The Daughter of an Empress
Page 44
ANTICIPATION
From that day had a new and marvellous life commenced for Natalie. Shefelt herself surrounded by a dreamy, magic, fantastic, supernaturallife; it seemed as if some invisible genius hovered over her, listeningto all her thoughts, realizing all her wishes! And Joseph Ribas was themerry, always-cheerful, always-serious Kobold of this invisible deity!
"My lord is not satisfied with the modest furnishing of your villa,"said he to Natalie, on the first day. "He begs to be allowed to adornyour chamber with a splendor suited to your rank and your futuregreatness!"
"And in what is my future greatness to consist?" asked the young maiden,with curiosity.
"That will be made known to you at the proper time," mysteriouslyreplied Joseph Ribas.
"Who will tell me?"
"He, the count."
"I shall therefore see him!" she joyfully exclaimed.
"Perhaps! Will you, however, first allow me to have your room properlyfurnished?"
"This villa belongs to your lord," said Natalie. "It is for him, as lordand master, to do as he pleases in it."
And satisfied, Ribas hastened away, to return in a few hours with morethan fifty workmen and artists, in order to commence the improvements.
Until now the villa had been finished and furnished with simpleelegance. One missed nothing necessary for comfort or convenience, forpleasantness or taste. But it was still only the elegant and fashionableresidence of a private person. Now, as by the stroke of a magic wand,this villa in a few days was converted into the splendid palace of somesultan or caliph. There were heavy Turkish carpets on the floors, velvetcurtains with gold embroidery at the windows and on the walls, therichest and most comfortable divans and arm-chairs, covered withgold-embroidered stuffs; vases ornamented with the most costly preciousstones, noble bronze statues, beautiful paintings, and between themthe rarest ornaments, glistening with jewels, which modern times havedesignated by the name of ribs; there were delicate little trifles ofinestimable value, and with refined taste and judgment every thing wassought out which luxury and convenience could demand. With childishastonishment and ecstasy, Natalie wandered through these rooms, whichshe hardly recognized in their splendid ornamentation, and stood beforethese treasures of trifles which she hardly dared to touch.
"This lord must be either a magician or a nabob," thoughtfully remarkedMarianne; "it must have required millions to effect all this."
Natalie asked neither whether he was a magician, a millionaire, or anabob; she only thought she was to see him, and be allowed to thankhim--nothing further.
"Will he come now?" she constantly asked of the humble and slavishlydevoted Joseph Ribas; "will he come now that his house is prepared forhis reception?"
"It is adorned only for you, princess," humbly replied Ribas. "Thecount, my master, wishes for nothing but to see you in a habitationworthy of you!"
But what was this luxury, what cared she for these treasures the valueof which she was incapable of estimating, and which were indifferent toher? She who had no conception of wealth or of money?--she, who knewnot that there was poverty in the world, and who, raised in an Edenseparated from the world, had no idea that hunger had ever made itsappearance within it--she knew only the sorrows of the happy, thedeprivations of the rich; she had never had either to struggle againstreal misfortune or to experience real want and deprivation.
Now, indeed, a deeper sorrow had entered into her life; she had losther beloved paternal friend, Count Paulo; and Carlo, also, had been tornfrom her! That was certainly a more profound sorrow, and she had weptmuch for both of them,--but yet that was no real misfortune. She hadnever yet lost the whole substance of her life; for those two, howevermuch she might always have loved them, had nevertheless, not entirelyfilled out her life; they had been a part of her happiness, but not thathappiness itself.
And she awaited happiness! She awaited it with ecstasy and devotion,with feverish hope and glowing desire! She knew not and asked not inwhat this happiness was to consist, and yet her heart yearned for it;she called for this unknown and nameless happiness with a throbbingbosom and tremulously whispering lips!
She was so much alone, she had so much time for dreaming, andintoxicating herself with fantastic imaginations! She was surrounded bya fabulous world, and she was the fairy of that world! But out of thatfabulous world she sometimes longed to be, out of the ideal into thereal; she yearned for truth and actuality. Then she would call JosephRibas to her side and bid him relate to her of that unknown lord, hismaster.
He told her of his battles and his heroic deeds, of his wonderful actsof bravery, and the young maiden tremblingly and shudderingly listenedto him. She feared this man, who had shed streams of blood, and whoseenemies with their dying lips had lauded as the greatest of heroes! AndJoseph Ribas smiled when he saw her turn pale and tremble, and he wouldspeak to her of his generosity and humanity, of his knighthood andvirtue; he related to her how, on one occasion, at the risk of his lifehe had protected and saved a persecuted young maiden; how on anotherhe had taken pity on a helpless old man, and singly had defended himagainst a host of bloodthirsty enemies. He also spoke to her of thesorrow of his master on account of the ingratitude and deceptions he hadexperienced, and Natalie's eyes filled with tears as, with reproachfulglances, she asked of Heaven how it could have permitted the virtue ofthis noble unknown hero to be so severely tried, and the baseness ofmankind to trouble him.
"That is it, then," Ribas would often say; "he diffuses happinesseverywhere around him, while he himself has it not! He makes glad andcheerful faces wherever he appears, and his own is the only serious andsad brow. Mankind have made him hopeless, and for himself he no longerbelieves in happiness!"
Ah, how then did the heart of this innocent child tremble, and how shelonged to find some means for restoring his belief in happiness.
"But why does he not come to those who love him?" asked she. "Why doeshe decline the thanks of those whose hearts are truly devoted to him?Ah, in our humid eyes and joy-beaming faces he would recognize thetruthfulness of our feelings! Why, then, comes he not?"
"I will tell you," said Ribas, with a smile; "he hates women, becausethe only one he ever loved was false to him, and now his love is changedto ardent hatred of all women!"
"I shall therefore never see him!" sighed the girl, hanging her headwith the sadness of disappointment.
This expectation, this constantly increasing impatience, rendered herinaccessible to any other feeling, any other thought. He of whom shedid not know even the name, was sent by Paulo, and therefore hadshe believed and confided in him from the first. Now had she alreadyforgotten that she had confided in him on Paulo's account; she believedin him on his own account, and Paulo had retreated into the background.Occasionally also the bloody image of poor Carlo presented itself to hermind, and she secretly reproached herself for having mourned him forso short a time, for having so soon forgotten that faithful,self-sacrificing friend.
But even these reproaches were soon silenced when with a throbbing bosomshe thought of this new friend, who like a divinity hovered over herat an infinite and unattainable distance, and whose mysteriously activenearness replaced both of those friends she had lost, and for whom shecould no longer mourn.