The Progressionists, and Angela. Part 17

"'Ultramontane'?--'fanatical'?--yes! 'Shortsighted?' by no means. One would need the suspicious eyes of progress to see through the hypocrisy of this lady and her brother--a simple, trusting spirit like mine cannot penetrate such darkness. At any rate, they shall not find me weak. The little flame that was beginning to burn within my heart has been for ever extinguished by her unhallowed lips. She might now present herself in the garb of an angel, and muster up every seductive art of womanhood, 'twould not avail; I have had an insight into her real character, and giving her up costs me not a pang. It is not hollow appearances that determine the worth of woman, but moral excellence, beautiful virtues springing from a heart vivified by faith. No, giving her up shall not cost me one regretful throb."

He hastened from the garden to his room and rang the bell.

"Pack my trunks this very day, John," said he to his servant. "Tomorrow we shall be off."

He then entered in his diary a circ.u.mstantial account of the unmasked beauty. He also dwelt at length upon the painful shock his heart experienced when the bright and beautiful creature he had considered Louise to be suddenly vanished before his soul. As he was finis.h.i.+ng the last line, John reappeared with a telegraphic despatch. He read it, and was stunned.

"Meet your father at the train this evening." He looked at the concise despatch, and fancied he saw his father's stern and threatening countenance.

The contemplated match had for several years been regarded by the families of Gerlach and Greifmann as a fixed fact. Seraphin was aware how stubbornly his father adhered to a project that he had once set his mind upon. Here now, just as the union had became impossible and as the youth was about to free himself for ever from an engagement that was destructive of his happiness, the uncompromising sire had to appear to enforce unconditional obedience to his will. A fearful contest awaited Seraphin, unequal and painful; for a son, accustomed from childhood to revere and obey his parents, was to maintain this contest against his own father. Seraphin paced the room and wrung his hands in anguish.

CHAPTER VIII.

AN ULTRAMONTANE SON.

Greifmann and Gerlach had driven to the railway station. The express train thundered along. As the doors of the carriages flew open, Seraphin peered through them with eyes full of eager joy. He thought no more of the fate that threatened him as the sequel of his father's arrival; his youthful heart exulted solely in the antic.i.p.ation of the meeting. A tall, broad-shouldered gentleman, with severe features and tanned complexion, alighted from a _coupe_. It was Mr. Conrad Gerlach.

Seraphin threw his arms around his father's neck and kissed him. The banker made a polite bow to the wealthiest landed proprietor of the country, in return for which Mr. Conrad bestowed on him a cordial shake of the hand.

"Has your father returned?"

"He cannot possibly reach home before September," answered the banker.

The traveller stepped for a moment into the luggage-room. The gentlemen then drove away to the Palais Greifmann. During the ride, the conversation was not very animated. Conrad's curt, grave manner and keen look, indicative of a mind always hard at work, imposed reserve, and rapidly dampened his son's ingenuous burst of joy. Seraphin cast a searching glance upon that severe countenance, saw no change from its stern look of authority, and his heart sank before the appalling alternative of either sacrificing the happiness of his life to his father's favorite project, or of opposing his will and braving the consequences of such daring. Yet he wavered but an instant in the resolution to which he had been driven by necessity, and which, it was plain from the lines of his countenance, he had manhood enough to abide by.

Mr. Conrad maintained his reserve, and asked but few questions. Even Carl, habitually profuse, studied brevity in his answers, as he knew from experience that Gerlach, Senior, was singularly averse to the use of many words.

"How is business?"

"Very dull, sir; the times are hard."

"Did you sustain any losses through the failures that have recently taken place in town?"

"Not a farthing. We had several thousands with Wendel, but fortunately drew them out before he failed."

"Very prudent. Has your father entered into any new connections in the course of his travels?"

"Several, that promise fairly."

"Is Louise well?"

"Her health is as good as could be wished."

"General prosperity, then, I see, for you both look cheerful, and Seraphin is as blooming as a clover field.

"How is dear mother?"

"Quite well. She misses her only child. She sends much love."

The carriage drew up at the gate. The young lady was awaiting the millionaire at the bottom of the steps. While greetings were exchanged between them, a faint tinge of warmth could be noticed on the cold features of the land-owner. A smile formed about his mouth, his piercing eyes glanced for an instant at Seraphin, and instantly the smile was eclipsed under the cloud of an unwelcome discovery.

"I am on my way to the industrial exhibition," said he, "and I thought I would pay you a visit in pa.s.sing. I wish you not to put yourself to any inconvenience, my dear Louise. You will have the goodness to make me a little tea, this evening, which we shall sip together."

"I am overjoyed at your visit, and yet I am sorry, too."

"Sorry! Why so?"

"Because you are in such a hurry."

"It cannot be helped, my child. I am overwhelmed with work. Harvest has commenced; no less than six hundred hands are in the fields, and I am obliged to go to the exhibition. I must see and test some new machinery which is said to be of wonderful power."

"Well, then, you will at least spare us a few days on your return?"

"A few days! You city people place no value on time. We of the country economize seconds. Without a thought you squander in idleness what cannot be recalled."

"You are a greater rigorist than ever," chided she, smiling.

"Because, my child, I am getting older. Seraphin, I wish to speak a word with you before tea."

The two retired to the apartments which for years Mr. Conrad was accustomed to occupy whenever he visited the Palais Greifmann.

"The old man still maintains his characteristic vigor," said Louise.

"His face is at all times like a problem in arithmetic, and in place of a heart he carries an accurate estimate of the yield of his farms. His is a cold, repelling nature."

"But strictly honest, and alive to gain," added Carl. "In ten years more he will have completed his third million. I am glad he came; the marriage project is progressing towards a final arrangement. He is now having a talk with Seraphin; tomorrow, as you will see, the bashful young gentleman, in obedience to the command of his father, will present himself to offer you his heart, and ask yours in return."

"A free heart for an enslaved one," said she jestingly. "Were there no hope of enn.o.bling that heart, of freeing it from the absurdities with which it is encrusted, I declare solemnly I would not accept it for three millions. But Seraphin is capable of being improved. His eye will not close itself against modern enlightenment. Servility of conscience and a baneful fear of G.o.d cannot have entirely extinguished his sense of liberty."

"I have never set a very high estimate on the pluck and moral force of religious people," declared Greifmann. "They are a craven set, who are pious merely because they are afraid of h.e.l.l. When a pa.s.sion gets possession of them, the impotence of their religious frenzy at once becomes manifest. They fall an easy prey to the impulses of nature, and the supernatural fails to come to the rescue. It would be vain for Seraphin to try to give up the unbelieving Louise, whom his strait-laced faith makes it his duty to avoid. He has fallen a victim to your fascinations; all the Gospel of the Jew of Nazareth, together with all the sacraments and unctions of the church, could not loose the coils with which you have encircled him."

In this scornful tone did Carl Greifmann speak of the heroism of virtue and of the energy of faith, like a blind man discoursing about colors.

He little suspected that it is just the power of religion that produces characters, and that, on this very account, in an irreligious age, characters of a n.o.ble type are so rarely met with; the warmth of faith is not in them.

"Mr. Schwefel desires to speak a word with you," said a servant who appeared at the door.

The banker nodded a.s.sent.

"I ask your pardon for troubling you at so unseasonable an hour," began the leader, after bowing lowly several times. "The subject is urgent, and must be settled without delay. But, by the way, I must first give you the good news: Mr. Shund is elected by an overwhelming majority, and Progress is victorious in every ward."

"That is what I looked for," answered the banker, with an air of satisfaction. "I told you whatever Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus command, must be done."

"I am just from a meeting at which some important resolutions have been offered and adopted," continued the leader. "The strongest prop of ultramontanism is the present system of educating youth. Education must, therefore, be taken out of the hands of the priests. But the change will have to be brought about gradually and with caution. We have decided to make a beginning by introducing common schools. A vote of the people is to be taken on the measure, and, on the last day of voting, a grand barbecue is to be given to celebrate our triumph over the accursed slavery of religious symbols. The ground chosen by the chief-magistrate for the celebration is the common near the Red Tower, but the s.p.a.ce is not large enough, and we will need your meadow adjoining it to accommodate the crowd. I am commissioned by the magistrate to request you to throw open the meadow for the occasion."

The banker, believing the request prejudicial to his private interests, looked rather unenthusiastic. Louise, who had been busy with the teapot, had heard every word of the conversation, and the new educational scheme had won her cordial approval. Seeing her brother hesitated, she flew to the rescue:

"We are ready and happy to make any sacrifice in the interest of education and progress."