The following afternoon we sat on the bench in front of the inn, smoked our chibuke, and, looking rather bored, we looked at a large, pond-like puddle that spread in the marketplace, and at the edge of which a flock of snow-white geese basked quietly.
Suddenly you heard the sound of approaching cars, and soon after two companions came into view. In the first, a spacious Landau, the Count's pair sat leaning back, while the light lash next to them showed itself empty. They drove past so quickly that the innocent poultry, wildly frightened, fled into the puddle with a loud shriek and chatter.
“Somebody's being picked up by the train,” Burda said, drawing his watch out. “It's half past two, the train is coming in fifteen minutes. I'm curious who will arrive there.”
We stayed seated. After a while we heard the distant signal whistle, the approach of the train - and it was not long before the two cars came back again. Next to the countess sat a young lady, in whom, though she had veiled her face with a blue veil, the princess was immediately recognizable. The count took the front seat with another lady-the one who had appeared in the box at the time. A pretty maid, seated in suitcases and boxes, sat around the Kalesche, looking around with vivacious eyes.
Burda had let the burnt Chibuk sink. Now he rose and, without saying a word, went up to his room. I was very happy about that, for the fact that the Princess had indeed appeared had so upset me that I was at a loss to express any opinion.
“That is very strange!” I said to myself, when I was alone now and preparing to do some official work for me. It was this new coincidence - because what else could it be? - constantly in the head around. From a purely objective point of view, the matter got a peculiar interest, and I was curious as to what would come of this unexpected complication.
When I later approached the inn again, I saw how a well-fed lackey with a clean-shaven double chin and a light cap on his head approached. He apparently came out of the castle and now entered the bar, whose windows were open, so that I could hear how he was greeted loudly by some of the guests sitting inside while drinking beer.
“Ah, Mr. George!” Cried one. “Let's see you again!”
I could not understand what the recipient received. I only heard a hasty swallowing and gargling, then a glass was pushed onto the counter.
“You've got visitors,” it said.
Now I heard the lackey say, “Of course. Princess L..., the best friend of our countess. She should have come six weeks ago and later travel to Italy with us. Instead, she got sick. Who knows if anything is going to happen now? Lucky it would be, because it is unbearable in the nest!”
After saying something not very flattering to the natives, he rushed down a second glass, looking for a little coin to pay his bill, as I could see a little through the window.
“You want to leave again?”
“I have to run to the train and have it telegraphed. It has been forgotten a box in the coupe. That's how it works, if you do not take male servants with you!”
And without a greeting he hurried out.
So that's how things stood. I was able to imagine vividly the satisfaction Burda had felt at the sight of the princess, and the hopes and expectations he now had in her stay here...
But these hopes and expectations, which coincidence evoked, should be destroyed by him immediately. For the indecisive, perplexed attitude which the government still showed towards the progressing events, had a constant change of the As a result of military dispositions, our regiment was ordered to leave the station immediately and leave for Prague in garrison.
Burda, after hearing this news, laughed bitterly.
“Fatal skill!” He exclaimed. “Now that the princess has made this effort - now it must - - it is truly incredible! How would everything have developed now! We would have received invitations to the castle, be it a hunt, a dinner - or what do I know! - By the way, “he added after some meditation,” Prague is not so bad - and the loss is not too great; because I am convinced that she too will appear there in some time.”
I was not yet up to this claim; it was as if I was facing a madman.
He did not notice how I flinched, and continued: “Prague is the seat of all the Bohemian nobility. So you're making a visit again. Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear to me that the Princess is already aware of the matter which I know you are pursuing; otherwise she would not go straight ahead.”
After these words he called his lad and told him to pack what business he imperiously supervised with folded arms.
It was a bright, dewy May morning when we left and Burda recaptured one last glance at the windows of the castle, where everything still seemed to lie in a deep sleep.
VII.
Prague was a very pleasant place to stay at that time. The national special efforts were not yet prospered in pronounced conflicts; they were still under the surface, hidden and hidden by their unbiased eyes, and although the city could not be called a German because of the Slavic element of its population, it was international in the best sense of the word. Keeping center between Vienna and Dresden, it was visited by many strangers, especially in the summer, where a big train to the Bohemian baths took place, because of its magnificent location and its old monuments, to which good hotels, a very decent theater and other resources essential contributed. In short, one could live in Prague as in a big city, yet all conditions were simpler and less expensive than elsewhere.
This circumstance served Burda very well when we arrived. With great satisfaction he had heard that the officers were not being housed in the barracks, so his first concern was to look for a suitable apartment, which he had soon found, and which he now occupied on his own. Because, he said to me, it is now especially necessary to have a decent ” home “. It could be many things happen, and in any case he must, as things now stood, his gewärtig that one day some incident a trusted emissary, which compared to one in every respect “is comme il faut"To prove. So he immediately contacted a furniture dealer who provided him with everything he needed; He also had a livery made for his lad, which was the same as a body hunter.
Setting himself up in this way, he was reluctant to take his meals in one of those inconspicuous inns to which we were more or less dependent on others, preferring to dine at the “English Court” between five and six o'clock, which he did could already allow, when he then renounced a dinner. He withdrew more and more from comradely trafficking, which was initially not particularly noticeable, since one of his side a certain self-locking was always used. By and by, however, one became perplexed and felt all the more alienated when Burda, along with him, began to develop a very haughty demeanor, which was not his style in the past. He treated me now with a certain condescension, and I felt that he, like any other, would have overlooked me if he had not felt the need to keep me at his side. He also needed someone to go to the theater for him, if he was unable to work, to see if the princess, whose arrival he expected from day to day, would not appear in a box.
Of course, this unshakeable expectation was not fulfilled; but it happened that a high-ranking military figure, the adjutant general of the Emperor, arrived in Prague and stayed there for a day. It so happened that we met him, without even knowing he had arrived, in front of the hotel in which he had descended, and he kindly returned our military greeting.
“That was Count G...!” Said Burda, when we had the General behind us, very excited. “What might have brought him here?”
“Who can know that? Maybe he goes to Carlsbad; he's known to be suffering from the liver.”
“Possible. But did you notice how insistently he looked at me?”
“I did not notice that.”
“But I,” Burda said curtly and said goodbye, having just arrived at the lane where he lived.
In the evening, the Adjutant General visited the theater, where we saw him sitting in his box with the Commander-in-Chief. One gave the opera Martha, which the count probably enough often enough have heard. He paid little attention to the idea, spoke
eagerly to the commander, and sometimes looked through the opera glasses at the officers on the ground floor; a kind of pattern, which was quite in the nature of things.
On going home, Burda said, “Be careful, there seems to be something in the way. He apparently did not come to Prague without special intention. And giving Martha is also very significant.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Just think a little about the subject, and you'll get behind it.”
Now, however, when one came to the fantasies of Burda, one could find out a certain resemblance to his position with the Lionels - but that he suspected in the performance of the opera mysterious intention, made me the most oppressive impression: I seriously began to fear for his mind. In the process, I found myself in the perplexed position of a man who sees a second on the way to becoming insane and yet not informing anyone. For how could I have revealed the state of mind of Burda, with all the details that produced him, without the most urgent necessity? I wondered if I should not use this occasion and give him a vivid idea, but we were already close to his apartment and so we parted silently.
Two weeks had passed since one day, when it was announced by regimental order, that His Majesty had by highest resolution ordered the establishment of an adjutant corps. This was to be understood as meaning that all officers employed by high personalities or generalates should form a body of their own and receive a special adjustment. In the end, a call came in, to those who who, with the ability to prove, have the intention of joining this corps.
“Well?” Asked Burda, with whom I had jointly read the order in the company service room.
“I care little,” I replied. “Because I have no intention of reporting to you. Also, I am unable to keep a horse.”
“That's not what it's about,” he replied sharply. “I ask you, do you realize why the Adjutant General appeared here?”
I looked at him.
“He has come,” he went on in the utmost conviction, “to make inquiries about my person, to look at me-and then to arrange what has now happened. It is apparently the intention to bring me inconspicuously to Vienna and to the immediate vicinity of high and highest personalities.”
“How?” I exclaimed. “You believe that because of your person you have started your own corps -”
“Well, if not exactly that,” he replied, fortunately still feeling the monstrous of his condition, “but the request was certainly issued with regard to me.”
“What would it take for someone? You could easily call you to such a position immediately!”
“Indeed. But I have already told you that you want to avoid any obvious step, which is the only reason why the princess - who apparently has already won her father - is keeping away from Prague. Just think what a sensation it would have to excite if you summon me to Vienna in such a bang and fall.”
That was too much! I could no longer cling to myself and implored him not to indulge in such far-reaching delusions, although I did not care to take the child with him To spill bathing, just kept to the present case. But my ideas were fruitless - yes, even more: he was not even angry at my objections. And the very next day, after he had submitted his request to the man, he went to the most distinguished military tailor in Prague and inquired whether there was already a scheme of uniforming for the new corps. And when he was actually shown such a thing, it was only the fear of making an indiscretion that prevented him from taking immediate measures and making the garments in question.
VIII.
The summer was drawing to a close, and the autumn maneuvers were in sight. Burda said that he would not be able to join them here any longer, as his division into the new corps must have taken place by then. It would already have been six weeks since the summons, and he could only wonder that no decision had yet come. He was therefore greatly affected when, after some time, it was announced that Lieutenant von H..., Who was the son of a Field Marshal Lieutenant and the only officer in the regiment who had reported except Burda, had been appointed to the corps was, and with official use at the General Command in Lviv. But he immediately overstated this concern to himself by exclaiming: “Well, to Lemberg! I was considered for Vienna,
But on the very same day, while we were standing in the barracks with a few other officers, he received a letter from an orderly, whom he hastily picked up, read hastily, and then read to himself.
As soon as we were alone, he said in a heavy but toneless voice, “My request is rejected.”
That had been foreseeable. For on the whole many applications had been submitted, and as usual nepotism and protection had prevailed.
“There's an intrigue behind it!” Burda continued.
“An intrigue?”
“Certainly. At the same time I had foreseen mischief, when I saw the adjutant general negotiating with the commander in the box!”
“How so?”
“Is not the commander a Count Z...? And do not the Z... belong to those families which, as I have told you, have somehow entered into the rights of the former Count Burda? So, what is the wonder that, since the adjutant-general will have made confidential communications, all possible machinations have been put into action later? But I will write to the adjutant-general!”
“For God's sake!” I exclaimed. “Remember what you want to do! How can you suppose with complete certainty that everything behaves as it seems to you? Have you ever learned anything about that matter?”
“No, still not. And only now it strikes me that already seven months have passed since I sent the papers to Brno. I will urge immediately.”
“That,” I said, glad to have found a way to distraction. “And promise me you will not do anything until you have received an answer. And if it shows then that your suspicion is founded - -”
He paused for a moment.
“You're right; I must be sure of everything. But I tell you, I'm not waiting for a long time. I will respond to an immediate answer, and if it has not happened after one week, I write to the count G... - and possibly also the prince. For who knows what they have all this about me - and how would I then appear in their eyes, if I would stick to me.”
With that he left and gave me complete helplessness. Because now it seemed to want to come to the extreme. If he let himself be carried away to a great move, he was lost!
In a few days he came to my apartment.
“There you have the proof,” he said, holding out a letter to me. “Even from the insolent tone of this letter, you will realize how much I was entitled to suspect.”
I unfolded the letter and read it. At the entrance, the clerk apologized that, to his regret, he was unable to report anything favorable. Above all, those clues that he had hoped to find in the “von Burda” in Saxony, had proved quite obsolete. For this alleged “first line” do not lead their family tree back too far - and to a sure Daniel Burda, who appeared at the beginning of this century listed as electoral saddle servant. Now this must have been a yard lot, however; but, as it turned out, said Daniel Burda, the son of a simple postman on the flat land, was raised to the peerage only as a result of that quality. And as for the “second line", the lieutenant first knew best himself, that even the most possible attempt had been made to lighten the only decisive point. But this would remain all the more difficult for all time, since in Austria, but especially in Galicia, Bohemia, and Moravia, there exist a very incalculable number of persons, who have the name “Burda,” and in the most subordinate positions of life (artisans, carters and the like). Schreiber can therefore only with the best of his knowledge and conscience advise to let this totally floating in the air business finally.
“This man is obviously bribed!” Cried Burda, after I had finished reading. “But I will not take it that way!”
“What do you want to do?”
“I'll send the commander a challenge!”
“Are you crazy?” I exclaimed. “Or do you at least not feel that such a start would have to put you in the suspicion of insanity? And how could you justify the
challenge - assuming for yourself that this letter was inspired by the commander? Will he allow it? Will he accept a challenge at all?”
“He must! He's an officer like me and you!”
“Indeed. But you know that high-ranking executives treat such impositions as serious subordination offenses - and have them punished. It could cost you your batch!”
“Oho!” He shrieked. “I would like to see that! - But you can be right, “he went on thoughtfully. “One may at least expect him to hide behind his position. You have to go to him indirectly and stick to his nephew.”
“To his nephew?”
“Oh well! You know the boyish lancet-master with the whey-face, whose squadron has been here for a few weeks on a fire-patch?”
“However - by sight -”
“Then you'll also have noticed how arrogant the guy is. He hardly thanks you when you greet him.”
“I think you are wrong,” I replied. “I think he is a very harmless person. His bad style seems to be more of a source of embarrassment.”
“Oh, what!” Replied Burda irritably. “I know that better. And now it's clear to me why they've behaved very strangely for some time now at the English Court on cavalry.”
There was something true about that, and I myself had heard about it. For in the regiment, where Burda had been increasingly criticized for his endeavors to become a member of the adjutant corps, some expressed indignation and glee that he was on the verge of publicly exposing himself. Thus the cavalry officers, who used to dine in the English court very opulent, had already made fun of the grandezza with which he appeared in the hotel and ordered an envelope at moderate prices with a small bottle of red wine. As a result, he had there (of course quite innocently and without suspecting, which particular personality was connected with it) also the pricks name “the enchanted prince” attached.
So I did not say without embarrassment: “You should not pay attention to that. It is well known that gentlemen, on proud steeds, always look down on us modest pedestrians from above.”
Short Stories From Austria- Ferdinand Von Saar Page 5