by L. Mühlbach
THE FAVORITE
See how her eyes flash, how her heart beats--how beautiful she is in thewarm glow of excitement, this beautiful Anna Leopoldowna.
The door opens, and a smiling young maiden looks in with many a nod ofher little head.
"Ah, is it you, my Julia?" calls the princess, opening her arms to pressthe young girl to her heart. "Come, I will kiss you, and imagine it ishe who receives the kiss! Ah, what would this poor Anna Leopoldownabe if deprived of her dear friend, Julia von Mengden?" And drawing herfavorite down into her lap, she continued: "Now relate to me, Julia.Set your tongue in motion, that I may hear one of your very pleasanteststories. That will divert me, and cause the long hours before his comingto pass more quickly."
Julia von Mengden roguishly shook her beautifully curling locks witha comic earnestness, and, very aptly and unmistakably imitating thesomewhat hoarse and nasal voice of Prince Ulrich, said:
"Your grace forgets that you are regent, and have to hold the reins ofgovernment in the name of the illustrious imperial squaller, your son,since his imperial grace still remains in his swaddling-clothes, andhas much less to do with state affairs than with many other littleoccupations!"
Anna Leopoldowna, breaking out in joyous laughter, exultingly clappedher little hands, which were sparkling with brilliants.
"This is superb," said she. "You play the part of my very worthy husbandto perfection. It is as if one saw and heard him. Ah, I would that heresembled you a little, as he would then be less insupportable, and itwould be somewhat easier to endure him."
Julia von Mengden, making no answer to this remark, continued with hernasal voice and comic pathos:
"Your grace, this is not the time to analyze our diverting littledomestic dissensions, and occupy ourselves with the quiet joys of ourhappy union! Your grace is, above all things, regent, and must giveyour attention to state affairs. Without are standing three most worthy,corpulent, tobacco-scented ambassadors, who desire an audience. Yourgrace is, above all things, regent, and must receive them."
"Must!" exclaimed Anna, suddenly contracting her brows. "We will firsthear what they desire of us."
"The first is the envoy of the great Persian conqueror,Thamas-Kouli-Khan, who comes to lay at your feet the magnificentpresents of his master."
"Bah! they are presents for the young Emperor Ivan. He may, therefore,be conducted to the cradle of my son, and there display his presents. Itdoes not interest me."
"The second is a messenger from our camp. He brings news of a greatvictory obtained by one of your brave generals over the Swedes!"
"But what does that concern me?" angrily cried the regent. "Let themconquer or be defeated, it is all the same to me. That concerns myhusband the generalissimo! Let me be spared the sight of the warlike andblood-dripping messenger!"
"The third is the ambassador of the wavering and shaking young AustrianEmpress Maria Theresa. He comes, he says, upon a secret mission, andpretends to have discovered a sort of conspiracy that is hatchingagainst you."
"Let him go with his discovery to Golopkin, our minister of theinterior. That is his business!"
"Your grace is, above all things, regent, and should remember--"
"Nothing--I will remember nothing!" exclaimed Anna Leopoldowna,interrupting her favorite. "I will not be annoyed, that is all."
"Well, thank God!" now cried Julia von Mengden, in her naturaltone--"thank God, that such is your determination, princess! you are,then, in earnest, and I am to send these three amiable persons to thedevil, or, what is just the same, to your husband?"
"That is my meaning."
"And this is beautiful in you," continued Julia, cowering down beforeher mistress. "These eternal, tiresome and intolerable state affairswould make your face prematurely old and wrinkled, my dear princess. Ah,there is nothing more tedious than governing. I am heartily sick of it!At first I was amused when we two sat together and settled who shouldbe sent to prison and who should be pardoned; whom we should make countsand princes, or degrade to the ranks as common soldiers. But all thatpleased only for a short time; now it is annoying, and why should wetake upon ourselves this trouble? Have we not the power to act and liveaccording to our own good pleasure? Bah! that is the least compensationyou should receive for allowing these horrid Russians the privilege ofcalling you their regent and mistress!"
"But, my little chatterer, you forget the three envoys who are waitingwithout," said Anna, with a smile.
"Ah, that is true! I must first send those wig-blocks away!" said Anna,tenderly looking after her departing favorite. "She is, indeed, my goodgenius, who drives away the cares from my poor brain."
"So, it is done!" cried Julia, quickly returning to the room. "Ihave sent the gentlemen away. To the Persian envoy I said: 'Go to ouremperor, Ivan. He feeds upon brilliants, and, as he has had no breakfastthis morning, his appetite will be good. Go, therefore, and give himyour diamonds for breakfast. Anna Leopoldowna wants them not; she isalready satiated with them!'--To the second I said: 'Go and announceyour glorious victory to our sublime generalissimo. He is at his toilet,and as he every morning touches his noble cheeks with rouge, your newpaint, prepared from the purple blood of the enemy, will doubtless bevery welcome to him!'--'And as to what concerns your secret mission andyour discovered conspiracy,' said I to the Austrian ambassador, 'Iam sorry that you cannot here give birth to the dear children of yourinventive head; go with them to our midwife, Minister Golopkin, andhasten a little, for I see in your face that you are already in thepangs of parturition!'"
"Well," asked Anna Leopoldowna, loudly laughing, "what said theirworships to that?"
"What did they say? They said nothing! They were dumb and lookedastonished. They made exactly such eyes as I have seen made at home,upon my father's estate in Liefland, by the calves when the butcherknocked them upon the head. But now," continued Julia, nestling again atthe feet of her mistress, "now give me a token of your favor, and forgetfor a while that you are regent. Let us chat a little like a couple ofreal genuine women--that is, of our husbands and lovers. Oh, I have veryimportant news for you!"
"Well, speak quickly," said Anna, with eagerness. "What have you to tellme?"
Julia assumed a very serious and important countenance. "The first andmost important piece of news is, that your husband, Prince Ulrich ofBrunswick, is very jealous of me, and yet of one other!"
"Bah!" said Anna, contemptuously, "let him be jealous. I do not troublemyself about it, and shall always do as I please."
"No, no, that will not do," seriously responded Julia. "It is sotiresome to always hear the wrangling and growling of a jealous husband!I tell your grace that I must have quiet in his presence; I can nolonger bear his grim looks and his constant anger and abuse. You mustsoothe him, Princess Anna, or I will run away from this horrible court,where a poor maiden is not allowed to have her friend and mistress, thecharming Princess Anna Leopoldowna, with all her heart and soul!"
The regent's eyes filled with tears. "My Julia," she tremulously said,"can you seriously think of leaving me? See you not that I should bethereby rendered very solitary and miserable?"
And, raising up her favorite into her arms, she kissed her.
Julia's bright eyes also filled with tears. "Think you, then, princess,that I could ever leave, ever be separated from you?" she tenderlyasked. "No, my Princess Anna has such entire possession of my heart,that it has no room for any other feeling than the most unbounded loveand devotion to my dear, my adored princess. But for the very reasonthat I love you, I cannot bear to have your husband fill the palace withhis jealous complaints, and thus publishing to St. Petersburg and allthe world your unfaithfulness and criminal intrigues. Oh, I tell you Isee through this generalissimo, I know all his plans and secret designs.He would gladly be able to convict you of infidelity to him--then, withthe help of the army he commands, declare his criminal wife unfit forthe regency, and then make himself regent! He has a cunningly devisedplan, but which my superior cunning shall bring to naugh
t! I will playhim a trick!--But no, I will tell you no more now! At the right time youshall know all. Now, Princess Anna, now answer me one question. Do you,then, so very much love this Count Lynar?"
The princess looked up with a dreamy smile. "Do I love him!" she thenmurmured low. "Oh, my God, Thou knowest how truly, how glowingly myheart clings to him. Thou knowest that of all the world I have neverloved any other man than him alone! And you, Julia, you who know everyemotion and palpitation of my heart, you yet ask me if I love him--whenhe stood before me in all his proud manly beauty, with his conqueringglance, his heart-winning smile? Ah, my whole heart already then flew tomeet him. I revelled in the sight of him, I thought only of him, I spoketo him in my thoughts, and my prayers, I loved only when I saw him; andthat happy, that never-to-be-forgotten day when he confessed his love,when he lay at my feet and swore eternal truth to me--ah, why could Inot have died on that day? I was then _so_ happy!"
"Poor Princess Anna," said Julia, sympathetically, "they soon grudgedyou that happiness!"
"Yes," continued Anna with a bitter smile, "yes, the virtuous EmpressAnna blushed in the arms of her lover, Biron, at this aberration ofher sold and coupled niece. She found it very revolting that the poorsixteen-year-old Anna Leopoldowna dared to have a heart of her own andto feel a real love. They must therefore rob her of the only happinessHeaven had vouchsafed her. Consequently, they wrote to Warsaw, asking,nay, commanding the recall of the ambassador, and Lynar was compelled toleave me."
"Ah, I well know how unhappy you were at that time," said Julia,pressing the hand of the princess to her bosom; "how you wept, how youwrung your hands--"
"And how I nowhere found mercy or commiseration," interposed Anna, withbitterness, "neither on earth nor in heaven. I was and remaineddeserted and solitary, and was compelled to marry this Prince Ulrich ofBrunswick, for whom I felt nothing but a chilling, mortal indifference.But you must know, Julia, that when I stood with this man at the altar,and was compelled to become his wife, I thought only of him I loved; Ivowed eternal love only to Lynar, and when the prince folded me inhis arms as his wife, then was my God gracious to me, and in a happydeception it seemed to me that it was my lover who held me in hisarms--I thought only of him and breathed only his name, and lovedhim, kissed him, and became his wife, although he was far, alas, soimmeasurably far from me! And when I felt a second self under my heart,I then loved with redoubled warmth the distant one whom I had not seenfor years; and when Ivan was born, it seemed to me that the eyes ofmy lover looked at me through his, and blessed my son whose spiritualfather he was! And, my child, what think you gave me the courage tooverthrow Biron and assume the regency? Ah, it was only that I mighthave the power to recall Lynar to my side! I would and must be regent,that I might demand the return of Lynar as ambassador from Warsaw. Thatgave me courage and decision; that enabled me to overcome all timidityand anxiety. I thought only of him, and when the end was attained, whenI was declared regent, the first exercise of my power was to recallLynar to Court. Julia, what a happy day was that when I saw him again!"
And the princess, wholly absorbed in her delightful reminiscences,smilingly and silently reclined upon the cushions of the divan.
"Ah, it must be love that so thinks and feels," thoughtfully observedJulia. "I no longer ask you, Princess Anna, if you love the count, Inow know you do. But answer me yet one question. Have you confidence inme--full, unlimited confidence? Will you never mistake, never doubt me?"
"Never!" said Anna Leopoldowna, confidently. "And if all the worldshould tell me that Julia von Mengden is a traitress, I wouldnevertheless firmly rely upon you, and reply to the whole world: 'Thatis false! Julia von Mengden is true and pure as gold. I shall alwayslove her.'"
Julia gratefully glanced up to the heavens, and her eyes filled withtears.
"I thank you, princess," she then said, with a happy smile. "I now havecourage for all. You shall now be enabled to love your Lynar withoutfear or trembling, and your husband's clouded brow and reproachingtongue shall molest us no more. Confide in me and ask no questions. Itis all decided and arranged in my mind. But hark! do you hear nothing?"
Anna's face was transfused with a purple glow, and her eyes flashed.
"It is my beloved," said she. "Yes, it is he. I know his step!"
Julia smilingly opened the concealed door, and Count Lynar, with a cryof joy, rushed to the feet of his beloved.
"At length!" he exclaimed, clasping her feet, and pressing them to hisbosom.
"Yes, at length!" murmured Anna, looking down upon him with a celestialsmile.
Julia stood at a distance, contemplating them with thoughtful glances.
"They should be happy," she murmured low, and then asked aloud: "CountLynar, did you receive my letter?"
"I did receive it," said the count, "and may God reward you for thesacrifice you are so generously disposed to make for us! Anna, yourfriend Julia is our good angel. To her we shall owe it if our happinessis henceforth indestructible and indissoluble. Do you know the immensesacrifice this young maiden proposes to make for us?"
"No, Princess Anna knows nothing, and shall know nothing of it," saidJulia, with a grand air. "Princess Anna shall only know that I love her,and am ready to give my life for her. And now," she continued, withher natural gayety, "forget me, ye happy lovers! Lull yourselves inthe sweet enjoyment of nameless ecstasies! I go to watch the spies, andespecially your husband, lest he break in upon you without notice!"
And Julia suddenly left the room, shutting the door upon AnnaLeopoldowna and her lover, the Polish Count Lynar.