When he had arrived there, and Cecil had closed the door behind him, the count with a deep sigh threw himself upon a chair, whilst Cecil silently busied himself in lighting the wax-candles and placing them upon the table beside his master.
"Will not your grace now read the other letter?" he timidly asked, as Count Paulo still remained buried in his silent reflections.
"Oh, this unblessed letter!" exclaimed the count, with a shudder. "Itell you, Cecil, I feel that it contains misfortune. It has lain with a heavy weight like a nightmare upon my breast and I yet felt not the strength in me to draw it forth and read it in Natalie's presence!""That was well!" said Cecil, "and it was for that reason that I told you in advance that the letter was from Russia, that you might be on your guard. But now, Sir Count, we are alone, and now you can read it!""Yes, away with this childish fear!" cried the count, with resolution.
"I will be a man, Cecil, and whatever this letter may contain, I will bear it like a man!"Drawing forth the letter, he broke the seal with a trembling hand, and threw the cover across the room. Then unfolding the letter, he read.
Behind him stood Cecil, involuntarily trembling with anxious expectation.
The letter fell from the count's hands, and a deadly paleness spread over his face, which bore the expression of utter despair.
"Oh, my prophetic soul!" he sighed.
"Your presentiment is then fulfilled!" anxiously asked Cecil.
"Yes, it is fulfilled! My property is sequestrated; they refuse to send me the money I required; they command my immediate return to Russia, as my /conge/ has expired and my respite is at an end!""And you are lost, my lord, if you do not obey this command!" said Cecil.
"And Natalie?" reproachfully asked the count. "Can I, dare I leave her?""She is much safer without than with you! They may not yet suspect who she is! It is very possible that it in reality only is because your leave of absence has expired, as the laws of Russia require that every absentee should return to his country once in every four years.
Fulfil, therefore, this hard duty. Pretend to suppose that your recall is for no other reason than the renewal of your passport, and the giving you an opportunity to pay your homage to the empress. Appear innocent and unconcerned, and all may yet go well!""No," gloomily replied the count, "nothing will go well any more! The whole future stands before me in clear and distinct traits--a future full of shame and horror! Oh, would it not be better to flee from that future and seek in some remote and hidden valley a place where, perhaps, misfortune cannot reach, nor destruction overtake us!""How?" reproachfully asked Cecil. "Is it Count Paulo who speaks thus?
Is it the pupil whom I taught to defy misfortune and rise superior to disaster with courageous self-confidence? Is it the son of my heart for whom I have left all, sacrificed all, for whom I have offered up my fatherland, my freedom, and my independence; whom I shall love until my last breath? Paulo, pluck up a good heart, my son! You have proposed to yourself a great end, which was only to be reached by thorny and dangerous paths; will you now stop at the first cross-road and return upon your steps, instead of pressing forward sword in hand!
