You did not know that I had an uncle?'
Hilda shook her head, looking up for a moment.
'He was a bad man, too,' continued Greif. 'He had been an officer and
had betrayed his trust in the times of revolution, was sentenced and
imprisoned; he escaped from the fortress, made his way to South
America, and lived there for forty years in exile, until the amnesty
was proclaimed. He was not Greifenstein, he was Rieseneck, half-brother
to my father by the mother's side and younger than he. That was bad
enough, however. 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.'
'How strange!' exclaimed Hilda. 'Why is his name Rex?'
'It is not, exactly. He and his father called themselves so in order
not to be identified. It was almost necessary for them--as it may be
for me now.'
'For you ?' asked Hilda in the utmost astonishment. 'You would change
your name--why?'
Greif stared at her. She seemed not to understand at all, and yet he
had gone into Rieseneck's story merely to make his own seem more
terrible by comparison.
'You must know that, in the world, such calamities as have befallen me
leave a mark, a stain even upon the innocent,' said Greif.
Pages:
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338