xt75mk654h9t https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt75mk654h9t/data/mets.xml Tautphoeus, Jemima Montgomery, Baroness, 1807-1893. 1858  books b92-165-30098797v2 English B. Tauchnitz, : Leipzig : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Quits  : a novel / by the Baroness Tautphoeus. (vol. 2) text Quits  : a novel / by the Baroness Tautphoeus. (vol. 2) 1858 2002 true xt75mk654h9t section xt75mk654h9t 









A NOVEL.


  BY



THE BARONESS



TAUTPIOEU S,



  AUTHOR OF 4"THE INITIALS."




    COPIPIGHT EDJlTOIV2


I N   T W  0  V 0 L U M E S.

       VOL. IL.





    L E I P Z I G



BERNHARD TAIUCHNITZ



1858.



S;

 This page in the original text is blank.


 










    CONTENTS

0 F V 0 L U M E II.



CHAPTER    1. Ways and Means   .   .
   -      II. A Rustic Studio  .   .
   -     III. Treats of Marriage and other Matters
   -     IV. Jack's First Exploit .
   -      V. The Wild Alp .    .   .
   -     VI. The Forester's Bridge   .
   - VII. A Modern Idyl. . .
        VIII. Post Horses bring the Idyl to a Conclusion
   -    IX. The "Big Sausage".
   --     :X. Alpenrosen   .   .
   -     XI. The old Char-h-banc
        XII. Pastime for a Rainy Day .
        XIII. The Vow  .   .   .    .
   -    XIV. Woodmen at Work .
   -     XV. Quits     .   .   .   .I
   -   XVI. Pastoral Pleasures.   .
   -   XVIT. Treats of different Kinds of Love
   -  XVIII. A Huntress with two Strings to her Bow
   -    :XIX. On Guard .   .   .   .
   -    XX. Jack's Last Exploit.     .
   -    XXI. The Break-up.    .    .
   -   XXII. Who Wins the Wager     .



      Page
I   .
         21
    .   34
       56
     . 68
     . 84
    .  108
    .  119
    .   140
    .  152
    .  160
    .  182
    .  198
    .  221
  .   235
    .  249
      261
  .   277
   .  294
   .  304
  .   322
   .   331

 This page in the original text is blank.


 






                 Q U I T S!
                     VOL. II.


                   CHAPTER I.
                 Ways and Means.
   NI orA returned to the forester's house at an unusually
early hour the next evening, having been requested by
Rosel to act as mediatrix, if necessary, between her
father and the Crag peasant, should any difference arise
in their proposed arrangements. She found both fami-
lies assembled in the little parlour, well supplied with
beer, bread, and tobacco, Rosel seated somewhat apart,
apparently occupied with her spinning-wheel, but look-
ing very anxious and flushed.
   Nora's arrival as inmate of the house caused neither
surprise nor embarrassment; they all knew her, some
had even learned to pronounce her name from the ser-
vants at the inn, and greeted her as "Mees Nora," and
Franz and Seppel stumbled against each other in their
eagerness to hand her a chair; but after she had drawn
from her pocket a piece of crochet-work and bent over
it, they immediately resumed their places and the con-
versation as if no interruption bad occurred.
   The Crag peasant had a packet of yellow-looking
papers in an old leather case before him, and Franz,
apparently acting as secretary, sat, pen in hand, prepared
to draw up any agreement into which they might enter.
QOida,. I1,

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



    "It was in the year twenty," said the peasant, ad-
justing his spectacles on the end of his nose, "in the
year twenty that I entered into possession of the Crags,
and, according to contract, agreed to give my parents
yearly as follows." He opened one of the papers and
read slowly-
               1 bushel of wheat,
               2 ditto rye,
               1 peck of barley,
               18 lbs. of butter,
            100 eggs,
            25 lbs. of meat,
               6 lbs. of linseed oil,
               12 lbs. of flax,
"One quarter of the orchard fruit; cabbage, potatoes,
and turnips as required; a quart of milk daily; wood
for fuel, and the necessary repairs of the off house; a
pair of shoes and a pair of slippers annually; and
twenty florins a-year, paid quarterly."
    "That's all fair," observed the forester, with a nod
of approbation. "The ground about the Crags is good,
and there is no mortgage on it, I believe"
   "No mortgage," repeated the peasant, "and there-
fore I expect you will make no difficulty about the
provision for Anderl. The young lady there has, per-
haps, told you that I expect two thousand florins for
him."
   "You must be satisfied with half the sum, "I said the
forester, decidedly, " or - we shall never come to terms.
I am not a rich man, but my daughter will not go ill
provided into your house. Besides her bed and her
spinning-wheel, her clothes and house-linen, she shall
have one thousand florins on the day of her marriage,



2

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



and perhaps the same sum after my death; but more
than this I cannot give her."
    "Then, neighbour," said the peasant, doggedly,
"there is no use in talking longer about this matter,
unless you choose Seppel to raise the money on mort-
gage, which, however, I cannot take upon me to re-
commend."
    "No," cried the forester, pushing his chair back-
wards, "no; I know too well that such a beginning
would lead to ruin. I cannot allow my daughter, and
you cannot advise your son, to commence housekeeping
with a debt they may never be able to pay of."
    "I don't advise," said the old man, with a pecu-
liarly artful smile; "I said if you chose. It all rests
with you. Seppel, in his wish to possess the Crags
and marry Rosel, is ready to agree to anything, though
I have counted over and over the income and expendi-
ture, and proved to him that a few florins at the end
of the year is all he can expect to put aside, and may
be thankful, when he has a family, if he can keep clear
of debt. Oh no! I don't advise! I leave everything
to you!"
   "Come, come, Crags," said the forester, smiling,
"we all know your love of contradiction, but this is
going too far. People say you have managed to save
money, and I suppose your son can do the same."
   "My savings are said to be more considerable than
they really are," observed the peasant. "After thirty
years' management of the Crags, I have, it is true,
contrived to scrape together a few hundred florins, but
it is only since my sons could help in the work, and
corn and cattle have risen in price. The house is now
in want of repair."
                                         1



3

 
4WSAYS AND MEANS.



     " Well," said the forester, "there is no denying you
 might have kept it in better order."
     "What for" asked the peasant. "May be that it
 might look handsomer when seen from the off house
 after I had resigned. No, no, forester, you don't know
 me yet!"
    "I believe that's true," said Franz, who had latterly
 been biting the end of his pen, as he sat with his eyes
 fixed on the peasant. "My father is upright and honest,
 and speaks his mind, but the devil himself could hardly
 make out what you're at now. Perhaps you're not
 willing to resign. If that's it, say so; there's nobody
 has a right to compel you."
    "I'm willing enough to resign," he answered, slowly.
"After labouring ten years for my father and thirty for
myself, I've had enough. And what with the rheuma-
tism and my goitre, and the wish of my old woman to
see her Seppel married, I'm at times more than willing;
but knowing the income and expenditure, I can't ad-
vise the burdening of the land with a debt, and see no
way for the young people but your coming forward
with the money."
    "I can't give what I haven't got," began the fores-
ter, angrily; but an appealing look from the two women
opposite him, and a glance at Rosel's dismayed face,
seemed to appease him. "Let us go a little more into
detail," he added, quietly, "and see how matters stand.
Perhaps you have got your last year's account, and
from it we can make anl estimate."
   Seppel came forward noiselessly, and added one to
the eager faces around the table, as the peasant drew
from his pocket a large sheet of paper covered with
sprawling writing and figures, and, as if he had beca



4

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



prepared for the request, read without comment an
account of his outlay and income during the preceding
year, which, being drawn up in a rather confused style,
was listened to with but the more intense attention by
all his auditors.
    When he had ended, no one seemed inclined to
speak, and as he laid the paper on the table, and took
off his spectacles, he observed composedly, "After de-
ducting the taxes and parish rates from the overplus,
the remainder, I take it, will prove somewhat less than
was expected!"
    Old Crags rubbed his chin and mouth very diligently
for a few seconds, Nora almost thought to hide a smile
of satisfaction at the dismay he had caused, and then
began to fold up his papers, and replace them in the
leather case.
    "The value of your property has been greatly over--
rated," said the forester.
    "That's not my fault," answered the peasant, "the
truth might have been known any day for the asking.
I thought you had lived long enough in the mountains
to know that the soil so high up is not always of the
best description."
    'I know you grow wheat every year," rejoined the
forester.
   "Well, I don't deny that worse land might be found
in the parish than at the Crags," said the peasant; "I
don't complain. If I'm not rich, I can at least say that
no one ever felt want in my house. There's always
enough to eat, and something to spare for a stray
guest; my servants are paid regularly, and get their
shoes, jackets, linen, and harvest-money at the time
appointed. We don't work on holidays at the Crags,



5

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



and keep our church festival in a becoming manner,
and I have always been a contented man, and so was
my father before me, and his father before him, and.
Seppel can live as we have done, and is willing if
you'll consent to raise the second thousand on the land.
I dare say you'll pay the interest during your life time,
and in your will make all straight again."
    "No," said the forester, rising, "I cannot consent to
this arrangement. You seem to forget that I have two
children, and whether or not I may live to save an-
other thousand florins, God only knows. My eldest
son fell by the hand of a wildschiitz, and such may be
my fate any day in the year - there are enough of
them in our neighbourhood" - here he glanced for a
moment towards Seppel, and amended his speech, by
adding, - "from Tyrol I mean - and I shall never
rest until I have hunted them all down. Now with re-
gard to this money, you see I can do nothing, and pro-
mise nothing.  My daughter has not been daintily
brought up; she is willing and able to work, and can
live at the Crags as others have done. It is hard
enough that her fortune is taken from her before she
enters into possession, as I may say, and given to
Anderl; but as to her commencing with a loan, and
having to pay interest for it, perhaps as long as she
lives, that is out of the question, and there is nothing
more to be said if yoze will not do something handsome
for them."
   "I can neither do nor say anything more," observed
the peasant, closing his leather case, and dropping it
into one of the pockets of a grass green coat, that seemed
to have been inherited from his father or grandfather,
the waist being formed by t9o large buttons placed al-



6

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



most between his shoulders, the remainder of' the gar-
ment sweeping the floor at each side of his chair, when
seated, and hanging down to his heels when he stood
up. "I have two children, as well as you, forester,"
he added, "and I do not see why one should get all,
and the other next to nothing.'
    "But the 'all' is not much," interposed the forester's
wife, "Seppel and Rosel will have enough to live upon,
and no more. A thousand florins with what you will
give him from your savings, and a home at the Crags,
when he chooses to stay there, is surely enough for
Anderl."
   "Do you suppose," said the peasant, angrily, "that
my Anderl is likely to be a day-labourer at the Crags,
or to turn wood-cleaver, or charcoal-burner on the moun-
tains here under your husband We have other plans
for him, as the young lady there might have told you,
and he shall not come short, let what will happen, for
it is only lately that my wife has made me give up my
intention of resigning to Anderl instead of Seppel."
   "Alh - ah!" cried the forester, with a look of intel-
ligence, "is that your drift - then indeed there is no
chance of our coming to terms. Rosel," he said, turining
to his daughter, "you see that no ill-will on my part
against Seppel stands between you and your happiness.
You know that I cannot do more than I offered just
now, and after hearing that the income at the Crags,
even in good years, so very little exceeds the expen-
diture, you must be convinced that I am right' in re-
fusing my consent to the proposed mortgage."
   "Of course, father -of course you know best," fal-
tered Rosel, "but - but I cannot give up Seppel!" One



7

 
'WAYS AND MEANS.



hand wiped the tears from her eyes, the other she ex-
tended frankly to her lover.
    Nora, who had followed attentively the calculations
 of the peasant, and listened to the discussion that had
 preceded and followed it with the deepest interest, now
 rose, and laying her hand gently on Rosel's shoulder
 said, "I can be of use here, or rather we can be of use
 to each other, Rosel. You know," she added, turning
 to the forester, "that I have come to Almenau to erect
 a tombstone on the grave of a very near relation in the
 churchyard here. I want some one to take charge of
 this grave, to plant flowers on it in summer, and deco-
 rate it with wreaths during the winter, and consider a
 thousand florins by no means too much for this pur-
 pose. Rosel shall receive the money from me any day
 you appoint, on condition that Seppel promises for him-
 self, and imposes as a duty on all future possessors of
 the Crags, to attend to this grave in the manner I have
 described."
    Great was the surprise and delight caused by this
speech, the old Crag peasant alone appearing more
astonished than pleased. Rosel seized Nora's hand, and
stared at her in speechless happiness; the forester bowed
repeatedly, and said the proposal was munificent, the
engagement should be contracted formally, and an
agreement concerning the grave drawn up, signed,
sealed, and delivered into her hands; Seppel standing
before her erect, as if about to present arms, first
thanked, and then assured her she had not misplaced
her generosity, and that no grave in the parish should
be better attended to than that of her relation.
   The forester's wife and Seppel's mother were loud
in their expressions of gratitude, but no entreaties could



8

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



prevail on the Crag peasant to resume his seat, in order
to drink another glass of beer, and wish the young
people a speedy and merry wedding.
    "Time enough - time enough," he said testily,
drawing a black silk night-cap over his head, and taking
up his hat, "time enough when the day of betrothal
comes."
    "But," said the forester, "I hope you'll go to the
town, and ask the judge to name a day next week for
the drawing up of the surrender and marriage contract;
and when all is in order, we'll have a little merry-making
here, and I dare say Mees Nora won't disdain to join us,
or Count Waldemar either."
    "I'm not going into the town till Wednesday," said
the peasant, peevishly.
    "Well, Wednesday is not long off," observed the
forester, good-humouredly, "we're not going to be un-
reasonable; and if Seppel sows the winter corn on his
own account this year at the Crags it's all we want, or
expect"
   Nora had found an opportunity of leaving the room
unperceived, and it was evident that the peasant had
been put into a more congenial humour afterwards, for
as he passed beneath the balcony on which she was
standing, when he left the house, she heard him talking
and laughing as gaily as the forester and his family,
who all accompanied him as he turned into the pathway
leading to the Crags.
   While Nora looked after the noisy happy party, her
mind was so occupied with kind sympathy, and generous
plans for future benefits to be conferred on Rosel, that she
was unconscious of the approach of Waldemar and Torp,
who, having fished with tolerable success in the trout



9

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



streams near the village, now turned to the forester's
house, to inquire about their chance of sport the ensuing
day, should they go out deer-stalking.
    Waldemar loitered and looked round him, Torp
strode quickly forward, for, like most Englishmen, he
made a business even of pleasure, and with the most
unceasing perseverance fished and hunted alternately,
pursuing his sports with an intentness and eagerness that
not unfrequently made him overlook the beauties of the
country about him, or caused him to consider many of
them as mere impediments, which, when overcome, would
serve to enhance in his own and others' eyes the triumph
of success.
    While Waldemar, with head uncovered and upturned
smiling face, addressed Nora, and induced her to lean
over the balcony to answer him, Torp, scarcely glancing
toward her, merely touched his hat, and stalked into the
house. He was still employed questioning the stupid old
woman, who was rinsing beer glasses in the kitchen, as
to the time when the forester was expected home, when
he heard his friend enter the adjacent passage and bound
up the stairs three or four steps at a time. It was in
vain he cleared his throat, coughed significantly, and
finally called to him. Waldemar either did not or would
not hear, and Torp, with an impatient shrug of his
shoulders, entered the little sitting-room, and naturally
turned to the gun-rack as the object most likely to interest
him while awaiting the return of the forester or his son.
In order to gain a nearer view of the rifles and fowling-
pieces, he pushed aside with his foot a spinning-wheel,
and on the floor where it had stood perceived a small
patent pocket-book, firmly closed with patent pencil.
Hle picked it up, examined it for a moment, and though



10

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



there was no name or initial on the green morocco cover
- no engraving on the pale amethyst that decorated the
top of the pencil -  he knew that it could only belong
to Nora Nixon, and therefore pitched it qarelessly on the
nearest window-stool. This would not be wvorth recording,
had he not afterwards occasionally interrupted his in-
spection of the fire-arms in order to glance towards the
neat little book, and ended by once more taking it up,
and then deliberately walking out of the room.
    Restoring it to its owner would, he thought, serve
to interrupt a tete-a-tete that had already lasted long
enongh; yet he hesitated, and hardly knew how to put
his plan in execution, when, on reaching the lobby,
he caught a glimpse of Waldemar through the door that
opened on the balcony. He, was sitting on a wooden
bench withNora, bending forwards, and explaining the
last drawings he had made in his sketch-book, which
was spread open between them. The noise of the stream
before the house prevented Torp from hearing what
Waldemar said, when, pointing to some spot on the
paper, he observed, "It was somewhere here that Torp
shot the black cock yesterday morning, and with a rifle
too! He is a capital shot with a bullet, and hunts
with a patience and perseverance that is at times quite
incomprehensible to me. I like deer-stalking as well
as most sportsmen, and will climb, and creep, and crawl
as long as any one; but to stand for hours waiting for
a shot, either in the twilight or moonlight, is a thing
I can't endure, so I generally leave him with the
forester or Franz, and take refuge in the nearest hut.
We were last night on this alp, the highest about here;
in fact, it can only be used in the heat of summer,
and the cattle are to leave it in. a day or two; but the



11

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



view from it is magnificent, and will well repay you
for the trouble of mounting."
    "Do you think I could undertake such a walk"
 asked Nora. "Your drawing gives me the idea of a
 very wild place."
    "It is a wild place, and is called the Wild Alp,"
answered Waldemar; "but I have taken it into my head
that you can not only walk but also climb well, and
that difficulties would not easily discourage you."
    Nora smiled.
    "We have had such remarkably fine weather lately,"
he continued, "that I may safely recommend you to
undertake the excursion; one day's rain, however, would
make part of the way impracticable for a lady, on ac-
count of the cows' stockings."
    "Cows' stockings" repeated Nora, interrogatively.
    "I mean holes in the swampy ground which have
been made by the passage of cattle in wet weather, when
they follow each other in single file, stepping regularly
into these holes, then filled with water, and carefully
avoiding the more solid mud around them. After a
succession of footbaths of this description, you may
imagine the appearance of the cows."
   "I can," said Nora, interrupting him with a laugh,
"and understand your hint so well that I shall certainly
choose dry weather for an expedition to the Wild Alp."
   "Why not make it to-morrow," rejoined Waldemar,
eagerly, "and let me accompany you"
   "If I could persuade Jack," began Nora.
   "Oh, never mind him!" cried Waldemar. "Take
Rosel with you, who can make herself useful, and
carry a basket of provisions. You don't mind getting
up at daybreak, I hope"



i2

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



    "Not at all, and you tempt me so strongly that
I really must endeavour to make arrangements, with
both Jack and Rosel, to start at four o'clock to-morrow
morning. I suppose that is early enough"
    "If Monsieur Jaques go with you," said Waldemar,
"you might as well make a two days' tour, and go on
to the Kerbstein lake." He placed a sketch before her,
in which high mountains enclosed an apparently more
deep than extensive sheet of water; towards the fore-
ground some remarkably jagged rock impeded a stream
that flowed from it, formaing long low cascades; and in
a sheltered nook, the probable opening into a narrow
valley, stood a solitary chalet built half of stone and
half of wood, fishing-nets pending from the balcony,
and a couple of roughly made boats so near that Nora
scarcely required the explanation given when he added,
"That's the Kerbstein fisherman's house, where you
could remain the night; Torp has already spent a day
there, and says the people are uncommonly civil;
by-the-by, he might go with us - or meet us at the
lake - or something"
   "No, thank you," said Torp, who had reached the
door to the balcony a couple of minutes previously, and
now stood leaning against it. "You seem to have quite
forgotten that if we do not hunt to-morrow you proposed
going to Saint Hubert's chapel, and afterwards across
the mountains into Tyrol. I know you are expected at
Herrenburg."
   These last words were uttered with much meaning,
and seemed to cause some annoyance to Waldemar.
   "I have fixed no time for my return home, Torp,"
he answered, a little impatiently, "and having been
accepted as guide to the Wild Alp by Mees Nora, you



13

 

WAYS AND MEANS.



must excuse my leaving you either to hunt with Franz,
or inspect the ancient altar at Saint Hubert's with-
out me."
    "I cannot allow you to break an engagement on my
account," said Nora, "for if I want a guide one can
easily be found in the village. In fact, the painter
Florian has already offered his services through our
landlady, and I ought to have gone to see him and
his mother long ago, as it was at their relation's house
I was so hospitably received at Ammergau." She spoke
without looking at Torp, for she was vexed that, having
heard her ready acceptance of Waldemar's offer, he had
not also been made aware of her intention to decline
his being invited to join their party: she felt, too, some
natural irritation at his thinking it necessary to defend
his friend from the imaginary danger of her society, and
not a little increase of indignation at his interference
on all occasions.
   "Am I to understand that you have changed your
mind, and will not accept my escort" asked Waldemar,
rising.
   "Precisely," answered Nora. "I shall defer my ex-
cursion to the Wild Alp until next week, and spend to-
morrow in the village. That old castle on the hill de-
serves a visit, and when there I can amuse myself
rebuilding the edifice in imagination - it will not be
difficult, as they say it was inhabited towards the end
of the last century."
   "So!" cried Waldemar gaily. "So you build castles
in ihe air occasionally"
   "Rather say continually," replied Nora, laughing;
"for since I entered the Bavarian highlands every hill has
been supplied with a castle, and every dale with a cottage! "



14

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



    "And have you peopled your castles and cottages"
asked Waldemar.
    "N-o," answered Nora, and a sudden melancholy
overspread her features, for the light question had brought
strongly to her recollection her depressingly isolated posi-
tion. Of the few near relations left her, was there one
she could ask to live in a German cot or castle with her
Her uncle's treasure was in London, and with it his
heart; Georgina would call such a residence being buried
alive; Jack was a mere boy, full of youthful frolic, with
a decided inclination to enjoy the world and its pleasures
to the utmost; his brother Samuel she scarcely knew,
and friends she had none! Yes - one - Irene Schaum-
berg; but what changes might not a ten years' separation
have produced in her regard! These thoughts had but
flashed through her mind, however, when Waldemar,
surprised by her seriousness, said, with a mixture of
curiosity and interest,
   "Not peopled! not swarming with English friends
and relations!"
   Nora shook her head.
   "So much the better," he said, reseating himself on
the wooden bench beside her, and nodding a laughing
defiance to Torp, - "so much the better; there will be
the more room for Bavarians and Tyroleans! You really
must allow me, Mees Nora, to accompany you to this
ruin to-morrow; I know something of architecture, and
we can build and plan together in the most satisfactory
manner imaginable. Now don't refuse, or I shall think
it time to be offended."
   "I cannot well refuse ," answered Nora, smiling,
"seeing that the ruins of Waltenburg are quite as much
at your service as mine."



15

 

6WAYS AND MEANS.



     "And you will permit me to go there with you, or,"
 -he added, correcting himself, - "to be there at the
 same time that you are"
    "Of course," said Nora, as she rose from her lowly
 seat. "Until the castle is mine, I cannot raise the draw-
 bridge, and refuse you entrance." When passing Torp,
 who stood in the doorway, she perceived her pocket-book
 in his hand.
    "This is yours," he said, coldly handing it to her;
 "I found it on the floor in the room below stairs."
    "It is mine - thank you," said Nora, and a so un-
wonted colour spread over her face as she received it,
that Waldemar's attention was instantly attracted.
    "I wish," he said, "that I had found your book; it
evidently contains secrets, and you fear that Torp, in
looking for the owner's name inside, may have dis-
covered -"
    "I have no fears of the kind," said Nora, interrupting
him. "Nothing, I am sure, would have induced Air. Torp
to open this book or read a line of its contents. If he
had not known it to be mine, he would have left it in
the parlour."
   Torp seemed to consider even a word of assurance
unnecessary.
   "You do not deny that there are secrets in it, Mees
Nora," persisted Waldemar, "and I would give much to
possess it. See, here are my sketches of Ammergau;
you have more than once said you wished to possess
them. Let us make an exchange - they are yours for
the note book!"
   Nora thought over the contents of her little green
book, and then dropped it into her pocket. Secrets such
as Waldemar perhaps expected to find in it there were



16

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



none. She had got the habit, during her solitary hours
in Russell-square, of taking notes when reading, of writ-
ing lists of books, short critiques of those just read, and
other matters of an equally unimportant description. A
box full of such small volumes had been left in Mrs.
Ducker's care in England, and any of them, or many of
them, she would, without hesitation, have given for the
tempting sketches now offered her; but the little green
book in question unfortunately contained in its side
pocket the letter that Charles Thorpe had written to her
uncle ten years previously, and a few memoranda, which,
if shown to Torp by Waldemar, would inevitably lead
to explanations that she by no means desired.
    "I am sorry I cannot make -the exchange you pro-
pose," she said, turning away; "I wish these sketches
had some other price."
    "Stay," cried Waldemar, springing after her to the
head of the staircase, "listen to me, Mees Nora - the
sketches have another price; they shall be yours for -
for - a cup of coffee made by you yourself for me -
any day you please on any of the alps about here."
   "A cup of coffee!" repeated Nora, incredulously,
"You shall have a dozen, if you desire it."
   " I shall remind you of this agreement, " said Walde mar.
   "You need not," she answered, laughing, "I shall
take care not to let you forget it."
   Waldemar could scarcely wait until she was out of
hearing before he exclaimed, "You see, Torp, I shall
win the wager."
   "Perhaps you may," he answered, dryly; "that you
will make a fool of yourself, is, however, even more
certain, and I greatly fear that your father will think
that I led you into temptation."
Quits. 1i.                            2



17

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



    "Pshaw!" cried Waldemar, impatiently. "I acknow-
 ledge that I am considerably ipris with this black-eyed
 nymph of the Thames; but I could go to Herrenburg to-
 morrow, and in a week - or - let us say a fortnight,
 I could forget her - yes, I think I could forget her in
 a fortnight or three weeks."
    "Then go," said Torp, earnestly, "go while the effort
is easily made, and you will spare yourself and your
family a world of annoyance. I have made the inquiries
about these Nixons that you desired, and heard to-day,
from a friend of mine who knows everybody in London,
that this man has undoubtedly a large fortune, but also
a large family; there are sons in Australia and elsewhere,
one a lawyer in London, and the interesting youth now
here, called Jack. The eldest daughter is well known
in town from being constantly with the Savage Way-
wards, the younger my friend cannot well remember, he
believes she has resided chiefly in the country; some
people supposed her consumptive, others said she was
eccentric, and many now assert she is dead. We know
that she is neither dead nor consumptive, but I think
the word eccentric may be used when describing her.
At all events, according to the letter, the young ladies
may 'be worth' about twenty thousand pounds a-piece!"
   "It is the connexion and not the fortune I wanted
to hear about," said Waldemar, with a look of annoy-
ance.
   "M1y informant," continued Torp, "could not give
me much more information on that subject than I gave
you at Ammergau. The founder of the family, according
to the legend, was a peasant boy, who wandered to
London in the Whittington fashion, and afterwards made
a fortune in trade. This is an old story, and a con-



18

 
WAYS AND MEANS.



venient one for finding arms when they become neces-
sary; whether true or not is of little importance, for
though love might manage to blind you, your father
would certainly put on his spectacles when examining
the genealogy of the Nixons, and nothing but the most
enormous fortune would induce him to overlook its de-
fects. Perhaps, after saying so much, I ought to add,
that one of this family married a relation of ours many
years ago."
    "Ah!" said Waldemar, "such marriages cause no
commotion in an English family!"
    "The lady was a widow, and perfectly at liberty,"
answered Torp; "so though my father greatly disap-
proved, and indeed opposed the marriage, which turned
out even worse than he expected, he could not prevent
it. I have spoken to little purpose, Waldemar, if it has
not yet become evident to you that one of this family is
no match for a Bendorif of Herrenburg, who has every
chance of succeeding to a principality and becoming a
Serene Highness in the course of time."
   "That's it," cried Waldemar, -"that chance is what
makes my father so hard to please. I hop