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قراءة كتاب Hermann: A Novel
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
understand that only too well. To think that he should have been the one, though against his will, to drive the unhappy man to that terrible step."
"Your husband only did his duty," said the mother, decidedly, "and the man suffered the punishment he deserved. He has at least been spared public disgrace, since he unfortunately cannot be called to account in any way."
"But he leaves behind a family, a wife, and a child only a few months old--a little girl, I believe."
"That is sad; but better for them that the husband and father should be dead, than know him to be in prison. Don't make such a trouble of it, Ottilie, this is not the first time that an untrue servant has anticipated justice in this way. And if he possessed any character at all, scarcely anything else would have been open to him after the unavoidable discovery."
The Countess sighed; she apparently had not philosophy enough to throw aside the dreadful event which had happened almost before her eyes, so easily as her mother, who now asked--"Where is Adalbert?"
"I have not seen him since. He is himself undertaking the seizure and examination of the steward's papers; I expect he is still occupied with them."
"And Hermann? Why does not he come as usual to see me?"
Before the Countess could answer, the folding doors opened which communicated with the next room, and a boy, about eight years old, appeared. The little Count Arnau was a strong, but rather unattractive child, who bore little or no resemblance to his mother, though a very striking one to his grandmother.
It was the same cast of face, the same high, broad forehead, the same clear, sharp glance, and round the small mouth were already forming the first lines of that energy and decision which made the grandmother's countenance so repellant and so striking. Was the boy always as pale as this? or had he, too, been influenced by the terrible event of this morning, the news of which had spread through the whole house? In any case, he did not run merrily to his grandmother, but went slowly towards her--almost shyly, and without speaking, put his arm round her neck.
"Why, Hermann," asked she severely, "you were in the ante-room, and did not come in? What does that mean? How long have you been accustomed to listening behind the curtains?"
The grave, but not severely-meant reproof, had a strange effect upon the boy. He shrank back at the last words, and a sudden flush dyed his formerly pale cheek; at the same time his eyes rested upon his grandmother with such an expression of anxious pain, that she involuntarily softened her tone, and asked, "But what is the matter, child? Have you become shy and timid all at once?"
"The poor child is still frightened," said the Countess, intercedingly. "I suddenly found him at my side in the study, so that he, too, like myself, must have witnessed the terrible scene. Wasn't it so, Hermann--you heard the report in papa's room, and hurried after me?"
The boy did not answer; he hid his face on the grandmother's shoulder, and she felt how his whole body trembled in her arms. But the Präsidentin was not the woman to suffer any display of feeling in her grandson, she lifted up his head in rather ungentle fashion.
"I should not have expected this from Hermann. If his poor, suffering mamma, is made worse by this fright, that is only natural; but if a boy, who is ever to become a man, trembles like this for hours after, it is a sign of weakness and effeminacy which ought to be struggled against as early as possible."
These sharp, severely-spoken words, evidently wounded the boy deeply. There was no fear or pain, but decided defiance in the hasty movement with which he turned away from his grandmother. With flashing eyes, and deeply offended mien, he opened his mouth for some passionate retort, when his glance fell upon his mother, and a strange change passed over the child's face. His little lips pressed themselves firmly together, as if they would force back any words that might rise to them; the defiance disappeared from his features, which suddenly showed an expression of decision, astonishing for a boy of his age, and which brought out more clearly than before the likeness to the Präsidentin; then he hung his head, and let the reproof pass without remark.
The Präsidentin shook her head, and was about to express her surprise at this unaccountable behaviour, when the Doctor was announced. The Countess, who did not wish her mother to find out how terribly she was really affected by the event of the morning, rose apparently without effort, and went into the ante-room; the Doctor's visit did not last long, after an absence of scarcely two minutes she returned to the drawing-room.
The Präsidentin still sat in the same place as before; but her head was bent low as she listened to what little Hermann was telling her. He knelt beside her on the sofa, his arms thrown round her neck.
Both grandmother and child started as the Countess entered; the former hastily laid her hand on the child's mouth, and, raising her head, turned slowly towards her daughter.
"Um Gotteswillen, mamma, what is the matter?" cried she, looking dreadfully frightened.
The Präsidentin's face was pale as death, justifying only too much the anxious question; she tried to answer, but her trembling lips refused to do so; a mute, deprecatory wave of the hand was her only reply.
The Countess raised her hand towards the bell. "You are not well, I will call my maid, she shall--"
"Stop! I want no one," cried the Präsidentin, almost roughly. The energetic woman had already mastered her weakness, though the colour still did not return to her paleface, and her lips trembled as they added more quietly--"It is nothing! A sudden giddiness, it will be gone directly."
But Countess Ottilie had never seen her mother's iron constitution yield to any bodily weakness, therefore this sudden attack alarmed her so much the more.
"Would you not like to lie down in your room for a time?" asked she, anxiously. "The long drive has over-tired you. Go away just now, Hermann, you see grandmamma is not well."
But the grandmother drew the boy convulsively towards her. "Hermann shall go with me. I should like to have him. Do not trouble, Ottilie, I repeat, the giddiness has quite gone; you need rest and quiet quite as much as I do, and therefore I will take Hermann with me, he may disturb you with his chatter."
This proposal was made in such a decided tone, that the Countess, who had never been accustomed to contradict her mother in anything, made no objection; she silently complied, though still with visible anxiety.
And the poor woman was to experience still more that was strange and puzzling in the course of this day, which had begun so terribly. The Präsidentin excused herself from appearing at dinner, she was still not quite well, but refused most decidedly to see a doctor, and requested instead, that her son-in-law would come and see her for a few minutes, so soon as dinner was over.
The Count, apparently thoroughly out of humour, not only through the dreadful event of the morning, but also from the numerous unpleasant business duties incumbent upon him, seemed inclined to be irritable and impatient, and complied with the request with visible unwillingness; so much the more was the Countess astonished that he remained so long with her mother. The interview lasted more than an hour, and she heard nothing of what had passed, for, during the whole time, not only the door of the room, but that of the ante-room remained fast shut. The only apparent result of the