as this explanation sounded, it yet made a strange impression upon Hartmut. The father would not accuse the mother to him, who had been hearing daily the most bitter accusation, abuse and slander against the father.

Zalika had put the whole blame of the separation upon her husband, upon his unheard-of tyranny, and she found only too willing a listener in the youth whose unruly nature suffered so intensely under that severity. And yet those short, earnest words now weighed more than all the pa.s.sionate outbursts of the mother. Hartmut felt instinctively upon which side the truth stood.

"But now to the most important point," resumed Falkenried. "What has been the subject of your conversation?"

Hartmut had not expected this question, and a burning blush suffused his face. He was silent and looked to the ground.

"Ah, so! you do not dare to repeat it to me; but I request to know it.

Answer, I command you!"

But Hartmut remained silent; he only closed his lips more firmly, and his eyes met his father's with dark defiance.

Falkenried now drew nearer.

"You will not speak? Has a command from that side, perhaps, made you silent? Never mind, your silence says more than words. I see how much estranged from me you have become, and you would become lost entirely to me if I should leave you longer under that influence. These meetings with your mother must be ended. I forbid them. You will accompany me home to-day and remain under my supervision. Whether it seems cruel to you or not, it must be so, and you will obey."

But the Major was mistaken when he thought to bow his son to his will by a simple command.

Hartmut had been in a school during these last days where defiance against the father had been taught him in the most effectual manner.

"Father, you will not--you cannot command that," he burst forth now with overpowering vehemence. "It is my mother who is found again; the only one in the whole world who loves me. I shall not let her be taken from me again as she has already been taken. I shall not allow myself to be forced to hate her because you hate her. Threaten--punish me do whatever you will with me, but I do not obey this time. I will not obey."

The whole unruly, pa.s.sionate nature of the young man was in these words; the uncanny fire flamed again in his eyes; the hands were clenched; every fibre throbbed in wild rebellion. He was apparently decided to do battle against the long-feared father.

But the burst of anger which he so confidently expected did not come.

Falkenried only looked at him silently, but with a glance of grave, deep reproach.

"The only one in the whole world who loves you!" he repeated slowly.

"You have, perhaps, forgotten that you still have a father."

"Who does not love me, though," cried Hartmut in overwhelming bitterness. "Only since I have found my mother have I known what love is."

"Hartmut!"

The youth looked up, startled by the strange, pained tone which he heard for the first time, and the defiance which was about to break forth again died on his lips.

"Because I have no pet names and caresses for you; because I have raised you with seriousness and firmness, do you doubt my love?" said Falkenried, still in the same voice. "Do you know what this severity toward my only, my beloved child has cost me?"

"Father!"

The word sounded still timid and hesitating, but no longer with the old fear and awe; it now contained something like budding faith and trust; like a happy but half-comprehended surprise, and with it Hartmut's eyes hung as if riveted upon his father's features. Falkenried now put his hand upon his son's arm, drawing him nearer, while he continued:

"I once had high ambitions, proud hopes of life, great plans and aspirations, which came to an end when a blow fell upon me from which I shall never be able to rally. If I still aspire and struggle, it is from a sense of duty and because of you, Hartmut. In you centers all my ambition; to make your future great and happy is the only thing which I yet desire of life; and your future can be made great, my son, for your gifts are extraordinary ones; your will is strong in good as well as evil. But there is yet something dangerous in your nature, which is less your fault than your doom, and which must be taken in hand in time, if it is not to develop and dash you into destruction. I had to be severe to banish this unfortunate tendency; it has not been easy for me."

The face of the youth was covered by a deep blush. With panting breath he seemed to read every word from his father's lips, and now he said in a whisper, in which the suppressed joy could scarcely be hidden:

"I have not dared to love you so far. You have always been so cold--so unapproachable, and I----"

He broke off and glanced up at his father, who now put his arm around Hartmut's shoulders, drawing him still closer to him. Then eyes looked deep into eyes, and the voice of the iron man broke as he said, lowly:

"You are my only child, Hartmut, the only thing which has remained to me from a dream of happiness that dispersed in bitterness and disappointment. I lost much at that time and have borne it; but if I should lose you--you--I could not bear it."

His arms closed around his son tightly, as if they could never be detached. Hartmut had thrown himself sobbing upon his father's breast, and father and son held each other in a long, pa.s.sionate embrace.

Both had forgotten that a shadow from the past still stood threateningly and separatingly between them.

In the meantime, Frau von Eschenhagen, in her dining-room, was giving w.i.l.l.y a curtain lecture. She had done so, in fact, this morning, but was of the opinion that a double portion would not come amiss in this case. The young heir looked completely crushed. He felt himself in the wrong, as well toward his mother as toward his friend, and yet he was quite blameless. He allowed himself to be lectured patiently, like an obedient son, only throwing an occasional sad look over at the supper which already stood upon the table, although his mother did not take any notice of it at all.

"This is what comes of having secrets behind the backs of parents," she said severely, concluding her lecture.

"Hartmut is getting what he deserves in yonder; the Major will not treat him very mildly. I think you will let playing helpmate in such, a plot alone in the future."

"But I have not helped in it," w.i.l.l.y defended himself. "I had only promised to be silent and I had to keep my word."

"You ought not dare to keep silence to your mother; she is always an exception," Frau Regine said decidedly.

"Yes, mamma, Hartmut probably thought so, too, when it concerned his mother," remarked Willibald, and the remark was so correct that she could not well say anything against it; but that angered her the more.

"That is different--entirely different," she said curtly; but the young lord asked persistently:

"Why is it entirely different?"

"Boy, you will kill me yet with your questions and talking," cried his mother angrily. "That is an affair which you do not and shall not understand. It is bad enough that Hartmut has brought you in connection with it at all. Now do you keep quiet, and do not concern yourself further about it. Do you hear?"

w.i.l.l.y was dutifully silent. It was perhaps the first time in his life that he had been reproved for too much talking; besides, his Uncle Wallmoden, who had just returned from a drive, entered now.

"Falkenried has already arrived, I hear," he said, approaching his sister.

"Yes," she replied. "He came immediately upon receiving my letter."

"And how has he borne the news?"

"Outwardly very calm, but I saw only too well how it rent his heartstrings. He is alone now with Hartmut, and the storm will probably burst."

"I am sorry; but I prophesied this turn of affairs when I learned of Zalika's return. He ought to have spoken then to Hartmut. Now I fear he will but add a second mistake to the first one by trying to accomplish a separation by force and dictating. This unfortunate obstinacy which knows only 'either--or'! It is least of all in the right place here."

"Yes, the meeting yonder lasts too long for me," said Frau von Eschenhagen with concern. "I shall go and see how far the two have gotten, whether it offends the Major or not. Remain here, Herbert; I shall return directly."

She left the room, which Wallmoden paced disconsolately. His nephew sat alone at the supper table, about which n.o.body seemed to think. He did not dare to begin eating by himself, for a regular turmoil reigned to-day in Burgsdorf, and the Frau Mamma was in a very ungracious mood.

But fortunately she returned after a few minutes, and her face was beaming with satisfaction.