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On the Heights: Countess

These, with Countess Brinkinstein, the high-priestess of etiquette and decorum--Bruno, Countess Irma's brother, and others who appear less prominently, were the characters, the intermingling of whose lives furnishes a story of the expiating of sin, full of warning to those who are on the brink of wrong-doing and replete with suggestion to the self-sanctified. The story opens with the birth of a prince in the royal household. A nurse from the highlands is found in Walpurga, wife of Hansai, a humble peasant, whom the queen kissed upon her arrival, and this, being so contrary to the etiquette of the court, is taken up by the scandal-mongers and recorded in the newspapers, offending the king and awakening his thought that the queen is weak and sentimental.

Countess Irma, because of her official position, has access at all times to the young prince's apartments, and it is soon apparent that she is fast attaining royal favor. One day the king lays his hand upon hers and looks at her in such a manner that Walpurga tells her it is improper, but is advised to attend to her own affairs, and the countess, writing to a friend, boasts that the king prefers her above all others and that he has given her a feather from an eagle that he shot.

Later, when they are alone together, the king asks the countess if, when they are by themselves, he may call her his "true comrade," and makes remarks implying that the queen and he are not in closest harmony. The devotion of his wife, however, is abundantly attested by a mighty struggle through which she passes. She was a Protestant and the king a Catholic and out of love to him she resolves to give up her religion, but instead of pleasing his Majesty this only makes him angry, because he takes it to be another token of her weakness, and he gets Doctor Gunther to dissuade her from such a course. He also sends flowers every day to Countess Irma, who is flattered, but away down in her heart she is offended and she writes her friend that she feels herself altogether alone in the world.

Soon after this the king goes on a hunting trip and he asks the queen to have the countess write to him about the baby prince. The queen begins to be suspicious of her husband and the scandal concerning the relations of the king and Irma increases.

In the midst of the turmoil the countess is called home to her father, but he and she did not understand each other, and when, after a while, a letter signed by the king and the ladies of the court requests that she return to them, Irma, after some hesitation, complies, and one day near a statue of liberty for which the countess was the model the king clasps her in his arms and imprints the "kiss of eternity" upon her lips. Later at a ball he tells her that she is beautiful and that he loves her, and she consoles herself with the thought that "the priest gave him to the queen, but nature gave him to her."

At an opportune moment her brother Bruno tells Irma that her actions are the talk of the town and the best way out of the matter is for her to get married. Colonel von Bronnen, a noble courtier, proposes to her but is rejected, and the countess begins to realize that, "It is hell to be conscious of guilt and yet remain beside a pure and happy creature."

In the mean time Walpurga completes her term of service, and before leaving for home calls upon Irma, who gives her a bag of gold won at the gaming-table the night before.

In the little village in the highlands, every one at first patronized Walpurga and Hansai, but, receiving no favors at their hands, the people show that human nature is the same there as at court, for they circulate all sorts of scandalous tales concerning them; but when the happy couple purchase an extensive "freehold" the good wishes of all their old friends go with them to their new abode. At this juncture some one at court writes to Irma's father, informing him that she is "the king's mistress," and at the news he is fatally stricken, but before he passes away he presses his hand to his daughter's brow and she interprets the act as setting there the mark of Cain and wears a bandage over it forever after.

Irma is now in a terrible state of mind, and when the king writes to her, "I alone can kiss away the shadows that cloud your brow," it only increases her desperation and she resolves upon suicide.

She writes thus to the queen: "I expiate my crime in death." And to the king: "We are treading the wrong path. You belong not to yourself alone, but to your people. Death is my expiation for sin. Life must be yours. God knows we did not mean to do wrong."

On the way to end her life the countess meets a pitiable woman who had been ruined by her brother Bruno. This woman drowns herself in the lake and Irma stumbles on, bruised and bewildered, and is found by Walpurga and Hansai on their journey to their newly purchased freehold. Concealing her identity from all but Walpurga, she accompanies the party to their mountain home. Report of the countess's death soon spreads abroad and search is made for her body, but no trace of it is found, yet a tablet is erected by the lake bearing this inscription: "Here perished Irma, Countess of Wildenort, in the twenty-first year of her life. Traveler, pray for her and honor her memory." Back at court, the king, upon receiving Irma's letter, is deeply repentant and saddened by the reflection that "there is no greatness without morality." He goes to the queen's room to ask her forgiveness, but she is full of bitterness and feigns to be asleep, and later she vents her spite and vituperation upon him.

The king thinks that Doctor Gunther is responsible for this, and the physician is discharged and goes back to live in his old home in the highlands. For three years Irma lives with Walpurga, supposedly dead, but really expiating her sins and so growing in sweetness and purity that all who enter her presence look upon her as an angel and are lifted and inspired. At length on a day when the king and queen and the court are at a near-by village Irma, fatally ill, sends for Doctor Gunther, who hastens to her side and, placing his hand upon her forehead, pronounces this benediction: "In your father's name I bless you and with this kiss I kiss away your burdens. You are free."

Walpurga hastens to the queen, who is now stricken with selfcondemnation for her hateful spirit and her unjust pride in her own virtue. She realizes that Irma's pennance is one through which she herself ought to pass, and when she reaches the shepherd's hut there is mutual forgiveness. The king has been hunting in the vicinity. Since receiving Irma's letter he has lived a manly life and in penitence has sought to promote the welfare of all his people. Word is conveyed to him of what is taking place, and he rides with all haste, but arrives on the scene only to find that the countess has passed away; but his heart leaps with joy when the queen turns to him with the cry: "Forgive me, Kurt. You have expiated. You--alone. She--alone." Her Majesty takes out an amulet, which she has worn next to her heart. It is the betrothal ring the king had given her, and he puts it again upon her finger and clasps her in his arms.