The Countess Cosel Part 5

"You cannot return from h.e.l.l!" shouted Hoym. "And thanks to me you are now in h.e.l.l!"

He tore open his waistcoat as he spoke, and sank into a chair.

"Yes," he continued, "I shall go mad! but I cannot make war against the King!"

"What do you mean?"

"The King, Furstenberg, Vitzthum, all of them, my own sister too, for aught I know to the contrary, all have conspired against me. They have learned that you are beautiful; that I am an idiot; and the King has ordered me to show you to him."

"Who told them about me?" inquired the Countess quietly.

Hoym was silent, he could not say that he himself had done it; he gnashed his teeth, and sprang from the chair. Suddenly his anger changed to cool and biting irony.

"Let us talk reasonably," said he, lowering his voice. "I cannot undo what is done. I asked you to come here because it was the King's wish, and you know that Jupiter launches his thunderbolts at anyone who thwarts his will. Everything and everybody must contribute to his amus.e.m.e.nt--he tramples other persons' treasures beneath his feet, and then casts them on the dung-hill!"

Again he began his walk up and down the room.

"I have laid a wager with the Count von Furstenberg that you are more beautiful than all the ladies at the court. Was I not an idiot? I allow you to answer me that. The King is to be the judge, and I shall win the thousand ducats."

Anna frowned, and turned from him in the greatest contempt.

"You villain!" she exclaimed angrily. "First you keep me shut up like a slave, and now you bring me forward like an actress on the stage, to help you to win your wager, by the brightness of my eyes and the smiles of my lips. Could any one conceive deeper infamy?"

"Do not spare me; you may say what you please," said Hoym, full of grief and remorse. "I deserve everything you can say. I possessed the most beautiful woman in the whole land; she smiled only for me. I was proud and happy. Then the devil made me drown my common sense in a few cups of wine."

He wrung his hands.

"I am going home," said the Countess. "I shall not remain here; I should be ashamed. Order my carriage!"

She moved towards the door; Hoym smiled bitterly.

"Your carriage!" he repeated. "You do not realize where you are. You are almost a prisoner, you cannot leave this house. I should not be surprised to find that guards had been placed before the door. Even should you succeed in escaping, the dragoons would pursue and bring you back. No one would dare to help you."

The Countess wrung her hands in despair. Hoym looked at her with mingled feelings of jealousy, grief, meanness, and sorrow.

"Listen to me," said he, touching her hand, "perhaps it is not so bad as I think. Those who wish to perish, can easily perish here. But you, if you like, need not look beautiful; you might look severe, forbidding; you might even look repulsive, and thus save yourself and me."

Here he lowered his voice.

"You know our King," continued he, with a strange smile; "he is a most munificent lord, he scatters broadcast the gold I am compelled to extort from his poor subjects. There is not a monarch more munificent than he, but at the same time there is not a monarch who requires such continual pleasures. He breaks horse-shoes, and he breaks women; then he casts them both away. The friend he embraces to-day, he imprisons to-morrow in Konigstein. He is a good King! He smiles until the last moment on the victims he is sending to the scaffold. He has a compa.s.sionate heart, but no one must oppose him."

He dropped his voice still lower, looking round the room suspiciously.

"He likes new mistresses: like the dragon in the fairy tale, he lives on the maidens brought him by the frightened population; he destroys them. Who can count the number of his victims? You may perhaps have heard the names of some of them, but the number of those who are unknown is three times greater than the number of those whose names are recorded. The King is a man of strange taste; for two days he is in love with the lady dressed in silks; then tiring of her he is ready to love the woman in rags. Konigsmark is still beautiful; Spiegel is by no means plain; Princess Teschen still enjoys his favours; but he is tired of them all. Again he is seeking whom he may devour! Ah! he is a great lord! He is beautiful as Apollo, strong as Hercules, lecherous as a Satyr, and terrible as Jupiter."

"Why are you telling me all this?" exclaimed Anna angrily. "Do you think I am so wicked, that at the King's desire I should forsake the path of honour? It is plain you do not yet know me! You insult me!"

Hoym looked on her with compa.s.sion.

"I know my Anna," replied he, "but I also know the court, the King, and the people who surround him."

"I have sworn to be faithful to you, and that is sufficient," she retorted proudly. "You do not possess my heart, it is true, but you have my word. Women such as I do not break their vows."

"The Princess Teschen is proud!"

Anna shrugged her shoulders contemptuously.

"I can be a wife," exclaimed she, "but I could x never be a mistress. I could not endure that such shame should rest upon my brow."

"Shame!" repeated Hoym. "It only burns for a time; the wound soon heals, although the scar remains for ever."

"You are disgusting!" interrupted the Countess angrily. "You have brought me here, and now you insult me with your vile insinuations."

Emotion checked her utterance; and Hoym said humbly,--

"Forgive me, I have lost my reason. I know not what I am saying.

To-morrow has been appointed for the court ball. The King has commanded me to attend with you; you will be presented to him. It seems to me,"

added he softly, "that you can do anything you wish--you can even not look beautiful. I am willing to lose my wager."

Anna turned away contemptuously.

"You ask me to act a comedy to save your honour!" said she, with a sarcastic smile, "but I hate falsehood. Your honour is not at stake.

Anna Countess von Brockdorf does not belong to the cla.s.s of women who can be purchased for a handful of diamonds. Not a word more. I despise you all. I shall not be present at the ball!"

Hoym grew pale.

"You must be present," said he, in an agitated voice. "This is not a question of a childish fancy; my head and wealth are at stake. The King has issued his commands."

"I do not care!" retorted Anna.

"You intend to disobey the King?" inquired Hoym.

"Why not? He rules over everything, I know, but he does not rule over family life. What can he do to me?"

"Nothing to you," replied Hoym, uneasily. "He is only too polite to beautiful women, but he will send me to Konigstein, and confiscate our estates. Misery and death threaten us!"

He covered his face with his hands.

"You do not know him," he whispered. "He beams and smiles like Apollo, but all the time he is terrible as the G.o.d of thunderbolts. He has never yet forgiven any one who doubted that he was all-powerful. You must be present at the ball, or I shall peris.h.!.+"

"Do you think, then, that the threat of your peril is so terrible to me?"

She shrugged her shoulders and walked towards the window.

Hoym followed her, pale as a ghost.

"For G.o.d's sake listen to reason!" he exclaimed, "You cannot intend disobeying the King's commands."

He had scarcely finished speaking, when there was a tap at the door, and a lackey entered. Hoym frowned.