ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
Richard lost no time in sending to his mother from Vienna a full account of his varied experiences. Her reply was supplemented by the arrival of her steward and his wife, who informed him fully of all that had occurred at home during his absence. The good wife had come with her husband to be of such service as she could to Edith in preparing for the young girl's wedding. Edith had been placed by Richard in a hotel until the marriage should take place.
The riddle of the blond hair was now explained, and Richard's grief and love for his martyr-brother made him prize the little lock of hair more than all other earthly possessions. He was also told that his mother had wished to attend his wedding, but on applying for a passport,--which was now necessary even for the shortest journeys,--she had been refused, and had received instructions not to leave Nemesdomb until farther notice. Then the young baroness had planned to come, but was detained by her baby's illness. As for his brother odon, he had the best of reasons for not showing himself in Vienna at present. So the steward and his wife had come to represent the family.
Finally, the good man announced that the Baradlay property had been taken possession of by the government,--not permanently, as only the inheritance of two of the brothers, at most, could be confiscated, while the third brother's share must be restored in the end; but such matters were settled only after long delay. Meanwhile the total income of the property went into the state treasury, and a mere pittance was returned to the widow, in monthly payments, for the support of her family. Therefore Richard's expenses were to be regulated with extreme economy. The young man found all this only what was to have been expected. He had been granted his life and liberty, and was not disposed to grumble at losing his property. What engrossed his thoughts just then was his approaching marriage with Edith, which was to make him the happiest man in all the world.
When in due time he had attained to that longed for bliss, he found himself confronted by a situation that demanded earnest consultation with the partner of his happiness.
"Do you know, little wife," said he, "that we are very poor?"
But Edith only laughed at him. "How can we be poor when we have each other?" she demanded, triumphantly.
"That makes two millions, I know," admitted Richard; "but it yields no interest in cash. We must economise. Do you know what our monthly income actually amounts to? One hundred florins. More than that my mother cannot spare me, as she is much straitened herself."
"But I don't see how we can spend even that amount," declared Edith.
"It is a great sum of money."
"I must confess one thing more to you," pursued the young husband; "even this small income is not all mine. I have a number of little debts here in the city, dating back one and two years, or more,--trifling sums that I owe to honest shopkeepers and working people. These debts were mere bagatelles to me then, but they press me heavily now. Yet I can't allow these poor people who have trusted me to suffer loss. I shall pay them every penny, and for that purpose I propose to set aside one-half my monthly allowance."
"Very well," assented the other cheerfully; "we can live royally on fifty florins a month. I will be cook, and we will get along with only two courses for dinner. You shall see what a good cook I am. I will have a little servant girl to wash the dishes, and I am sure we shall manage famously."
Richard kissed his wife's hand and delivered into her keeping fifty florins for household expenses.
He then asked leave to absent himself for a few hours on business, and Edith told him he might stay out until one o'clock, when she should have dinner ready for him.
Richard appeared punctually at the hour set, like a model husband. And how good the little dinner tasted! He ate like a wolf, and declared that not even the emperor himself fared better. Really it was a splendid meal for fifty-five kreutzers.
"Such a dinner was more than I often got when I was a captain of hussars," declared the gratified husband, "especially when old Paul was cook--Heaven bless him!"
The dinner had been well earned, too. Richard had secured a place as workman in a machine-shop, at fifty florins a month, a splendid salary! He had also transacted other business in the course of the morning. He had called on the old shopkeeper in Porcelain Street, and asked him to take charge of his finances and arrange a settlement with his creditors, to whom he owed perhaps two thousand florins. He wished to pay it off in instalments until the last penny of indebtedness was discharged. Old Solomon had promised to call on him between one and two o'clock, when his shop was always closed.
At half-past one the old man's shuffling steps were heard in the passageway. Edith was still busy with her dish-washing, and the window was open to let fresh air into the single room that served as kitchen, dining-room, and parlour in one.
"Ah, my dear madam," began the visitor, bowing low, "I kiss your fair hand; I am ever glad to kiss the hand that works--rather than the hand that knows only how to hold a fan. You have a very pleasant home here,--a little cramped for room, perhaps, but that brings you so much the nearer each other. Now then, Captain Baradlay, let us proceed to business," said he, turning to Richard. "The lady of the house will not be inconvenienced, I trust, by our transacting a little business in her parlour. It is here a case of two hearts that beat as one, I am sure." The old Jew took a bit of chalk from his pocket. "Have the goodness, please, to give me a list of all your debts."
Richard's memory in such matters was good, and he named the items, one after another, while old Solomon wrote them down on the table.
"Heavens and earth!" cried the aged Hebrew, raising his eyebrows and causing his round cap to move backward and forward on his bald skull; "a large sum, a big pile of money that makes. H'm, h'm!" He took a pinch of snuff from his black snuff-box, and then resumed his reckoning. "It appears, if I mistake not, that Captain Baradlay was still under age when these debts were contracted."
"But my honour was not under age," said Richard.
"Ah, well said! That should be posted up in large letters,--'My honour was never under age!' Do you see, madam, what sort of a man you have married? A spendthrift who values his honour at more than two thousand florins.
"But look here, Captain, there's a way we have of settling debts like these, by agreeing with the creditors to pay a certain per cent. They are generally glad enough to get even a small fraction of what they supposed was dead loss. It's a very sensible arrangement all around."
"But it doesn't suit me," returned Richard emphatically. "Florin for florin, it shall all be paid as fast as I get the money. I can't cheat the poor people out of their just dues, even if I have to go hungry to pay them."
"Incorrigible!" exclaimed the other. "Remember, you are no longer a bachelor; you must think of your changed circumstances. Well, well, don't heat yourself. We'll say no more about it, but pass on to consider how all these debts are to be paid."
So saying, he marked off two parallel columns on the table, over one of which he wrote, "Debit," and over the other, "Credit."
"In the first place," began Richard, "I receive a hundred florins monthly from my mother, half of which is to go to my creditors."
"Half of it? and does your wife agree to that?"
"Oh, yes," Edith hastened to reply.
Solomon made an entry in the second column.
"Fifty florins more will come to me monthly as wages for my work in the machine-shop," continued Richard. "Half of it I shall use toward paying my debts, and the other half is for my wife's wardrobe."
"But how can I ever spend so much?" interposed Edith. "Your dear, good mother sent me so many dresses for wedding presents that I never can wear them out. Let it all go to your creditors." She would give the two no peace until Solomon had written down the whole amount.
Then the old man pushed up the sleeves of his caftan, like one who prepares to execute a masterstroke. "To that must next be added," said he, "the three hundred thousand florins that Miss Edith Liedenwall brought to Captain Baradlay as her dowry." Therewith he wrote "300,000 fl." as the next entry.
The two young people looked at him to see what he meant by such a joke; but he merely rose from his chair, took each of them by the hand, and addressed them as follows:
"I wish you all happiness in your married life. You are worthy of each other. What I just said, and what I wrote, were both in earnest; and now I will explain."
The three resumed their seats, and the old man proceeded to explain to them the mystery of the three hundred thousand florins.
"You had, my dear madam, a great-uncle, Alfred Plankenhorst, who was a rich man and an old bachelor. He had great family pride, as I have reason to know, having been well acquainted with him and acted as his banker and business agent. I thus came to know a good deal about his family affairs. The old gentleman made a will by which he left all his property--his house in Vienna and his invested funds--to his niece, Baroness Plankenhorst, and her daughter. The old uncle was long-lived,--it is a way with some people, especially when they are rich,--and before he died the young lady had a love affair which resulted unfortunately for her good name. Well, there was no help for it; but the old gentleman had very strong prejudices in such matters, and he made a new will. Hunting up the orphan daughter of a distant relative,--Edith Liedenwall was the young lady's name,--he left her in the care of the Plankenhorst ladies for her education. The substance of the second will I can give you in a few words.
"Should Alfonsine Plankenhorst ever marry and make good her false step by a union with a man of birth equal to her own, she was to receive the bulk of the property as her dowry; but if she failed to retrieve herself before Edith Liedenwall grew up and married, the latter was to receive this dowry, provided her marriage was a suitable and honourable one, and provided she had committed no act such as had led the testator to destroy his first will. Failing this disposition of the property, as dowry either of Alfonsine Plankenhorst or of Edith Liedenwall, it was to go, after a certain number of years, to the St.
Bridget Convent, though the house was in any case to remain in the possession of the Plankenhorst ladies. I was made executor of this will, the contents of which were to be kept secret. But the secretary who wrote it communicated its items to the baroness and her daughter, so that they have long known all about it. If you will now review the events of your courtship and engagement, in the light of what I have just told you, you will find everything explained that has been hitherto mysterious to you. Meanwhile, I was watching the course of events and knew all that was going on. Oh, we quiet old people have sharp eyes; we can see into houses, into pockets, and even into hearts.
"The Plankenhorst mansion will remain in the possession of its present occupants. It is a pretty bit of property by itself, but they'll go through it within ten years. Yet these are not times when one thinks about what is to be ten years hence. He who clothes the lilies of the field and the girls in the ballet will also provide for Alfonsine Plankenhorst.
"And now, Captain and Mrs. Baradlay, are you satisfied with what fortune has brought you?"
THE END.