Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 137.djvu/378

372 melted snow expands to a deep and whirling pool, the eagle put its head out of the nest above them, and expressed its displeasure at this further intrusion. It had been an evening of abnormal disturbance in the experience of this lonely eagle.

When they had gained the level path, Vincenz spoke again –

"It is a very short story I have to tell, and very simple – most despairingly simple it has proved for both Anna and me. I need not tell you that I am a poor man – for I have never concealed my poverty," said Vincenz, with an effort; "but I have not always been poor. My father was rich: until she was past twenty, Anna did not know what it was to have a wish unfulfilled. It was not long after her twentieth birthday that my father lost his fortune. It is no use troubling you with details, which at the time I did not thoroughly understand myself; the practical fact of finding that we were beggars was quite sufficient for all intents and purposes. My father's death followed soon upon the crash; Anna and I were left to manage for ourselves. Our case was not by any means desperate. In his better days, my father had had many firm friends: they did not prove themselves quite so firm in the time of misfortune; but one at least, a Count Perlenberg, occupying a high ministerial position, did not immediately turn his back upon us. He generously offered me a position which opened to me the possibility of a brilliant diplomatic career. The prospect so delighted me, that in my eyes it more than made up for the loss of fortune. I worked hard for two years, drawing so high a salary that Anna could live in ease, almost in luxury.

"Count Perlenberg had one son, a fair-haired, pink-cheeked young man. I thought him a coxcomb then, God forgive me! With what patience would I bear his coxcombry now, if I could see Conrad Perlenberg before my eyes! All this happened in Vienna, you must know. But for some months I was absent on an official mission. It was the first lengthy separation which had ever taken place between Anna and me. When I met Anna again on my return, it struck me for the first time that my sister was pretty; there was a new bloom on her face, a happier smile on her lips, a brighter light in her eyes. She had never looked like this before, and I did not know how to explain this change.

"It was only now that I made the acquaintance of young Perlenberg. He did not occupy any recognised position in his father's office, and I was not even aware that he gave himself the show of authority.

"One morning soon after my return, on reaching the office at the usual hour I found lying on my desk the draft of an official report of some importance, whose composition had been intrusted to me, and which I had framed with particular care. It was being returned to me now, with corrections, written in an unknown hand, and evidently proceeding from some inexperienced person. Half of what I had written was stroked through, and there were remarks substituted, which displayed almost ludicrously the writer's ignorance. I never was very patient of correction; the sight of my draft, on which I had spent such scrupulous care, now thus ignominiously returned upon my hands, roused my anger on the instant. I might have borne it better if I had been alone, but the harmless chaffing of my companions stung me to the quick. I knew that I was right, and that my unknown corrector was wrong.