Barbara Blomberg — Complete

by Georg Ebers

  CHAPTER XV.

  Baron Malfalconnet possessed the gift of lending Time wings and usingthe simplest incident as the foundation for an entertaining story.

  He knew that his Majesty did not like waiting, and the quarter of anhour which Barbara had mentioned might easily become a longer period. Sohe adorned the description of his ride as an envoy most generously withmany partially invented details. Wolf, Herr Peter Schlumperger,Frau Kastenmayr, his estimable sister, and the party of Ratisbonexcursionists, upon whom he had scarcely bestowed a passing glance, allplayed a large and by no means enviable part.

  But he gained his object, for the impatient monarch listened gladly,and all the more willingly in proportion to the more brilliant eloquencewith which the clever connoisseur of mankind placed Barbara in contrastto all the obscure, insignificant, and ridiculous personages whom hepretended to have met. The peculiar charm which her individuality thusobtained corresponded with the idea which the monarch himself had formedof the expected guest, and it flattered him to hear his conjecture soremarkably confirmed.

  A few questions from the monarch followed the baron's report. While thelatter was still answering the last one, Chamberlain de Praet announcedthe singer's arrival, and Count Bueren escorted the aged Marquise deLeria to the monarch.

  The Emperor went at once to the table, and as he descended the stairs,leaning lightly on Malfalconnet's arm, it was scarcely perceptible thathe used the left foot less firmly than the other.

  According to his command, only the small table at which he was to sitwith the marquise had been laid in the dining-room. The boy choir hadtaken a position opposite to it.

  At his entrance Barbara rose quickly from the chair, into which she hadsunk by no means from weariness.

  With a throbbing heart, and still heavily oppressed by anxiety, sheawaited the next moments and what they would bring.

  The Benedictio Mensae was again to open the concert. She needed no notesfor this familiar music. Yet she looked toward Appenzelder, who hadthanked her for her appearance as if she had done him a great favour.

  Now the orchestra behind her was silent. Now she saw the lackeys andattendants bow profoundly. Now Appenzelder raised his arm.

  She saw it, but he had not yet touched the desk with the little ebonystaff, and she availed herself of the pause to glance toward theanxiously expected sovereign, whose presence she felt.

  There he stood.

  Barbara scarcely noticed the old lady at his left; he, he alonecaptivated her eyes, her heart, her senses, her whole being.

  What a happy surprise!

  How Wolf, Maestro Gombert, and others had described the Emperor, and howhe stood before her!

  This chivalrous, superb, almost youthful gentleman and hero, whosehaughty, self-assured bearing so admirably suited the magnificence ofhis rich-hued garments, was said to be a gouty old man, bowed by theweight of care! Had it not been so abominable, it would have tempted herto laugh.

  How petty men were, how cruel was the fate of the great, to whom envyclings like their own shadow, and whose image was basely distorted evenby those who knew the grandeur of their intellect and their deeds, andwho owed to them their best success in life!

  Her heart beat for this man, not only with the artist's desire tosatisfy the connoisseur, no, but with stormy passion--she felt it now;yet, though the god of love was called a blind boy, she had retained thefull, clear strength of vision and the absolute power of discernment.

  No one, not even the handsomest young knight, could compare in her eyeswith the mature, powerful guide of the destiny of many millions, whoselofty brow was illumined by the grandeur of his intellect, and withwhose name the memory of glorious victories was associated. The pridejustified by his birth had led him from one lofty deed to another, andhe could not help carrying his head so high, for how far all the rest ofmankind lay beneath him! There was no living mortal to whom the EmperorCharles would have been obliged to look up, or before whom he need bowhis head at all.

  She would fain have been able to stamp his image deeply, ineffaceablyupon her soul. But, alas!

  Just at that moment a short, imperious sound reached her ear.Appenzelder had struck the desk with his baton. The Benedictio mustbegin at once, and now her breath was really coming so quickly that itseemed impossible for her to sing in this condition.

  Deeply troubled, she pressed her hand upon her bosom.

  Then the cruel, tyrannical baton struck the wood a second time, and----

  But what did this mean?

  The Emperor had left his elderly companion after she was seated at thetable, and was advancing--her eyes, clouded by anxious expectation, didnot deceive her--and was walking with stately dignity toward the boychoir; no, not to it, but directly toward herself.--Now it seemed asthough her heart stood still.

  At no price could she have produced even a single note.

  But it was not required, for the wave of the imperial hand which she sawwas to Appenzelder, and commanded him to silence his choir.

  The unexpected movement concerned her alone, and ere Barbara found timeto ask herself what brought him to her, he already stood before her.

  How friendly and yet how chivalrously stately as the slight bow whichthe monarch bestowed upon her; and he had scarcely done so when, inpeculiar German, whose strange accent seemed to her extremely charmingand musical, he exclaimed: "we welcome you to the Golden Cross, fairestof maidens. You now behold what man can accomplish when he strives foranything with genuine zeal. The wisest among the wise declare that evengods fail in the conflict against the obstinacy of beautiful women, andyet our longing desire succeeded in capturing you, lovely fugitive."

  Barbara alternately flushed and paled as she listened to these words.

  She had not heard Frau Lerch's counsel, and yet, obedient to a secretimpulse, she timidly lowered her blue eyes. But not a word of thesovereign had escaped her, and, though she still lacked the power ofspeech, she found courage to smile and shake her head in denial.

  The Emperor did not miss a single change of feature, and, swiftlyunderstanding her mute contradiction, went on gaily: "Look! look! So,fairest of the fair, you refuse to acknowledge our glorious victory?That bears witness to a specially independent comprehension of things.But we, how are we to explain such a denial of an accomplished fact?"

  Then Barbara summoned up courage and answered, still with downcast eyes,"But, your Majesty, how can I regard myself as conquered and capturedwhen I voluntarily yielded to your Majesty's wish?"

  "And may I perhaps also hope that it gives you pleasure to grant myentreaty?" asked the sovereign in a subdued tone, gazing as he spokedeep into the eyes which the young girl had just raised to his.

  Barbara did not instantly find the reply she sought, and only bent herhead in assent, but the Emperor was not satisfied with this mute answer,and eagerly desired to learn whether it was so difficult for her toadmit what he so ardently wished to hear.

  Meanwhile her quick intellect had found the fitting response, and, witha look which told the questioner more than she intended to betray, sheanswered softly: "Why should I not have fulfilled your Majesty's requestgladly and proudly? But what followed the walk here, what befell mehere, is so much more beautiful and greater--"

  "And may we know," interrupted the Emperor urgently, "what you find herethat affords your heart so much pleasure?

  "You and your favour," she answered quickly, and the flush whichsuddenly crimsoned her cheeks showed him how deeply she was moved.

  Then Charles went close to her and whispered: "And do you wish to know,most bewitching woman, how he, in whose presence you confess that youare glad to remain, looked forward to your coming? As he would greethappiness, spring. And note that I look you in the face, it seems asthough Easter bells were pealing the resurrection of a love long buriedin this breast. And you, maiden, you will not belie this hope?"

  Barbara clung to the back of the chair for support, while from herdeeply agitated soul struggled the exclamation: "This
poor heart,my lord, belongs to you--to you alone! How it mastered me, who candescribe? But here, my lord, now----"

  Then the monarch whispered warmly: "You are right. What we have to sayto each other requires a more fitting time and a different place, and wewill find them."

  Then he stepped back, drew himself up to his full height, waved hishand to her with gracious condescension, and in a loud, imperious tonecommanded Appenzelder to begin the Benedictio.

  "It rests with the lovely artist yonder," he added, glancing kindlyat Barbara, "whether she will now ennoble with her wonderful voice thesinging of the boy choir. Later she will probably allow us to hearthe closing melody of the 'Ecce tu pulchra es', which, with such goodreason, delighted the Queen of Hungary, and myself no less."

  He seated himself at the table as he spoke, and devoted himself to thedishes offered him so eagerly that it was difficult to believe in thedeep, yearning emotion that ruled him. Only the marquise at his side andMalfalconnet, who had joined the attendant nobles, perceived that he atemore rapidly than usual, and paid no attention to the preparation of theviands.

  The aged eyes, of the Emperor's watchful companion, to whom up tothe close of the repast he addressed only a few scattered words, alsodetected something else. Rarely, but nevertheless several times, theEmperor glanced at the boy choir, and when, in doing so, his Majesty'seyes met the singer's, it was done in a way which proved to themarquise, who had acquired profound experience at the French court,that an understanding existed between the sovereign and the artist whichcould scarcely date from that day. This circumstance must be considered,and behind the narrow, wrinkled brow of the old woman, whose cradle hadstood in a ducal palace, thronged a succession of thoughts and plansprecisely similar to those which had filled the mind of the dressmakerand ex-maid ere she gave Barbara her farewell kiss.

  What the marquise at first had merely conjectured and put togetherfrom various signs, became, by constant assiduous observation, completecertainty when the singer, after a tolerably long pause, joined inJosquin's hymn to the Virgin.

  In the Benedictio Mensae she remained silent, but at the first effectivepassage joined in the singing of the boys.

  Not until the 'Tu pulchra es' did she display the full power of her art.

  From the commencement she took part in the execution of this magnificentcomposition eagerly and with deep feeling, and when the closing barsbegan and the magic of her singing developed all its heart-thrillingpower, the watchful lady in waiting perceived that his Majesty forgotthe food and hung on Barbara's lips as though spellbound.

  This was something unprecedented. But when the monarch continued forsome time to display an abstemiousness so unlike him, the marquise casta hasty glance of inquiry at Malfalconnet. But the affirmative answerwhich she expected did not come. Had the baron's keen eye failed tonotice so important a matter, or had his Majesty taken him into hisconfidence and commanded him to keep the secret?

  That Malfalconnet was merely avoiding making common cause with theold intriguer, was a suspicion which vanity led her to reject the morepositively the more frequently her countryman sought her to learn whathe desired to know.

  Besides, she soon required no further confirmation, for what nowhappened put an end to every doubt.

  Barbara had to sing the "Quia amore langueo" again, and how it soundedthis time to the listening hearer!

  No voice which the Emperor Charles had ever heard had put such pure,bewitching melody into this expression of the deepest yearning. Itseemed as though the longing of the whole world was flowing to him fromthose fresh, young, beautifully formed red lips.

  A heart which was not itself languishing for love could not pour forthto another with such convincing truth, overwhelming power, and glowingfervour the ardent longing of a soul seized by the omnipotence of love.

  The mighty pressure of rising surges of yearning dashed against themonarch's heart, and with tremendous impetuosity roused on all sides thetender desires which for a long time had been gathering in his soul. Itseemed as though this "Because I long for love" was blending with thelong-repressed and now uncontrollable yearning that filled his ownbreast, and he was obliged to restrain himself in order not to rushtoward this gifted singer, this marvellously lovely woman, whose heartwas his, and, before the eyes of all, clasp her in his embrace.

  The master of dissimulation forgot himself, and--what a delight tothe eyes of the marquise!--the Emperor Charles, the great epicure andthirsty drinker, left the pasty and the wine, to listen standing, withhands resting on the table and outstretched head, to Barbara's voice.

  It seemed as though he feared his ear might miss a note of this song,his eye a movement of this source of melody.

  But when the song ceased, and Barbara, panting for breath, returnedthe ardent look of gratitude and delight which beamed upon her from hiseyes, the Emperor left the table, and, without noticing Count Krockow,who was just lifting the silver cover from the roast capon, the last ofthe five dishes ordered, went up to Barbara.

  Would he really end the meal now? The old marquise thought itimpossible, but if the incredible event occurred, then things were to beexpected, things----

  But ere she had imagined how this unprecedented event could take place,the Emperor himself informed her, for, half addressing Barbara, halfthe lady in waiting, he exclaimed in a slightly muffled tone: "Thanks,cordial thanks for this great pleasure, my dear Jungfrau! But we wishto add to words another token of appreciation, a token of more lastingduration.--Do us the favour, Marquise de Leria, to conduct this nobleartist to the upper rooms, that she may receive what we intended forher."

  He left the hall as he spoke; but the marquise beckoned to Barbara,detained her with words of sweet flattery a short time and then, withthe young girl, ascended the stairs up which the Emperor had precededthem.

  Meanwhile the old noblewoman continued to talk with her; but Barbara didnot listen. While following her guide, it seemed as though the steps herlight foot trod were a heavenly ladder, and at their end the gates ofParadise would open.

  She felt with inexpressible delight that she had never before succeededso well in expressing a strong feeling in music, and what her songendeavoured to tell the Emperor--no, the man whom she loved--had beenunderstood, and found an echo in his soul.

  Could there be a greater happiness?

  And yet, while she was approaching him, he must be awaiting her.

  She had wished to arouse his attention, his approval, his delight in hersinging. All three had become hers, and now new wishes had masteredher, and probably him also. She desired his love, he hers, and, fearingherself, she felt the great peril into which her aged companion wasconducting her.

  The Emperor was indeed the greatest and noblest of men! The mereconsciousness that he desired not only her singing, but her heart,inspired the deepest bliss. Yet it seemed as if she ought not to crossthe threshold of the room which opened before her; as if she ought torush down the stairs and fly from him, as she had dashed away when hismessengers wished to lead her to his presence.

  But he was already advancing from the end of the large apartment, andthe mere sight of him put an end to every further consideration andcrushed her will.

  Obedient to a glance from the Emperor's eyes, the marquise, bowingreverently, retreated into the corridor whence they had come and closedthe door.

  The clang against the jambs told Barbara that she was alone with theruler of half the world, whom she dared to love.

  But she was not granted a moment to collect her thoughts; the EmperorCharles already stood before her, and with the exclamation, "Quia amorelangueo!" opened his arms.

  She, too, was longing for love, and, as if intoxicated by the loftyfeeling of being deemed worthy of the heart of this mighty sovereign,she yielded to his kisses; and as she herself threw her arm around hisneck and felt--that she had a right to do so, it seemed as though aninvisible hand was placing a royal crown upon her brow.

  The joy which filled her little heart appeared too rich
and great forit when, repeating the "Amore langueo" with her head upon his breast, hewhispered sweet love phrases and confessed that those words, sinceshe had sung them for the first time, had echoed through his hours ofreflection, through the cares of business, through the brief hours ofrepose which he allowed himself, and so it must continue, and her love,her voice, and her beauty render the downward path of life the fairestportion which he had traversed.

  Then Barbara, with the low exclamation, "Because I, too, long for love,"again offered him her lips, and he accepted the sweet invitation withimpetuous passion.

  Already, for the second time since her entrance, the clock on Charles'swriting-table struck the quarter of an hour, and, as if startled from adeep slumber, she withdrew from his embrace and gazed, as if bewildered,toward the door. Directly after it opened, and Don Luis Quijada withfirm step entered the room.

  The trusted favourite of the Emperor was always free to seek hispresence. He had returned to Ratisbon in advance of the Queen ofHungary, who would not arrive until the following morning, and, aftera brief conversation with Malfalconnet and Master Adrian, the loyalnobleman had gone without delay, and at the risk of angering him, to hisimperial master. Without even rising from the divan, and still claspingthe hand which Barbara attempted to withdraw as Don Luis advanced,Charles asked with stern rebuke what had caused his entrance at so latean hour. Quijada requested a brief audience, but Charles replied that hehad nothing to conceal from this companion.

  A low bow followed this remark; then, with quiet dignity, the major-domoreported that the leaders of the orchestra and the boy choir had beenwaiting below--and with them Sir Wolf Hartschwert and an old gentleman,the father of this lady--a considerable time for her return. So itseemed to him advisable, unless his majesty wished to reveal this sweetsecret to the world, to part from his beautiful friend, at least for ashort space.

  The Emperor Charles did not permit such suggestions even from thosewho were nearest and dearest to him, and he was already starting upindignantly to thrust Don Luis back behind the barriers through which hehad broken, when Barbara with tender persuasion entreated her lover, forher sake, to exercise caution. Charles at last consented to part fromher for a time. He was sure of her; for he read in the dewy brightnessof her eyes how hard it was for her also to release herself from hisembrace.

  Then, removing the diamond and ruby star from the lace at his neck, hepinned it on Barbara's bosom, with the exclamation, "In memory of thishour!"

  He afterward added, as if in explanation, that the star might show tothose below what had detained her here, and asked earnestly whetherhe might hope to see her again in an hour, if a faithful man--here hemotioned to Quijada--accompanied her hither, and later escorted her homeagain?

  A silent nod promised the fulfilment of this request.

  The Emperor then carried on a short conversation with Quijada, whichwas unintelligible to Barbara; and after he had retired to summon themarquise, Charles profited, like an impetuous youth, by the brief periodin which he was again alone with his love, and entreated her to considerthat, if she remained absent long, the "amore langueo" would rob him ofhis reason.

  "Your great intellect," she replied, with a faint sigh. "My smallwits--Holy Virgin!--flew far away at the first word of love from thelips of my royal master."

  Then, drawing herself up to her full height, she passed her hand acrossher brow and defiantly exclaimed: "And why should I think and ponder? Iwill be happy, and make you happy also, my only love!"

  As she spoke she again threw herself upon his breast, but only for afew brief moments. Don Luis Quijada reappeared with the marquise, andconducted both ladies out of the imperial apartment.

  Outside the door the major-domo detained Barbara, and had a tolerablylong conversation with her, of which the marquise vainly endeavoured tocatch even a few words.

  At last he committed the girl to the old nobleman's charge and returnedto the Emperor.

  The marquise received Barbara with the assurance that she had found inher a warm, nay, a maternal friend.

  If this beautiful creature was not alreadv the object of the Emperor'slove, the experienced old woman told herself, she must very soon becomeso.

  Yet there had never been a favourite at this monarch's court, and shewas curious to learn what position would be assigned to her.

  After accompanying the girl intrusted to her care down the stairs withflattering kindness, she committed her to the musicians and Wolf, who,with old Blomberg, were awaiting her in the chapel with increasingimpatience. The captain had obtained admittance through Wolf.

  At her first glance at Barbara the eyes of the old marquise had restedon the glittering star which the Emperor had fastened on the lady of hislove.

  The men did not notice it until after they had congratulated the singerupon her exquisite performance and the effect which it had produced uponhis Majesty.

  Maestro Gombert perceived it before the others, and Captain Blomberg andWolf rejoiced with him and Appenzelder over this tangible proof of theimperial favour.

  A conversation about the Emperor's judgment and the rarity with which hebestowed such costly tokens of his regard was commencing in the chapel,but Barbara speedily brought it to a close by the assurance that she wasutterly exhausted and needed rest.

  On the way home she said very little, but when Wolf, in the second storyof the house, held out his hand in farewell, she pressed it warmly, andthanked him with such evident emotion that the young man entered hisrooms full of hope and deep secret satisfaction.

  After Barbara had crossed the threshold of hers, she said good-night toher father, who wished to learn all sorts of details, alleging that shecould scarcely speak from weariness.

  The old gentleman went to rest grumbling over the weakness of women inthese days, to which even his sturdy lass now succumbed; but Barbarathrew herself on her knees beside the bed in her room, buried herface in the pillows, and sobbed aloud. Another feeling, however, soonsilenced her desire to weep. Her lover's image and the memory of thehappy moments which she had just experienced returned to her mind.Besides, she must hasten to arrange her hair again, and--this time withher own hands--change her clothing.

  While she was loosening her golden tresses and gazing into the mirror,her eyes again sparkled with joy. The greatest, the loftiest ofmortals loved her. She belonged to him, body and soul, and she had beenpermitted to call him "her own."

  At this thought she drew herself up still more haughtily in proudself-consciousness, but, as her glance fell upon the image of the Virginabove the priedieu, she again bowed her head.

  Doubtless she desired to pray, but she could not.

  She need confess nothing to the august Queen of Heaven. She knew thatshe had neither sought nor desired what now burdened her heart soheavily, and yet rendered her so infinitely happy. She had obeyed theEmperor's summons in order to win approval and applause for her art,and to afford the monarch a little pleasure and cheer, and, instead, thelove of the greatest of all men had flamed ardently from the earth, shehad left her whole heart with him, and given herself and all that wasin her into his power. Now he summoned her--the Holy Virgin knew this,too--and she must obey, though the pure face yonder looked so grave andthreatening.

  And for what boon could she beseech the Queen of Heaven?

  What more had the woman, to whom the Emperor's heart belonged, todesire?

  The calmness of her soul was at an end, and not for all the kingdomsCharles possessed would she have exchanged the tumult and turmoil in herbreast for the peace which she had enjoyed yesterday.

  Obeying a defiant impulse, she turned from the benign face, and herhands fairly flew as, still more violently agitated, she completed thechanges in her dress.

  In unfastening the star, her lover's gift, she saw upon the gold at theback Charles's motto, "Plus ultra!"

  Barbara had known it before, but had not thought of it for a long time,and a slight tremor ran through her frame as she said to herself that,from early childhoo
d, though unconsciously, it had been hers also.Heaven--she knew it now--Fate destined them for each other.

  Sighing heavily, she went at last, in a street dress, to open thebow-window which looked upon Red Cock Street.

  Barbara felt as if she had outgrown herself. The pathos which she hadoften expressed in singing solemn church music took possession of her,and left no room in her soul for any frivolous emotion. Proud of thelofty passion which drew her with such mighty power to her lover's arms,she cast aside the remorse, the anxiety, the deep sense of wrong whichhad overpowered her on her return home.

  What was greater than the certainty of being beloved by the greatest ofmen? It raised her far above all other women, and, since she loved himin return, this certainty could not fail to make her happy also, whenshe had once fully recovered her composure and ventured to look thewonderful event which had happened freely in the face.

  The stars themselves, following their appointed course in yonder bluefirmament--his device taught that--made her belong to him. If she couldhave forced herself to silence the desire of her heart, it would havebeen futile. Whoever divides two trees which have grown from a singleroot, she said to herself, destroys at least one; but she would live,would be happy on the highest summit of existence. She could not helpobeying his summons, for as soon as she listened to the warning voicewithin, the "Because I long for love" with which he had clasped her inhis arms, urged her with irresistible power toward the lover who awaitedher coming.

  The clock now struck two, and a tall figure in a Spanish cloak stoodoutside the door of the house. It was Don Luis Quijada, the Emperor'smajordomo.

  It would not do to keep him waiting, and, as she turned back into theroom to take the little lamp, her glance again fell upon the Virgin'simage above the priedieu and rested upon her head.

  Then the figure of her imperial lover stood in tangible distinctnessbefore her mind, and she imagined that she again heard the first cryof longing with which he clasped her in his arms, and without furtherthought or consideration she kissed her hand to the image, extinguishedthe little lamp, and hurried as fast as the darkness permitted into theentry and down the stairs.

  Outside the house Wolf returned to her memory a moment.

  How faithfully he loved her!

  Yet was it not difficult to understand how she could even think of thepoor fellow at all while hastening to the illustrious sovereign whoseheart was hers, and who had taught her with what impetuous power truelove seizes upon the soul. Barbara threw her head back proudly, and,drawing a long breath, opened the door of the house. Outside she wasreceived by Quijada with a silent bend of the head; but she rememberedthe far more profound bows with which he greeted the monarch, and,to show him of how lofty a nature was also the woman whom the EmperorCharles deemed worthy of his love, she walked with queenly dignitythrough the darkness at her aristocratic companion's side withoutvouchsafing him a single glance.

  Two hours later old Ursula was sitting sleepless in her bed in thesecond story of the cantor house. A slight noise was heard on thestairs, and the one-eyed maid-servant who was watching beside herexclaimed: "There it is again! just as it was striking two I said thatthe rats were coming up from the cellar into the house."

  "The rats," repeated the old woman incredulously; and then, withoutmoving her lips, thought: "Rats that shut the door behind them? My poorWolf!"