CHAPTER VII.
A MILLION OF POUNDS IN HAND, AND A UNIFORM TO BACK IT.
When Roland came to the Villa, he was at once summoned to his father;and as he approached him, Sonnenkamp exclaimed:--
"My son! my son! it is thou indeed! everything for thee; thou artforever secure, and elevated forever. My beloved son! Everything forthee!"
The strong man now raised up the youth like a child, andexclaimed:--"Roland, it is accomplished; forget not this moment, thecrowning moment of my whole life, crowded as it has been with dangersand wanderings. My son, from this day forth, you are to be calledRoland von Lichtenburg."
Roland stood once more on the floor, and trembled as he cast aninvoluntary glance into the large mirror.
"Yes," laughed the father, "look at yourself; so does the young baronappear. Ah! my child, you will know after a while what has been donefor you. But let it remain concealed between ourselves how we have beenaffected by this, for I cannot show the world, and you must not, that Ilaid so much stress on the matter. I shall appear indifferent; we mustboth appear so. Above all, do not let Herr Dournay know anything of it.You came quick to-day; where did you meet my messenger?" Roland saidthat he knew nothing of any messenger. He now heard that his father, inthe night, had sent a messenger to Mattenheim, with word to come backat once; and also that the son of the Cabinetsrath, the ensign, hadbeen on a visit to the house with many companions, who were againcoming at noon to see Roland.
"And where is Herr Dournay?" again asked Sonnenkamp.
Roland replied that he had remained behind with Fraeulein Milch.Sonnenkamp laughed, and impressed his son with the necessity ofcontinuing his customary deportment towards Eric; he must always begrateful to him, and he should be especially careful to be rightmodest.
"You must also learn to treat our elevation of rank as unimportantbefore the world. Now go to your mother--no, wait. You must still havesomething more that will make you strong, that will make you proud,that will make you feel safe. Stand here, I will show you how highly Iesteem you, how I look upon you as a grown man."
He fumbled hurriedly in his pocket finally he brought out the ring ofkeys, went to the fire-proof safe built in the wall, rattled back theknobs on it, and at once opened both the folding-doors.
"See here," said he, "all this will, one day, be yours, yours and yoursister's. Come here, hold out your hands--so." He took a large packageout of the safe, and said:--
"Attend to what I say; here I put a million pounds sterling--so--holdtight. Do you know what that is, a million pounds? more than sixmillions of thalers are contained in these papers, and, beside that, Ihave something to spare. Does your head whirl? it must not; you mustknow what you possess, what will make you master of the world, superiorto everything. Now give it to me. See, here it lies in this place;close by it are the other papers; underneath them is gold, coined gold;a good deal of it; I like coined gold; uncoined, too; that lies here. Imay die. I often feel that a vertigo might suddenly seize me, and carryme off. Over here, see here--here lies my will. When I die, you are ofage. Now, my full-grown son, you are a man, give me your hand. How doesthe hand feel that held in it millions of your own? That givesstrength, does it not? Be not faint-hearted; I trust you, you and Ialone know it. Now go, my son, be proud within yourself and modestbefore the world; you are more, you have more, than all the nobility ofthis land, more perhaps than the Prince himself. There, my child,there! this moment makes me happy--very happy. If I die, you knowalready--you know all now. There, go now. Come and let me kiss youonce. Now go."
Roland could not utter a word; he went, he stood outside the door, hestared at his hands,--these hands had held millions of his own;everything that, he had ever thought and heard of the joy and woe ofriches, everything was in utter confusion in his mind; inwardly,however, he experienced a sensation of joy, of proud enthusiasm, thathad almost made him shout aloud. If he had only been permitted to tellit all to Eric! He felt as if he could not keep it to himself; but thenhe was not allowed to communicate it to any one. His father had put histrust in him; he dared not betray the trust.
He went to his mother. Frau Ceres, handsomely dressed, was walking upand down in the great hall; she gave Roland a haughty nod, and gazed athim a long while without saying a word; at length she said:--
"How am I to be saluted simply with 'Good-morning, mamma?' It ought tobe, 'Good-morning, Frau mamma, good-morning, Frau Baroness. You arevery gracious, Frau Baroness--I commend myself to your grace, FrauBaroness--you look extremely well, Frau Baroness.' Ha, ha, ha!"
Roland felt a painful shudder thrill through him; it seemed to him asif his mother had suddenly become insane. But in a moment she wasstanding before a mirror, and saying:--
"Your father is right--quite right; we have all been born to-day forthe first time, we have come into the world anew, and we are all noble.Now come, kiss your mother, your gracious mother."
She kissed Roland passionately, and then said, that if she could onlyhave all the malicious tale-bearers there, they would be smothered withenvy at beholding the good fortune that had befallen her.
"But where is Manna?" asked Roland.
"She is silly, she has been spoiled in the convent, and will not hear aword about anything; she has shut herself up in her room, and will notlet any one see her. Go try if she will not speak to you, and get herto smile. The Professorin has always told me that I was sensible; yes,now I will be sensible; I will show that I am. The big Frau vonEndlich, and the Countess Wolfsgarten, proud as a peacock--we are nobletoo, now--will burst with indignation. Go, dear child, go to yoursister, bring her here; we will rejoice together, and dress up finely,and to-morrow you shall go with your father and Herr von Pranken to thecapital."
Roland went to Manna's room, he knocked and called; she answeredfinally that she would see him in an hour's time, but now she must beleft alone.
As Roland was going to his own room, Pranken met him; he embraced himwarmly, called him brother, and accompanied him with congratulations tohis room. Here lay the uniform, which had been ordered for Roland.Pranken urged him to put it on at once; but Roland did not want to,before he had passed his examination.
"Pah!" laughed Pranken, "examination! that is a scare-crow for poordevils of commoners. My young friend, you are now a Baron, and by thatmeans you have passed the best part of the examination: what is now tocome is only form."
It required no great persuasion to induce Roland to put on the uniform.Pranken helped him. The uniform became him admirably; he looked bothlithe and strong; he had broad shoulders, and the pliancy of his formdid not disguise his manly strength of muscle.
"Really, I had rather have gone into the navy," said he, "but theredoesn't happen to be any."
Once more, accompanied by Pranken, he went to Manna's room, and criedout, that she ought to see him in his uniform, but Manna returned noanswer whatever.
Pranken now went with Roland to his father, and both conducted him tohis mother; she was ravished at his appearance. Roland did not knowwhat to do with himself from excitement; he went into the park, hesaluted the trees; he showed his uniform to the sky and to the plants;but his salutations met with no response. He showed himself to theservants, and they all congratulated him. While he was standing, hisleft hand upon his sword, near the porter, who was saluting him inmilitary fashion like a veteran, Eric came up. He did not recognizeRoland at first, and seemed to wake up only when his pupil began tospeak. Roland's cheek was glowing with excitement, and he exclaimed ina loud voice:--
"Ah, if I were only able to tell you all, Eric! I feel as if I wereintoxicated, and metamorphosed. Tell me, am I awake or dreaming? Ah,Eric, I can't say anything more now."
Roland went with Eric to his room, and questioned him eagerly whetherhe had not also been as happy the first time he had put on his uniform.
Eric could not give him an answer; he tried to remember how he felt thefirst time he had donned his uniform, but he recollected much betterhow h
e felt the last time he had doffed it. A remembrance did come tohim, however, a long forgotten remembrance. The Doctor had once saidthat Roland never took any pleasure in a new suit, but now he was inraptures over the gay-colored soldier's coat; all ideals seemed to havedisappeared, or at least to have concentrated in this coat. Eric gazedat him sadly; he came near saying that the two most beautiful momentsin the soldier's life were, when he put on the uniform, and when hetook it off forever. But he could not now make this reply, for thereare things which every one must experience for himself, and cannotlearn from others; and what would anything amount to on this presentoccasion?
Joseph came and said that Eric must repair to Herr Sonnenkamp.
With the ground reeling under him, with everything swimming before hiseyes, like one in a dream, Eric went across the court and up the steps;he stood in the antechamber. Now is the decisive moment.
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