"Do you think I should have exposed myself to the insults that you have heaped upon me if I had _not_tried?"she asked."Can I get the money back from the man to whom it was paid at Wurzburg,when my note fell due on the last day of the old year?Do I know anybody who will lend me five thousand florins?Will my father do it?His house has been closed to me for twenty years--and my mother,who might have interceded for me,is dead.Can I appeal to the sympathy and compassion (once already refused in the hardest terms)of my merciless relatives in this city?I have appealed!I forced my way to them yesterday--I owned that I owed a sum of money which was more,far more,than I could pay.I drank the bitter cup of humiliation to the dregs--I even offered my daughter's necklace as security for a loan.Do you want to know what reply I received?The master of the house turned his back on me;the mistress told me to my face that she believed I had stolen the necklace.Was the punishment of my offense severe enough,when I heard those words?Surely I have asserted some claim to your pity,at last?I only want more time.With a few months before me--with my salary as housekeeper,and the sale of my little valuables,and the proceeds of my work for the picture-dealers--Ican,and will,replace the money.You are rich.What is a loan of five thousand florins to you?Help me to pass through the terrible ordeal of your day of reckoning on the sixth of the month!Help me to see Minna married and happy!And if you still doubt my word,take the pearl necklace as security that you will suffer no loss."Struck speechless by the outrageous audacity of this proposal,Mrs.
Wagner answered by a look,and advanced to the door.Madame Fontaine instantly stopped her.
Wait!"cried the desperate creature."Think--before you refuse me!"Mrs.Wagner's indignation found its way at last into words."I deserved this,"she said,"when I allowed you to speak to me.Let me pass,if you please."Madame Fontaine made a last effort--she fell on her knees."Your hard words have roused my pride,"she said;"I have forgotten that I am a disgraced woman;I have not spoken humbly enough.See!I am humbled now--I implore your mercy on my knees.This is not only _my_last chance;it is Minna's last chance.Don't blight my poor girl's life,for my fault!""For the second time,Madame Fontaine,I request you to let me pass.
"Without an answer to my entreaties?Am I not even worthy of an answer?""Your entreaties are an insult.I forgive you the insult."Madame Fontaine rose to her feet.Every trace of agitation disappeared from her face and her manner."Yes,"she said,with the unnatural composure that was so strangely out of harmony with the terrible position in which she stood--"Yes,from your point of view,I can't deny that it may seem like an insult.When a thief,who has already robbed a person of money,asks that same person to lend her more money,by way of atoning for the theft,there is something very audacious (on the surface)in such a request.I can't fairly expect you to understand the despair which wears such an insolent look.Accept my apologies,madam;I didn't see it at first in that light.I must do what I can,while your merciful silence still protects me from discovery--I must do what I can between this and the sixth of the month.Permit me to open the door for you."She opened the drawing-room door,and waited.
Mrs.Wagner's heart suddenly quickened its beat.
Under what influence?Could it be fear?She was indignant with herself at the bare suspicion of it.Her face flushed deeply,under the momentary apprehension that some outward change might betray her.She left the room,without even trusting herself to look at the woman who stood by the open door,and bowed to her with an impenetrable assumption of respect as she passed out.
Madame Fontaine remained in the drawing-room.
She violently closed the door with a stroke of her hand--staggered across the room to a sofa--and dropped on it.A hoarse cry of rage and despair burst from her,now that she was alone.In the fear that someone might hear her,she forced her handkerchief into her mouth,and fastened her teeth into it.The paroxysm passed,she sat up on the sofa,and wiped the perspiration from her face,and smiled to herself."It was well I stopped here,"she thought;"I might have met someone on the stairs."As she rose to leave the drawing-room,Fritz's voice reached her from the far end of the corridor.
"You are out of spirits,Minna.Come in,and let us try what a little music will do for you."The door leading into the recess was opened.Minna's voice became audible next,on the inner side of the curtains.
"I am afraid I can't sing to-day,Fritz.I am very unhappy about mamma.
She looks so anxious and so ill;and when I ask what is troubling her,she puts me off with an excuse."The melody of those fresh young tones,the faithful love and sympathy which the few simple words expressed,seemed to wring with an unendurable pain the whole being of the mother who heard them.She lifted her hands above her head,and clenched them in the agony which could only venture to seek that silent means of relief.With swift steps,as if the sound of her daughter's voice was unendurable to her,she made for the door.But her movements,on ordinary occasions the perfection of easy grace,felt the disturbing influence of the agitation that possessed her.In avoiding a table on one side,as she passed it,she struck against a chair on the other.
Fritz instantly opened the curtains,and looked through."Why,here is mamma!"he exclaimed,in his hearty boyish way.
Minna instantly closed the piano,and hastened to her mother.When Madame Fontaine looked at her,she paused,with an expression of alarm."Oh,how dreadfully pale and ill you look!"She advanced again,and tried to throw her arms round her mother,and kiss her.Gently,very gently,Madame Fontaine signed to her to draw back.
"Mamma!what have I done to offend you?"
"Nothing,my dear."
"Then why won't you let me come to you?"