



Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books










Transcriber's Note:

   1. Moritz von Reichenbach is the pseudonymn for Valeska
      (von Reiswitz-Kaderzin) Bethusy-Huc

   2. Page scan source:
      http://books.google.com/books?id=bXs5AAAAMAAJ&dq

   3. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].





                   Mrs. A. L. Wister's Translations.

                     12mo. Cloth, $1.00 per volume.


   Countess Erika's Apprenticeship                By Ossip Schubin.
   "O Thou, My Austria!"                          By Ossip Schubin.
   Erlach Court                                   By Ossip Schubin.
   The Alpine Fay                                     By E. Werner.
   The Owl's Nest                                    By E. Marlitt.
   Picked Up In The Streets                         By H. Schobert.
   Saint Michael                                      By E. Werner.
   Violetta                           By Ursula Zoge von Manteufel.
   The Lady With The Rubies                          By E. Marlitt.
   Vain Forebodings                                   By E. Oswald.
   A Penniless Girl                                 By W. Heimburg.
   Quicksands                                 By Adolph Streckfuss.
   Banned And Blessed                                 By E. Werner.
   A Noble Name                               By Claire von Gluemer.
   From Hand To Hand                               By Golo Raimund.
   Severa                                            By E. Hartner.
   A New Race                                      By Golo Raimund.
   The Eichhofs                          By Moritz von Reichenbach.
   Castle Hohenwald                           By Adolph Streckfuss.
   Margarethe                                        By E. Juncker.
   Too Rich                                   By Adolph Streckfuss.
   A Family Feud                                  By Ludwig Harder.
   The Green Gate                                 By Ernst Wichert.
   Only A Girl                           By Wilhelmine von Hillern.
   Why Did He Not Die?                      By Ad. von Volckhauser.
   Hulda                                           By Fanny Lewald.
   The Bailiff's Maid                                By E. Marlitt.
   In The Schillingscourt                            By E. Marlitt.
   Countess Gisela                                   By E. Marlitt.
   At The Councillor's                               By E. Marlitt.
   The Second Wife                                   By E. Marlitt.
   The Old Mam'selle's Secret                        By E. Marlitt.
   Gold Elsie                                        By E. Marlitt.
   The Little Moorland Princess                      By E. Marlitt.

                           *   *   *   *   *

"Mrs. A. L. Wister, through her many translations of novels from the
German, has established a reputation of the highest order for literary
judgment, and for a long time her name upon the title-page of such a
translation has been a sufficient guarantee to the lovers of fiction of
a pure and elevating character, that the novel would be a cherished
home favorite. This faith in Mrs. Wister is fully justified by the fact
that among her more than thirty translations that have been published
by Lippincott's there has not been a single disappointment. And to the
exquisite judgment of selection is to be added the rare excellence of
her translations, which has commanded the admiration of literary and
linguistic scholars."--_Boston Home Journal_.

                           *   *   *   *   *

                J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.






                             THE EICHHOFS

                               A ROMANCE


                            FROM THE GERMAN
                                   OF
                         MORITZ VON REICHENBACH


                                   BY
                           MRS. A. L. WISTER
     TRANSLATOR OF "THE SECOND WIFE," "THE OLD MAM'SELLE'S SECRET,"
                       "ONLY A GIRL," ETC., ETC.




                             PHILADELPHIA:
                       J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY.
                                 1896.





                           *   *   *   *   *
               Copyright, 1881, by J. B. Lippincott & Co.
                           *   *   *   *   *






                               CONTENTS.


   CHAPTER
       I. Shadows of Coming Events

      II. Two Discontented Fathers

     III. Hidden Springs

      IV. Gossip

       V. Marriage

      VI. A Farewell Glass and a Death-bed

     VII. Unexpected

    VIII. At The Tomb

      IX. Cloudy Weather at Eichhof

       X. Found and Lost

      XI. Thea Rounds her First Promontory

     XII. Another Promontory Comes In Sight

    XIII. A Period put to a Long Row of Figures

     XIV. The Mistress of Eichhof and her Guests

      XV. In Berlin

     XVI. Revelations and their Consequences

    XVII. The Consequences begin to Appear

   XVIII. An Eventful Day

     XIX. The Shadows Gather

      XX. Dr. Nordstedt

     XXI. Summer Days

    XXII. A Crisis

   XXIII. A Short Chapter, with a Far Glance into the Future

    XXIV. Per Crucem ad Lucem

   CONCLUSION






                             THE EICHHOFS.



                               CHAPTER I.

                       SHADOWS OF COMING EVENTS.


In a box of the Berlin Opera-House sat three young officers. All wore
the uniform of the same regiment of the Guards, and all three were
directing their opera-glasses towards the same opposite box.

"The girl has just got home from boarding-school, and will have a _dot_
of half a million in cash," observed Lieutenant von Hohenstein,
dropping his opera-glass.

"The deuce she will! No end of pity that I am such an infernal
aristocrat,--it would be such a fine morsel for a poor younger son,"
said the younger of the Von Eichhof brothers, with a laugh, as he
stroked his blonde moustache. "She has a good figure, too, and any
amount of fire in her eyes."

"True," said his elder brother; "but why under heaven does the portly
mamma, with her double chin, and huge satin-clad bust, plant herself so
close to her Rose of Sharon, proclaiming to all the world, 'As she is
now so was I once, and as I am now so shall she one day be'?"

"Take warning, Hohenstein," laughed Lothar Eichhof.

"Pshaw! there's no danger," the other replied, leaning back in his
comfortable chair and stretching his long legs as far out as the limits
of the box would allow.

"Councillor Kohnheim greeted you with extreme affability, I thought,
just now, and you are well informed as to the financial affairs of the
family," Lothar persisted, in a teasing tone.

Hohenstein put up his hand to conceal a yawn. Among his peculiarities
was that of being bored everywhere and always.

"Kohnheim thinks wealth no disgrace, and loves to acquaint people with
the amount of his own," he said. "Besides, he is my landlord; of course
we are acquainted. To my German eyes, however, the ladies are of too
Oriental a type. I have no desire to know them."

"Thank heaven! then there is nothing to fear from that quarter. I
confess it vexes me when one of our good old names is allied to such a
family."

"Make your mind easy on my account," rejoined Herr von Hohenstein. "I
do not undervalue wealth, but I prize blood rather more."

Lothar Eichhof meanwhile was scanning the house, while his elder
brother, Bernhard, had withdrawn into the shadow, and was steadily
scrutinizing through his glass the foreign ambassadors' box. He now
dropped his glass, shook his head, then put up his glass again, and
finally said, more to himself than to his companions, "That is--Marzell
Wronsky--and---- He bit his lip, and did not finish the sentence.

"Marzell Wronsky?" Lothar repeated. "Where?" But as he spoke he
discovered him. "I did not know he had come back!" he exclaimed. "I
wonder if the handsome blonde beside him is his wife?"

"Probably," said Hohenstein. "Where does the lady come from? Marzell's
marriage was so sudden that one hardly knows anything about it."

"She is a kind of cousin of his," said Lothar, "with a Polish name,
ending in 'ky' or 'ka,' and was formerly married to a Hungarian, who
either died or was divorced from her. Marzell met her last year at
Wiesbaden, and shortly afterwards they were betrothed and married."

"And where has he been hiding since?"

"He has been travelling with his bride. I must go over and see them in
the next entr'acte. You will come, too?"

"Of course; this new addition to society must be inspected."

Bernhard Eichhof had taken no part in the conversation, but had
frequently glanced towards the box where the persons under discussion
were sitting. When, at the close of the act, the other two men arose,
with the evident intention of visiting its occupants, he sat still, in
apparent indecision.

"Well, are you not coming?" asked Lothar "Marzell is more your friend
than ours. I confess I am going more from curiosity than from
friendship."

Bernhard looked over at the box once more. "They are just rising;
perhaps they are going to leave the house," he said, hesitating.

"Yes, they seem to be going," said Hohenstein, resuming his seat.

"Well, then, I will go and reconnoitre," said Lothar, "and if you see
me in the box you two can come over."

In five minutes he returned. "The Wronskys are really gone. Marzell
seems to have adopted high and mighty manners since his marriage. He
puts in an appearance only during a single act. However, we shall
certainly see his wife at Eichhof, if we should fail to meet her here."

"Quite time enough for the acquaintance. I have scarcely seen Marzell
since the old school-boy days, and am not at all intimate with him
now," Bernhard remarked.

If his two companions had been less occupied with the new prima-donna,
and with the champagne supper at a noted restaurant after the opera was
over, they must have noticed that Bernhard was unusually absent-minded
and monosyllabic all through the evening. But his mood was entirely
unnoticed by them,--all the more since several brother officers joined
their party, which did not break up until long past midnight.

When at last the young men separated, the two brothers Von Eichhof
walked together to their apartments, at present beneath the same roof,
and for a while not a word was exchanged between them.

Then the younger asked, suddenly, "Shall I tell you the news, Bernhard?
I'm at the end of my income,--the last thaler went to-night."

Bernhard turned with some impatience. "Lothar," he exclaimed,
reproachfully, "this is really too much! When I helped you out last
month you promised me----"

"Come, come, my dear fellow, there's no use in that," Lothar
interrupted him. "I know as well as you do that I partake largely of
the character of the domestic fly, provided, indeed, that that insect
is endowed with a character. I frisk in the sunshine and buzz or
grumble in the shade."

"I cannot understand your jesting in such a matter, Lothar."

"But what am I to do, then?" the other rejoined. "Whether I indulge in
poor jokes or sit in sackcloth and ashes, the confounded fact remains
the same. 'All I have is gone, gone, gone,'" he hummed, _sotto voce_;
but suddenly he grew grave and sighed. "Shall I go to-morrow to Herr
Solomon Landsberger, who has often and with great kindness offered to
give me his valuable assistance?" he asked.

They walked a few steps farther in silence, and then Bernhard said, "I
can't understand what becomes of your money. You have apartments just
like mine and live very much the same life that I do."

"With the exception of the extra bills, which I dare not send to
Eichhof."

Bernhard made an impatient gesture, but Lothar went on: "I know what
you mean. You mean that I ought to think of the future, when our
positions will be so different. I ought to consider that what is all
right for the future possessor of Eichhof is supreme folly for a petty
lieutenant. All true and just; but why the deuce, then, did our father
put me in the same regiment with yourself? and why does every one
expect exactly the same from the poor lieutenant as from the eldest son
and heir? and why are people so infernally stupid as not to take into
account the immense difference between us?"

"It was certainly unfortunate," said Bernhard, "that you joined just
this regiment; no doubt you are led here into many expenses that can
hardly be avoided; but still----"

"Well, then, I'd better go to friend Solomon to-morrow, and try my luck
with him," Lothar interrupted him.

Bernhard stamped his foot impatiently.

"Don't talk nonsense!" he exclaimed. "Of course I shall help you out,
since, as you justly remark, I may send in extra accounts when I
please; but pray listen to reason, Lothar. You know that we shall
shortly cease to live here together. When I marry I can no longer
place my means at your disposal as at present."

"Ah, when Thea is your wife, I shall quarter myself upon you so soon as
my money is gone. It usually lasts until the twentieth of the month,
and then I shall ensconce myself in your happy home. But I have not
thanked you yet. Indeed, old fellow, you are a brick of a brother. Then
I need not pay my respects to friend Solomon to-morrow?"

Meanwhile they had reached their lodgings, and, as Bernhard was putting
his key in the lock, he said, "I will help you through this time,
Lothar, but remember it is the last. You must learn prudence, and it is
in direct opposition to my principles to encourage this perpetual
getting into debt. I did not, as you know, make the laws controlling
inheritance, and I cannot alter the fact that our circumstances will be
very different in the future. But I say now only just what I should say
were you in my place and I in yours. Every man must cut his coat
according to his cloth."

"And if one is a six-footer and has only a scrap of cloth, he is in a
desperate case," thought Lothar; but he kept his thought to himself,
and softly whistled an opera air as he entered their apartments with
his brother.

"It's no end of a pity that we must leave our charming quarters so
soon," he sighed, as he threw himself upon a lounge in their joint
drawing-room, which was certainly most luxuriously fitted up for a
bachelor establishment, while Bernhard opened and read, with a smile, a
letter lying upon his table.

Lothar watched him for a moment, then folded his arms and raised his
eyes to the ceiling, with an expression half resignation and half
disdain, while his thoughts ran somewhat thus: "Of course that is a
letter from Thea. What under the sun can that little country girl have
to say to him? A deuced pretty girl, and she'll make a capital wife.
It's very odd that I'm not angry with her, for there's not another
creature in the world so confoundedly in my way. If it were not for
her, we should keep our comfortable lodgings, and Bernhard, who is
certainly a trump, would go on paying my bills; and, besides, he has
grown so infernally serious since he has had that little witch's
betrothal-ring on his finger; before then we lived a jolly life enough.
It is all Thea's fault,--his immense gravity, his ceasing to pay my
debts, and our having to give up our delightful rooms. It is,
therefore, Thea who prevents my enjoying my youth, as I should do
otherwise, and yet, in spite of all this, I am rather fond of her. But
it is not my nature to bear malice towards any woman, even although she
be such an unformed little country girl as Thea, who certainly might
have been content to wait a few years longer."

"Bernhard," he suddenly said aloud, "I will withdraw to my inmost
apartment, and leave you to your letter and to dreams of future
petticoat rule."

Bernhard put his letter in his pocket. "I have finished," he said, "and
am going to bed. Thea sends her love to you."

"Of course," yawned Lothar; "thanks. We'll talk about the other matter
to-morrow?"

"Yes. Good-night, Lothar."

"Good-night, old fellow."




                               CHAPTER II.

                        TWO DISCONTENTED FATHERS.


A forest bridle-path. The ground is covered with gnarled, twisted
roots, and the way is bordered with dark pines, and firs somewhat
lighter in tone, between which only a narrow strip of spring sky shines
down upon the two riders pursuing the dim pathway. Their horses, slowly
walking abreast, seem by no means content to saunter thus; the chestnut
upon which the man is mounted champs its bit impatiently, and the gray
by its side pricks its ears, but the girl upon the back of the latter
is as interested as her companion in the conversation going on between
them, and neither pays any heed to the signs of their steeds'
impatience, while the groom riding at some distance behind them is
enjoying a huge sandwich that he has produced from his pocket, in full
security from observation.

"It is too vexatious to know nothing about it all!" the girl exclaimed.
"I am almost ashamed never to have been in Berlin."

"But, good heavens, you are so young, Adela!" her companion rejoined.

"If we are to continue friends, Walter, you will not begin again about
my fifteen years, of which there can be no further mention after next
month, when I shall be sixteen," was the irritated