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Updated: June 15, 2025
Clara's head fell forward and she covered her eyes with her hands, uttering a short, sharp cry like that of an animal mortally wounded. The servant stood still at Rieseneck's side, staring stupidly from one to the other. Fully ten seconds elapsed before Greifenstein recovered his presence of mind. 'You are ill, Clara, he said in a choking voice. 'I will take you to your room.
He went back to his own father's story from its first beginning, and beyond that to the untimely death of the father of old Greifenstein, which had led to the second marriage of the latter's mother, and so to the birth of Rieseneck with all his woes and miserable deeds; then to the early quarrels of the two half-brothers, to their separation, to the singular state of things in which Greifenstein hardly knew of his brother's marriage and never saw the face of his brother's wife; then onward to Rieseneck's surrender of the arsenal guard, to his imprisonment, escape and exile, followed by his wife's unlawful marriage to the brother of her living husband, then to the evil fatality which had sent a child in this false union to inherit so much shame and horror, to be saved from it, so far at least, by his unknown brother, appearing as his cousin, Rex, the traitor's son.
'Clara von Rieseneck, your hour is come. 'Mercy, Kuno! For God's sake 'There is no mercy. Confess your crime. The time is short. The wretched old woman tried to rise, but Rieseneck's hand kept her upon her knees. 'You shall do me this justice before you go, he said. 'Repeat your misdeeds after me. You, Clara Kurtz, were married to me in the year eighteen hundred and forty-seven.
It was easier to believe that her conduct was due to some other cause, that she had really never heard of Rieseneck's existence, and that there was some other person whose possible return, in consequence of the amnesty, she dreaded as much as Greifenstein feared the reappearance of his half-brother.
He knew well enough that the newspapers would contain an account of Rieseneck's attempt, and he feared lest some journalist with a long memory should recall the fact of the relationship. Like most men who have formerly lived in a capital, he fancied that every one still knew him, and respected him, and he attached immense importance to the mere mention of his name.
So long as Greifenstein and Clara had been alive, Hilda's marriage with Greif had seemed right in her eyes. She regretted Rieseneck's disgrace, as a family disaster, but her conscience was not so sensitive as to look at it in the light of an obstacle to the union. Now, however, there was that before her there upon the bed of state in the glare of the lights which changed everything very much.
He drew back from his brother's touch and answered in a broken voice: 'Let me go. Let me leave this house 'No! exclaimed the other firmly. 'You shall not go yet. Again he grasped Rieseneck's arm, this time with no intention of relinquishing his hold. 'Let him go, Hugo! gasped Clara.
That Clara had been intentionally murdered, she could not doubt. Greifenstein might have slain her in a fit of passion and might have taken his own life afterwards, but this could not account for Rieseneck's suicide. She could have believed that for some unknown reason Rieseneck had killed his brother and Clara, and after disposing their bodies as they were found, had shot himself.
The servant asked the gentleman's name. 'Herr Brandt, answered Greifenstein without hesitation. The letter had informed him that Rieseneck's application to be included in the amnesty had been absolutely refused, and that he had fled a second time under an assumed name.
It was the reason why my father lived here in the forest so quietly. He was afraid that people would remember he was Rieseneck's brother. You see, the affair made a great noise at the time. Your mother knows all about it. Well, it was hard enough, as I say, to have such a disgrace in the family. We did not know that Rieseneck had a son I found that my best friend his name is Rex is he.
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