As she sat in her room, contemplating the new turn of her life, her thoughts turned to Anton, and his unnerving resemblance to the figment in her dreams. She felt inexplicably drawn to him, as though he were the answer to a puzzle she had worked over in her mind all of her life.
She noticed him standing on the balcony, high above her head. Madeleine put her hands to her head, feeling a sudden sense of disorientation. She wanted to shout up to him, to demand the answers from him. But he would think her only mad. Perhaps he was only just there! Perhaps he had not gone there to watch her struggle with her disturbing visions.
Did she imagine that he was some sort of sorcerer, and that he had conjured those visions to torment her in her sleep? It could not be! He was not a magician, only a man.
But all of this changed for her on the day she met Barbara.
Madeleine turned from him in the garden. "I did not know... about Barbara," she said merely.
"Didn't you?" he asked. "What of it?"
"You are to marry her!" Her voice reverberated in the stillness. "You led me to believe..." Madeleine turned on him in fury.
Anton continued to look at her coolly. "You do not know the half of it," he said.
At his cool tone, Madeleine felt even more angry. "Don't touch me again," she said merely, and walked from him.
His hands came to either side of her head, and she found herself lodged against the cool stone. No, she thought, this must not happen. But she felt powerless to stop the passion between them. She did not protest as his mouth met hers. He tightened his hold on her as spray blew up in the wind and dampened their faces and clothes.
Madeleine pushed him away.
"You are so proud!" he said.
"Too proud, you might say, to become involved with someone like yourself.
*
Now that Madeleine knew the truth, everything was different. Anton had wanted her to learn the truth! He had deliberately provoked her dreams, tried in every way he knew to make her realize the truth, without seeming to do so. Why? Madeleine wanted to demand.
She could not understand why he would torture her in such a way. Then it came to her that perhaps he saw her as a means to escape his relationship to Barbara, who was clearly viperous and would make him miserable all of his life. Barbara! How she would hate Madeleine, perhaps, if she knew the truth!
Madeleine stifled a small cry of dismay. How could she have involved herself with Anton in such a way? Why was she so powerless to fight the passion she felt for him? What he had done to her was so wrong!
But Madeleine had once been Anton's betrothed. Luther had decreed it so. Did Anton think things would change if it was known that Madeleine had once been Gisela Weisse, the girl that Anton would marry, however unwillingly? It was a mad plot. Madeleine could not suspect it even of Anton. But in many ways, she felt as afraid of Anton as she did of Luther, who had once imprisoned and abused her.
Barbara presented herself in the parlor, her pixie-like face surrounded by clusters of brown curls. She was impish-looking at first, but another glance yielded notice of a darker implication behind her playful jibes.
Hildegarde hated her. She pouted every time that Barbara entered the room, and she railed against the way Barbara patronized her, acting almost motherly. Hildegarde acted as though she were caught in a web, flailing everytime Barbara drew her into her embrace.
Madeleine found Barbara particularly repulsive. Barbara was the one who was qualified to receive Anton's embraces. And how she gloried in them! Perhaps once she had found them boring, but now that she had a rival! Everytime she had the opportunity, she kissed Anton on the cheek, or pressed his hand in a proper but intimate manner. His face seemed to be made of granite each time Barbara touched him.
Madeleine could not help but think how mobile his mouth had been when he had kissed her... How their passion had known no boundaries when she had first come to Heidelburg. But all of that was done now! Anton had only been using her, using her passion, perhaps, to play into his plan. Did he really think when she learned her identity that she would be truly willing to marry him?
Someone at the castle wished to harm her! And she could not be sure that it was not Anton! How could she approach Luther with him and reveal the truth about her past? She would not do it! She could not stay in this house a moment longer.
*
They were in the greenhouse, the three of them. How curiously warm it was! Madeleine thought of how the glass trapped the warmth of the sun within the greenhouse, causing it to be warming than the world outside of it.
"How beautiful you look," Anton said to Madeleine in a low voice as they paused in a corner.
She stared at him, shocked by his boldness. She communicated her feelings with her eyes, but he only smiled. He touched one hand to the folds of her gown, quite removed from herself as they were by the stiff crinoline, but it still seemed an intimacy as she watched him work the pale blue material thoughtfully between his fingers.
"My father has bought this for you," he said, his brows lifting.
The material was too expensive for a governess's salary. That was his implication.
Madeleine's heart quailed as she remembered how she had admired it in Mannheim, and Luther had sent it to her in short order. She should not have accepted it! But she should not have thought much of it if Anton had not brought it in such a sinister light with so few words. Luther had bought the gown for her! Luther was spending an inordinate amount of time with her!
But it was Anton who was taking liberties or was at least attempting to do so.
"I'll have done with your implications!" Madeleine said, too loudly, and elicted Barbara's notice.
Her brow creased delicately in concern as she looked from one to the other, and went to them, her ruffles sussurating in the close space against the ends of tables and low shelves. "It is a beautiful gown, Madeleine," she said with a smile to Madeleine which was too kind, then looked to Anton with an expression of mild rebuke. "Have you embarrassed her?" she demanded of him. "It is too unkind of you. Madeleine looks lovely today, and the wonders she has worked with Hildegarde would justify Luther's purchase of a dozen such lovely gowns. It is fitting she be justly rewarded for her miracles."
Barbara drew Madeleine from Anton and smiled at her confidingly. "You must have heard by now what an incorrigible child Hildegarde was before you came to the castle! How undisciplined! How immature! If I may say so, Miss Kerrin, despite your own breeding, you have turned our Hildegarde into a proper lady."
Hildegarde's reaction, Madeleine thought, would have been anything but ladylike had she heard Barbara's provoking words.
As it was, Anton raised a brow in annoyance. "My dear," he said, "you exaggerate to the extreme, and flatter Miss Kerrin to no end. Have done with her. Look at the violets you have come to see, and we will be done with this."
Barbara went quickly to the violets and studied them, the flowers she so loved, which seemed to Madeleine, more so now that she knew Barbara liked them, sinister flowers, which grew in darkness, apparently delicate like Barbara, but thriving in black, rotted soil beneath forest leaves.
"What did you care to see, Miss Kerrin?" Anton asked, bringing a quick blush to Madeleine's cheeks at his direct look. As though he could guess her unkind thoughts!
"The venus fly trap," she said immediately. "Lord von Heidel told me of it, and I must confess my reluctance to believe its existence!"
"Ah," he said. "Three have died which Father brought from South America, but one is still alive. It is the hardiest of them, but I do not know if it will survive the winter."
"How strange it is to think of a carnivorous plant as delicate!" Madeleine remarked as she went to him, and again she was reminded of Barbara, and had to stop herself from more uncharitable thoughts about her.
But the venus fly trap was fascinating in its own right. It was not a lovely plant, but it was delicate, smaller than Barbara's violets, and a pale, sickly green which testified that it might not last the cold German winter.
"I am shocked that you would be so inclined toward such an appalling plant," Anton commented. "It really brings out the worst in people. Soon you will be catching a fly to give it."
"I should not do that!" Madeleine objected. "It is an appalling plant, but an honest one too! It makes no pretentions about its intents. The tendrils without each leaf do resemble a row of teeth. How fascinating. I have only seen these in books."
"I should have taken it to the conservatory long ago to salvage it were I not disgusted by it," Anton commented drily.
Madeleine picked up the small pot immediately. "Then you must allow me to nurture it!" she said. "It is such a fascinating specimen that I cannot allow it to die. And it will catch far more flies in the conservatory, when they blow in from the kitchen, then it will here."
Anton smiled ruefully at her. "How well you love unloveable things!" He caught her gaze, and Madeleine felt something meaningful pass between them. As before, it was as though Barbara were no longer in the room. But perhaps he was so immoral, that he did not care where he looked at another woman, or how openly he flirted with her.
Madeleine turned from him quickly.
She noticed him standing on the balcony, high above her head. Madeleine put her hands to her head, feeling a sudden sense of disorientation. She wanted to shout up to him, to demand the answers from him. But he would think her only mad. Perhaps he was only just there! Perhaps he had not gone there to watch her struggle with her disturbing visions.
Did she imagine that he was some sort of sorcerer, and that he had conjured those visions to torment her in her sleep? It could not be! He was not a magician, only a man.
But all of this changed for her on the day she met Barbara.
Madeleine turned from him in the garden. "I did not know... about Barbara," she said merely.
"Didn't you?" he asked. "What of it?"
"You are to marry her!" Her voice reverberated in the stillness. "You led me to believe..." Madeleine turned on him in fury.
Anton continued to look at her coolly. "You do not know the half of it," he said.
At his cool tone, Madeleine felt even more angry. "Don't touch me again," she said merely, and walked from him.
His hands came to either side of her head, and she found herself lodged against the cool stone. No, she thought, this must not happen. But she felt powerless to stop the passion between them. She did not protest as his mouth met hers. He tightened his hold on her as spray blew up in the wind and dampened their faces and clothes.
Madeleine pushed him away.
"You are so proud!" he said.
"Too proud, you might say, to become involved with someone like yourself.
Now that Madeleine knew the truth, everything was different. Anton had wanted her to learn the truth! He had deliberately provoked her dreams, tried in every way he knew to make her realize the truth, without seeming to do so. Why? Madeleine wanted to demand.
She could not understand why he would torture her in such a way. Then it came to her that perhaps he saw her as a means to escape his relationship to Barbara, who was clearly viperous and would make him miserable all of his life. Barbara! How she would hate Madeleine, perhaps, if she knew the truth!
Madeleine stifled a small cry of dismay. How could she have involved herself with Anton in such a way? Why was she so powerless to fight the passion she felt for him? What he had done to her was so wrong!
But Madeleine had once been Anton's betrothed. Luther had decreed it so. Did Anton think things would change if it was known that Madeleine had once been Gisela Weisse, the girl that Anton would marry, however unwillingly? It was a mad plot. Madeleine could not suspect it even of Anton. But in many ways, she felt as afraid of Anton as she did of Luther, who had once imprisoned and abused her.
Barbara presented herself in the parlor, her pixie-like face surrounded by clusters of brown curls. She was impish-looking at first, but another glance yielded notice of a darker implication behind her playful jibes.
Hildegarde hated her. She pouted every time that Barbara entered the room, and she railed against the way Barbara patronized her, acting almost motherly. Hildegarde acted as though she were caught in a web, flailing everytime Barbara drew her into her embrace.
Madeleine found Barbara particularly repulsive. Barbara was the one who was qualified to receive Anton's embraces. And how she gloried in them! Perhaps once she had found them boring, but now that she had a rival! Everytime she had the opportunity, she kissed Anton on the cheek, or pressed his hand in a proper but intimate manner. His face seemed to be made of granite each time Barbara touched him.
Madeleine could not help but think how mobile his mouth had been when he had kissed her... How their passion had known no boundaries when she had first come to Heidelburg. But all of that was done now! Anton had only been using her, using her passion, perhaps, to play into his plan. Did he really think when she learned her identity that she would be truly willing to marry him?
Someone at the castle wished to harm her! And she could not be sure that it was not Anton! How could she approach Luther with him and reveal the truth about her past? She would not do it! She could not stay in this house a moment longer.
They were in the greenhouse, the three of them. How curiously warm it was! Madeleine thought of how the glass trapped the warmth of the sun within the greenhouse, causing it to be warming than the world outside of it.
"How beautiful you look," Anton said to Madeleine in a low voice as they paused in a corner.
She stared at him, shocked by his boldness. She communicated her feelings with her eyes, but he only smiled. He touched one hand to the folds of her gown, quite removed from herself as they were by the stiff crinoline, but it still seemed an intimacy as she watched him work the pale blue material thoughtfully between his fingers.
"My father has bought this for you," he said, his brows lifting.
The material was too expensive for a governess's salary. That was his implication.
Madeleine's heart quailed as she remembered how she had admired it in Mannheim, and Luther had sent it to her in short order. She should not have accepted it! But she should not have thought much of it if Anton had not brought it in such a sinister light with so few words. Luther had bought the gown for her! Luther was spending an inordinate amount of time with her!
But it was Anton who was taking liberties or was at least attempting to do so.
"I'll have done with your implications!" Madeleine said, too loudly, and elicted Barbara's notice.
Her brow creased delicately in concern as she looked from one to the other, and went to them, her ruffles sussurating in the close space against the ends of tables and low shelves. "It is a beautiful gown, Madeleine," she said with a smile to Madeleine which was too kind, then looked to Anton with an expression of mild rebuke. "Have you embarrassed her?" she demanded of him. "It is too unkind of you. Madeleine looks lovely today, and the wonders she has worked with Hildegarde would justify Luther's purchase of a dozen such lovely gowns. It is fitting she be justly rewarded for her miracles."
Barbara drew Madeleine from Anton and smiled at her confidingly. "You must have heard by now what an incorrigible child Hildegarde was before you came to the castle! How undisciplined! How immature! If I may say so, Miss Kerrin, despite your own breeding, you have turned our Hildegarde into a proper lady."
Hildegarde's reaction, Madeleine thought, would have been anything but ladylike had she heard Barbara's provoking words.
As it was, Anton raised a brow in annoyance. "My dear," he said, "you exaggerate to the extreme, and flatter Miss Kerrin to no end. Have done with her. Look at the violets you have come to see, and we will be done with this."
Barbara went quickly to the violets and studied them, the flowers she so loved, which seemed to Madeleine, more so now that she knew Barbara liked them, sinister flowers, which grew in darkness, apparently delicate like Barbara, but thriving in black, rotted soil beneath forest leaves.
"What did you care to see, Miss Kerrin?" Anton asked, bringing a quick blush to Madeleine's cheeks at his direct look. As though he could guess her unkind thoughts!
"The venus fly trap," she said immediately. "Lord von Heidel told me of it, and I must confess my reluctance to believe its existence!"
"Ah," he said. "Three have died which Father brought from South America, but one is still alive. It is the hardiest of them, but I do not know if it will survive the winter."
"How strange it is to think of a carnivorous plant as delicate!" Madeleine remarked as she went to him, and again she was reminded of Barbara, and had to stop herself from more uncharitable thoughts about her.
But the venus fly trap was fascinating in its own right. It was not a lovely plant, but it was delicate, smaller than Barbara's violets, and a pale, sickly green which testified that it might not last the cold German winter.
"I am shocked that you would be so inclined toward such an appalling plant," Anton commented. "It really brings out the worst in people. Soon you will be catching a fly to give it."
"I should not do that!" Madeleine objected. "It is an appalling plant, but an honest one too! It makes no pretentions about its intents. The tendrils without each leaf do resemble a row of teeth. How fascinating. I have only seen these in books."
"I should have taken it to the conservatory long ago to salvage it were I not disgusted by it," Anton commented drily.
Madeleine picked up the small pot immediately. "Then you must allow me to nurture it!" she said. "It is such a fascinating specimen that I cannot allow it to die. And it will catch far more flies in the conservatory, when they blow in from the kitchen, then it will here."
Anton smiled ruefully at her. "How well you love unloveable things!" He caught her gaze, and Madeleine felt something meaningful pass between them. As before, it was as though Barbara were no longer in the room. But perhaps he was so immoral, that he did not care where he looked at another woman, or how openly he flirted with her.
Madeleine turned from him quickly.