第58章

"You know all now, Marie--that, as it becomes parents, we have disposed of your future and your hand. You will submit to their wishes without murmuring or opposition, as it becomes an obedient, well-brought-up daughter, and receive the husband we have chosen for you. He will come today to hear your consent, and you from this day forth are the betrothed of the future Herr von Werrig. Of course from this very hour you will cease the highly improper and ungenteel business which you have pursued. You must not make any more flowers, or give any more lessons. The time of such degradation and humiliation is past, and my daughter can no longer be a school-mistress. You have only to write the receipt to-day, and I will go with you to the treasury to get the money.""I will not write the receipt," said Marie, gently but firmly. Her mother, in the act of rising, sank back upon the divan; and the general, apparently quite occupied with his leg, stopped rubbing, and raised his red, bloated face to his daughter in astonishment.

"Did I understand rightly your words, that you would not write the receipt?""Yes, mother, I said so; I cannot and will not write it," replied Marie, gently.

"And why cannot you, and will you not write it?" said her mother, scornfully.

"Because I have no right to the money, and cannot take it, mother, as I will never be the wife of the man you intend me to marry."The general sprang with a savage curse from his arm-chair, and would have rushed to his daughter, but his wife pushed him back into his seat, and approached Marie, who rose, regarding her mother with a firm, sad expression. "Why can you not be the wife of the man we have chosen for you? Answer me, WHY you cannot?""You know, mother," she replied, and gradually her voice assumed a more decided tone, her cheeks reddened, and an inspired expression beamed from her eyes, and pervaded her whole being--" you know, mother, that I can never be the wife of Herr Ebenstreit, for I do not love him. I despise and abominate him, because he is a man without honor; he knows that I do not love him, and yet he insists upon marrying me. If it were not so, if I did not despise and abominate him, I would not receive his suit and marry him.""Why not?" cried the general, shaking his fist at his daughter.

"Why not?" cried the mother, with a cold, icy glance, void of pity or anger.

Marie encountered these looks with beaming eyes. "Because I am betrothed to another," and the words came like a cry of joy from her heart--" because I am engaged to my beloved Moritz!""Shameless, obstinate creature, have we not forbidden it?" cried her father.

"Stop!" interrupted his wife, with a commanding wave of her hand, which silenced the obedient husband immediately. "It belongs to me to question her, for I am her mother, and my daughter owes me submission and obedience above all things.--Answer me, Marie, did you not know that we had forbidden you to speak to this man, or have any communication with him? Did you not know that I, your mother, had menaced you with a curse if you married this man, or even spoke to the miserable, pitiable creature?""Mother," cried Marie, vehemently, "he is not a poor, miserable creature. You may hate him, but you dare not outrage the noble, the good, and just man!""He is a good-for-nothing fellow," cried her father; "he has tried to win a minor behind the parents' back. He is a shameful, good-for-nothing seducer."

"He is dishonorable," cried the general's wife--"a dishonorable man, who has misused our confidence. We confided to him our daughter to teach, and paid him for it. He improved the opportunity to make a declaration of love, and stole the time from us to infatuate the heart of our daughter with flattery, and from his pupil win a bride.""Oh, unworthy, shameful slander!" cried Marie, her eyes flashing with anger. "You well know that it is a vile scandal, that Moritz was no paid teacher. If he had been--if he had felt obliged to yield to the sad necessity of being paid for his valuable time, because he was poor, and forced to live by his intellect, he was a free man, and had the right to love whom he chose. He loves me, and I have accepted his love as the most precious, most beautiful, and most glorious gift of my life. Ah! do not look so angry with me, father;I cannot say otherwise. I cannot crush or deny the inmost life of my life.--Oh, mother, forgive me that I cannot change it! You know that otherwise I have been a most obedient daughter to you in all things, although you have never taught me the happiness of possessing a loving mother; though neither of you could ever forgive your only child for not being a son, who could inherit your name, and win a brilliant position, yet I have always loved you tenderly and truly, and never complained that the unwelcome daughter received neither love nor tenderness, only indifference and coldness from her parents.""Beautiful, very beautiful!" replied the mother, contemptuously.