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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/36827-8.txt b/36827-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..71b358b --- /dev/null +++ b/36827-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6854 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vulture Maiden, by Wilhelmine von Hillern + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vulture Maiden + [Die Geier-Wally.] + +Author: Wilhelmine von Hillern + +Translator: C. Bell + E. F. Poynter + +Release Date: July 23, 2011 [EBook #36827] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/vulturemaidendie00hilluoft. + + + + + + + COLLECTION + + OF + + GERMAN AUTHORS. + + VOL. 29. + + * * * * * + + THE VULTURE MAIDEN BY W. von HILLERN. + + IN ONE VOLUME. + + + + + + + TAUCHNITZ EDITION. + + By the same Author, + + THE HOUR WILL COME . . . . . 2 vols. + + + + + + + THE + + VULTURE MAIDEN + + [DIE GEIER-WALLY.] + + BY + + WILHELMINE von HILLERN. + + FROM THE GERMAN + + BY + + C. BELL AND E. F. POYNTER. + + + _Authorized Edition_, + + + + + LEIPZIG 1876 + + BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ. + + LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON. + CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. + + PARIS: C. REINWALD, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PÈRES; THE GALIGNANI + LIBRARY, 224, RUE DE RIVOLI. + + _The Author reserves the Right of dramatizing this Tale_. + + + + + + + TO BERTHOLD AUERBACH, Esq. + + +Permit me to offer you the fruit that I have gathered in a field +peculiarly your own. Under your powerful hand the difficult ground of +German peasant-life has yielded up its wealth of poetry; and if others, +with myself, now reap in the field tilled by you, it is our first duty +to think of you with gratitude, and to render to you the honour that is +rightly yours. + +_Freiburg in Brisgau_, April 1875. + + The Author. + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + INTRODUCTION + + CHAPTER I. Joseph, the Bear-hunter + + -- II. Unbending + + -- III. Outcast + + -- IV. Munzoll's Child + + -- V. Old Luckard + + -- VI. A Day at Home + + -- VII. "Hard Wood" + + -- VIII. The Klotz Family of Rofen + + -- IX. In the Wilderness + + -- X. The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte + + -- XI. At Last + + -- XII. In the Night + + -- XIII. Back to her Father + + -- XIV. The Message of Grace + + + + + + THE VULTURE-MAIDEN. + + A TALE OF THE TYROLESE ALPS. + + +Far down in the depths of the Oetz valley, a traveller was passing. On +the eagle heights of the giddy precipice above him, stood a maiden's +form, no bigger than an Alpine rose when seen from below, yet sharply +defined against the clear blue sky, the gleaming ice-peaks of the +Ferner. There she stood firm and tranquil, though the mountain gusts +tore and snatched at her, and looked without dizziness down into the +depths where the Ache rushed roaring through the ravine, and a sunbeam +slanting across its fine spray-mist painted glimmering rainbows on the +rocky wall. To her, also, the traveller and his guide appeared minutely +small as they crossed the narrow bridge, which thrown high over the +Ache, looked from above like a mere straw. She could not hear what the +two were saying, for out of those depths no sound could reach her but +the thundering roar of the waters. She could not see that the guide, a +trimly-attired chamois-hunter, raised his arm threateningly, and +pointing her out to the stranger said: "That is certainly the +Vulture-maiden standing up yonder; no other maid would trust herself on +that narrow point, so near the edge of the precipice. See, one would +think that the wind must blow her over, but she always does just the +contrary to what other reasonable Christian folk do." + +Now they entered a pine-forest, dark, damp, and cold. Once more the +guide paused, and sent a falcon-glance upwards to where the girl stood, +and the little village spread itself out smilingly on the narrow +mountain plateau in the full glow of the morning sun, which as yet +could hardly steal a sidelong ray into the close, grave-like twilight +of the gorge. "Thou needn't look so defiant, there's a way up as well +as down," he muttered, and disappeared with the stranger. As though in +scorn of the threat, the girl sent up a halloo, so shrilly repeated +from every side, that a flying echo reached even the silent depth of +the fir-wood with a ghostly ring, like the challenging cry of the +chamois-hunter's enemy, the fairy of the Oetz valley. + +"Ay, thou may'st scream; I'll soon give it back to thee," he threatened +again; and throwing himself stiffly back, and supporting his neck with +both hands, he pealed forth, clear and shrill as a post-horn, a cry of +mocking and defiance up the mountain-side. + +"She hears that, maybe?" + +"Why do you call the girl up there the Vulture-maiden?" asked the +stranger down in the moist, dim, rustling forest. + +"Because, Sir, when she was only a child she look a vulture's nest, and +fought the old bird," said the Tyrolese. "She is the strongest and +handsomest girl in all the Tyrol, and terribly rich, and the lads let +her drive them off, so that it's a shame to see. There's not one of +them sharp enough to master her. She is as shy as a wild cat, and so +strong that the boys declare no one can conquer her: if one of them +comes too near, she knocks him down. Well, if ever I went up there +after her, I'd conquer her, or I'd tear the chamois-tuft and feather +from my hat with my own hands." + +"Why have you not already tried your luck with her, if she is so rich +and so handsome?" asked the traveller. + +"Well, you see, I don't care for girls like that--girls that are half +boys. It's true, she can't help herself. The old man--Stromminger is +his name--is a regular wicked old fellow. In his time he was the best +wrestler and fighter in the mountains, and it sticks to him still. He +has often beaten the girl cruelly and brought her up like a boy. +She has no mother, and never had one, for she was such a big strong +child that her mother could scarcely bring her into the world, +and died of it. That's how it is the girl has grown up so wild and +masterful."--This was what the Tyrolese down in the ravine related to +the stranger, and he had not deceived himself. The maiden who stood out +yonder above the precipice was Wallburga Stromminger, daughter of the +powerful "chief-peasant," also called the Vulture-maiden; and he had +spoken truly, she deserved this name. Her courage and strength were +boundless as though eagle's wings had borne her, her spirit rugged and +inaccessible as the jagged peaks where the eagles build their nests, +and where the clouds of heaven are rent asunder. + +Wherever anything dangerous was to be done, there from her childhood +upwards, was Wally to be found, putting the lads to shame. As a child +even she was wild and impetuous as her father's young bull, which she +had known how to subdue. When she was scarcely fourteen years old, a +peasant had descried on a rugged precipice a golden vulture's nest with +one young one, but no one in the village dared venture to seize it. +Then the head-peasant, scoffing at the valiant youth of the place, +declared he would make his Wallburga do it. And sure enough Wally was +ready for the deed, to the horror of the women and the vexation of the +lads. "It is a tempting of Providence," said the men. But Stromminger +must have his jest; all the world must learn by experience that the +race of Stromminger down to the children's children might seek its +match in vain. + +"You shall see that a Stromminger girl is worth ten of you lads," he +said laughing to the peasants, who streamed together to witness the +incredible feat. Many grieved for the beautiful and stately young life +that might perhaps fall a sacrifice to the father's boasting; still, +everyone wished to see. As the precipice to which the nest clung was +almost perpendicular, and no human foot could tread it, a rope was +fastened round Wally's waist. Four men, foremost amongst whom was her +father, held it, but it was horrible to the lookers-on to see the +courageous child, armed only with a knife, walk boldly to the edge of +the plateau, and with a vigorous spring let herself down into the +abyss. If the knot of the rope should give way, if the vulture should +tear her in pieces, if in her descent she should dash out her brains +against some unnoticed crag? It was a God-forsaken act of Stromminger's +so to risk the life of his own child. Meanwhile Wally sailed fearlessly +through the air, till midway down the precipice she exultingly greeted +the young vulture, who ruffled his downy feathers, and piping, gnawed +with his shapeless beak at his strange visitor. Hardly pausing to +consider, she seized the bird which now raised a lamentable cry with +her left hand and tucked it under her arm. There was a rushing sound in +the air, and in the same instant a dark shadow came over her, a roaring +filled her ears, and a storm of blows fell like hail upon her head. Her +one thought was "The eyes--save the eyes," and pressing her face +closely against the rock, she hit blindly with the knife in her right +hand at the raging bird that threw itself upon her with its sharp beak, +its claws and wings. Meanwhile the men above hastily drew in the rope. +Still for a time during the ascent, the battle in the air continued; +then suddenly the vulture gave way, and plunged into the abyss--Wally's +knife must have wounded it. Wally however came up bleeding, her face +torn by the rocks, and holding in her arms the young bird, that at no +price would she have relinquished. + +"But, Wally," cried the assembled people, "why didn't thou let the +young one go, then the vulture would have loosed its hold." "Oh," she +said simply, "the poor thing can't fly yet, and if I had let him go, +he'd have fallen down the precipice and been killed." + +This was the first and only time in her whole life that her father gave +her a kiss; not because he was touched by Wally's noble compassion for +the helpless creature, but because she had performed an heroic action +that would reflect honour on the illustrious race of Stromminger. + +Such was the maiden who stood out now on the projecting rock, where the +foot could hardly find room to rest, and dreamily looked down into the +ravine over which she hung; for often, with all her impetuosity, a +strange stillness would come over her, and she would gaze sadly before +her, as though she saw something for which she longed, and which she +yet might not attain. It was an image that always remained the same, +whether she saw it in the grey morning twilight, or in the golden glow +of noon, in the evening red, or in the pale moonlight, and for a year +it had followed her wherever she went or stood, below in the valley, or +above on the mountain. And when, as now, she was out and alone, and her +large chamois-eyes, at once wild and shy, wandered across to the +white-gleaming glaciers, or down into the shadow-filled gorge where the +Ache thundered on its way, still she sought him whom the image +resembled; and when now and then a traveller, minutely small in the +distance, glided past below, she thought, "That may be he," and a +strange joy came to her in the fancy that she had seen him, even though +she could distinguish nothing but a human form, no bigger than a moving +image in a peep-show. And now as those two wayfarers passed along, of +whom the one enquired about her, and the other threatened her, she +thought again, "It may be he." Her bosom seemed too tight for her +beating heart, her lips parted, and like a lark set free, her joy +soared up in a pealing song. And as the hunter in the wood below heard +its dying echo, so an echo of his reply reached her, and she listened +with an intoxicated ear--it might be his voice! and a blushing +reflection of her warm rush of feeling spread itself over the wild, +defiant face. She could not hear that the song was a song of scorn and +defiance. Had she known it, she would have clenched her sinewy fist, +she would have tried the strength of her arm, and over her face dark +shadows would have passed, till it grew pale as the glaciers after +sunset. But now she sat down on the stone that supported her, and +swinging her feet as they hung over the abyss, she rested her graceful +head on her hands, and gave herself up to dreaming over again all the +strange things that had happened that first time that she ever saw him. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Joseph, the Bear-hunter. + + +It was at Whitsuntide, just a year before, that her father had taken +her to Sölden for the confirmation; thither the bishop came every other +year, because there is a high-road that leads to Sölden. She felt a +little ashamed, for she was already sixteen years old, and so tall. Her +father would not let her be confirmed before; he thought that with it +would come at once love-makings and suitors--and time enough for that! +Now she was afraid that the others would laugh at her. But no one took +any notice: the whole village when they arrived was in excitement, for +it was said that Joseph Hagenbach of Sölden had slain the bear that had +shown itself up in Vintschgau, and for which the young men in all the +country round had watched in vain. Then Joseph had set out across the +mountains, and by Friday last he had already got him. The messenger +from Schnalser had brought the news early, and Joseph himself was soon +to follow. The peasants of Sölden, who were waiting in front of the +Church, were full of pride that it should be a Söldener that had +performed the dangerous deed, and talked of nothing but Joseph, who was +indisputably the finest and strongest lad in all the mountains, and a +shot without a rival. The girls listened admiringly to the tales of +Joseph's heroic deeds, how no mountain was too steep for him, no road +too long, no gulf too wide, and no danger too great; and when a pale, +sickly-looking woman came towards them across the village-green, they +all rushed up to her and wished her joy of the son who had won such +glory. + +"He's a good one, thy Joseph," said the men cordially; "he's one from +whom all may take example." "If only thy husband had lived to see this +day, how rejoiced he would have been," said the women. + +"No, no one would ever believe," cried one quaintly, "that such a fine +fellow was thy son--not looking at thee." + +The woman smiled, well-pleased. "Yes, he's a fine-grown lad, and a good +son, there can't be a better. And yet, if you'll believe it, I never +have an hour's peace for him; there's not a day that I don't expect to +see him brought home with his limbs all broken. It's a cross to bear!" + +The religious procession now appeared upon the place, and put an +end to the talk. The people thronged into the little church with the +white-robed, gaily-wreathed children, and the sacred office began. + +But the whole time Wally could think of nothing but Joseph, the +bear-slayer, and of all the wonderful things he must have done, and of +how splendid it was to be so strong and so courageous, and to be held +in such great respect by every one, so that no one could get the better +of him. If only he would come now, whilst she was in Sölden, so that +she also might see him; she was really quite burning to see him. + +At length the confirmation was over, and the children received the +final blessing. Suddenly, on the green outside in front of the church, +there was a sound of wild shouting and hurrahs. "He has him, he +has the bear!" Scarcely had the bishop spoken the last words of the +blessing when every one rushed out, and joyfully surrounded a young +chamois-hunter, who, accompanied by a troop of fine and handsome lads +from the Schnalser valley and from Vintschgau, was striding across the +green. But handsome as his comrades might be, there was not one of them +that came near him. He towered above them all, and was so beautiful--as +beautiful as a picture. It seemed almost as though he shone with light +from afar; he looked like the St. George in the church. Across his +shoulders, he carried the bear's fell, whose grim paws dangled over his +broad chest. He walked as grandly as the emperor, and never took but +one step when the others took two, and yet he was always ahead of them; +and they made as much ado about him as though he had been the emperor +indeed, dressed in a chamois-hunter's clothes. One carried his gun, +another his jacket; all was wild excitement, shouting and huzzaing--he +alone remained composed and tranquil. + +He went modestly up to the priest, who came towards him from the +church, and took off his garlanded hat. The bishop, who was a stranger, +made the sign of the cross over him and said, "The Lord was mighty in +thee, my son! With his help thou hast performed what none other could +accomplish. Men must thank thee--but thou, thank thou the Lord!" + +All the women wept with emotion, and even Wally had wet eyes. It was as +though the spirit of devotion that had failed her in church, first came +to her now, as she saw the stately hunter bow his proud head beneath +the priest's benedictory hand. Then the bishop withdrew, and now +Joseph's first enquiry was, "Where is my mother? Is she not here?" + +"Yes, yes," she cried, "here am I," and fell into her son's arms. + +Joseph clasped her tightly. "See, little mother," he said, "I should +have been sorry for thy sake not to come back again. Thou dear little +mother, thou'd never have known how to get on without me, and I too +should have been loth to die without giving thee one more kiss." + +Ah, it was beautiful, the way he said it! Wally had quite a strange +feeling--a feeling as though she could envy the mother who rested so +contentedly in the loving embrace of the son, and clung so tenderly to +the powerful man. All eyes rested with delight on the pair, but an +unutterable sensation filled Wally's heart. + +"But tell us now, tell us how it all happened." + +"Yes, yes, I'll tell you," he said laughing, and flung the bearskin on +to the ground, so that all might see it. They made a circle round him, +and the village landlord had a cask of his best ale brought out and +tapped on the green; for one must drink after church, and above all on +such an extra occasion as this, and the little inn-parlour could never +have held such an unusual concourse of people. The men and women +naturally pressed close round the speaker, and the newly-confirmed +children climbed on to benches, and up into trees, that they might see +over their heads. Wally was foremost of all in a fir-tree, where she +could look straight down upon Joseph; but the others wanted her place; +there was some noise and struggling because she would not give way, and +"Saint George" looked up at them. His sparkling eyes fell upon Wally's +face, and remained smilingly fixed on it for a moment. All Wally's +blood rushed to her head, and she could hear her heart beating in her +very ears with her intense fright. In all her life before she had never +been so frightened, and she had not an idea why! She heard only the +half of what Joseph was relating, there was such a singing in her ears; +all the while she was thinking, "Suppose he were to look up again?" And +she could not have told whether she wished it or dreaded it most. And +yet, when in the course of his story it did once happen again, she +turned away quickly and ashamed, as though she had been found out in +something wrong. Was it wrong to have looked at him so? It might be, +and yet she could not leave off, though she trembled so incessantly +that she was afraid he might notice it. But he noticed nothing; what +did he care for the child up there in the tree? He had looked up once +or twice as he might have looked at a squirrel--nothing further. She +said so to herself, and a strange sorrow stole over her. Never before +had she felt as she did to-day; she was only thankful that she had +drunk no wine on the road; she might have thought that it had got into +her head. + +In her confusion she began playing with her rosary. It was a beautiful +new one of red coral, with a chased cross of pure silver, that her +father had given her for her confirmation. All of a sudden as she +turned and twisted it, the string broke and, like drops of blood, the +red beads rolled down from the tree. "That is a bad sign," an inner +voice whispered to her, "old Luchard doesn't like it--that anything +should break when one is thinking of something!" Of something! Of what +then had she been thinking? She turned it over in her mind, but she +could not discover. Precisely she had been thinking of nothing in +particular. Why then should she be so troubled by the string breaking +just at that moment? She felt as though the sun had suddenly paled, and +a cold wind were blowing over her; but not a leaf was stirring, and the +icebound horizon glittered in the radiant sunlight. The shadow of a +cloud had passed--within her--or without her? How could she tell? + +Joseph meanwhile had finished relating his adventure, and had shown +round the purse containing the forty florins paid by the Tyrolese +government as the reward for shooting a bear, and there was no end to +the handshakings and congratulations. Only Wally's father held sullenly +aloof. It angered him that any one should accomplish a great and heroic +deed; no one in the world had any right to be strong but himself and +his daughter. During thirty years he had been esteemed, without +dispute, the strongest man in the whole range of mountains, and he +could not bear now to find himself growing old, and obliged to make way +for a younger generation. When, however, someone said to Joseph that it +was no wonder he should be such a strong fellow--he had it from his +father who had been the best shot and the best wrestler in the whole +place--then the old man could contain himself no longer, but broke in +with a thundering "Oho! no need to bury a man before he's dead!" + +Everyone fell back at the threatening voice. "It's Stromminger!" they +said, half-frightened. + +"Ay, it is Stromminger, who's alive still, and who never knew till this +moment that Hagenbach had been the best wrestler in the place. With his +tongue, if you like, but with nothing else!" + +Joseph turned round like a wounded wild cat, glaring at Stromminger +with flaming eyes. "Who says that my father was a boaster?" + +"I say it, the head-peasant of the Sonnenplatte, and I know what I'm +saying, for I've laid him flat a dozen times, like a sack." + +"It is false," cried Joseph, "and no man shall blacken my father's +name." + +"Joseph, be quiet," the people whispered about him, "it's the +head-peasant--thou mustn't make a quarrel with him." + +"Head-peasant here, head-peasant there! If God in Heaven were to come +down to blacken my father's name, I wouldn't put up with it. I know +very well, my father and Stromminger had many a wrestling-bout +together, because he was the only one who could stand up with +Stromminger. And he threw Stromminger just as often as Stromminger +threw him." + +"It's not true!" shouted Stromminger, "thy father was a weak fool +compared to me. If any of you old fellows have a spark of honour, +you'll say so too--and thou, if thou doesn't believe it after that, +I'll knock it into thee!" At the word "fool" Joseph had sprung like a +madman, close up to Stromminger. "Take thy words back, or--" + +"Heavens above us!" shrieked the women. "Let be, Joseph," said his +mother soothingly, "he's an old man, thou mustn't lay hands on him." + +"Oho!" cried Stromminger, purple with rage, "you'd make me out an old +dotard, would you? Stromminger is none so old and weak yet but he can +fight it out with a half-fledged stripling. Only come on, I'll soon +show thee I've some marrow left in my bones. I'm not afraid of thee yet +awhile, not if thou'd shot ten bears." + +And like an enraged bull the strong old man threw himself on the +young hunter, who in spite of himself gave way under the sudden and +heavy spring. But he only staggered for a moment; his slender form +was so firmly knit, was so supple in yielding, so elastic in rising +again--like the lofty pines of his native soil, that grow with roots of +iron in the naked rock, buffeted by all the winds of heaven and bearing +up against their mountain-load of snow. As easily might Stromminger +have uprooted one of these trees, as have flung Joseph to the ground. +And in fact, after a short struggle, Joseph's arms closely clasped +Stromminger, tightening round and almost choking him, till a deep groan +came with his shortening breath, and he could not stir a hand. And now +the young giant began to shake the old man, bending first on one side, +then on the other, striving steadily, slowly but surely to force first +one foot and then the other from under him, and so loosen his foothold +by degrees. The bystanders hardly dared to breathe as they watched the +strange scene--almost as though they dared not look on at the felling +of so old a tree. Now--now Stromminger has lost his footing--now he +must fall--but no; Joseph held him up, bore him in his strong arms to +the nearest bench and set him down on it. Then he quietly took out his +handkerchief and dried the beads of sweat from Stromminger's brow. + +"See, Stromminger," he said, "I've got the better of thee, and I might +have thrown thee; but God forbid that I should bring an old man to +shame. And now we will be good friends again; we bear no malice, +Stromminger?" + +He held out his hand, smiling goodhumouredly, but Stromminger struck it +back with an angry scowl. "The devil pay thee out--thou scoundrel," he +cried. "And you, all you Söldeners who have amused yourselves with +seeing Stromminger made a laughing-stock for the children--you shall +learn by experience who Stromminger is. I'll have nothing more to do +with you, and grant no more time for payments--not if half Sölden were +to starve for it." + +He went up to the tree, where Wally still sat as in a nightmare, and +pulled her by the gown. "Come down," he said, "thou'll get no dinner +there. Not a Söldener shall ever see another kreuzer of mine." But +Wally, who had rather fallen than got down from the tree, stood as if +spell-bound with her eyes fixed almost beseechingly on Joseph. She +thought he must see how it pained her to go away; she felt as though he +must take her hand in his, and say, "Only stay with me: thou belong'st +to me, and I to thee, and to no other!" But he stood still in the midst +of a knot of men who were whispering together in dismay, for many in +the village owed money to Stromminger, whose wealth circulated in the +very veins of the whole neighbourhood. + +"Well--wilt thou go on?" said Stromminger, giving the girl a push, and +she had to obey him whether for weal or woe; but her lips trembled, her +breast heaved painfully; she flung a glance of powerless anger at her +father; he drove her before him like a calf. So they went on for a few +steps; then they heard some one following them, and turning round, +there stood Joseph with a couple of peasants behind him. + +"Stromminger," he said, "don't be so headstrong. You can never go, you +and the girl, all that long way to the Sonnenplatte, without eating +anything." + +He stood close to Wally; she felt his breath as he spoke, his eyes +rested on her, his hand lay compassionately on her shoulder; she knew +not how it happened--he was so good, so dear--and she felt as she did +when, taking the vulture's nest, the rushing sound of its wings +suddenly filled her ears, and sight and hearing went from her. Even so, +something overwhelming to her young heart, lay in his presence, in his +touch. She had not trembled when the mighty bird hovered above her, +darkening the sun with his broad pinions, she had known how to defend +herself calmly and bravely; but now she trembled from head to foot, and +stood bewildered and confused. + +"Get off!" cried Stromminger, and clenched his fist at Joseph, "I'll +hit thee in the face if thou doesn't let me be--I will, if it cost me +my life." + +"Well--if you won't, you won't, and so let it be,--but you're a fool, +Stromminger," said Joseph calmly, and he turned round and went back +with the others. + +Now no one tried to detain them; they walked on unmolested, farther--at +each step farther away from Joseph. Wally looked round, and still for a +time she could see his head towering above the others, she could still +hear the confused sound of voices and of laughter on the green before +the church. She could not yet believe that she was really gone, that +she should not see Joseph again--perhaps never again. Now they turned a +corner of the rock and all was hidden, the village green with all the +people and Joseph--and every thing, every thing was gone. Then suddenly +there came upon her, as it were, a revelation of a great joy of which +she had had one glimpse, and which was lost to her for ever now. She +looked around as though imploring help in her soul's need, in this new, +this unknown anguish. And there was none to answer her and to say, "Be +patient, presently all will be well!" Dead and motionless were the +rocks and cliffs all around, dead and motionless the Ferner looked down +upon her. What did they care, they who had seen worlds come and worlds +pass away, for this poor little trembling woman's heart? Her father +walked on at her side, silent as though he were a moving rock. And he +it was that was guilty of all. He was a wicked, hard, cruel man; there +was not a creature in the world that took any interest in her. And +while she thought all this, struggling with herself, she walked on +mechanically farther and farther in advance of her father, up hill and +down hill, as though she wished to walk off her heart's pain. The +scorching sun glared on the blank wall of rock, she strove for breath, +her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth, all her veins throbbed; +suddenly her strength gave way, she threw herself on the ground and +broke into loud sobs. + +"Oho! what's all this about?" exclaimed Stromminger in the greatest +astonishment, for never since her earliest infancy had he seen his +daughter weep. "Art out of thy wits?" + +Wally made no reply; she gave herself up to the wild outbreak of her +soul's suffering. + +"Speak, will thee? open thy mouth or--" + +Then from her throbbing, raging heart, like a mountain torrent from the +cleft rock, she poured forth the whole truth, overwhelming the old man +with the rush and ferment of her passion. She told him everything, for +truthful she had always been and unaccustomed to lying. She told him +that Joseph had pleased her, that she felt such a love for him as no +one in the world had ever felt before, that she had been rejoicing so +in the thought of talking to him, and that if Joseph had only heard how +strong she was and how she had already done all sorts of strong things, +he would certainly have danced with her and he would certainly have +fallen in love with her too; and now her father had deprived her of it +all, because he must needs fall upon Joseph like a madman; and now she +was a laughing-stock and a disgrace, so that Joseph to the last day of +his life would never look at her again. But that was always the way +with her father, he was always hard and mad with everyone, so that +everywhere he was called the wicked Stromminger--and now she must atone +for it all. + +Then suddenly Stromminger spoke. "I've had enough of this," he cried. +There was a whistling through the air, and such a blow from her +father's stick crashed down upon Wally that she thought her spine was +broken; she turned pale and bowed her head. It was as hail falling on +the scarce opened blossom of her soul. For a moment she was in such +pain that she could not stir; bitter tears forced themselves through +her closed eyes, like sap from a broken stem; otherwise she lay still +as death. Stromminger waited by her muttering curses, as a drover +stands by a heifer that, felled by a blow, can do no more. + +Around them all was still and lonely, no voice of bird, no rustling of +trees broke the silence. On the narrow rocky path where father and +daughter stood, no tree ever bore a leaf, no bird ever built its nest. +A thousand years ago the elements must have warred here in fearful +conflict, and far as the eye could reach nothing could be seen but the +giant wrecks of the wild tumult. But now the fires were burnt out that +had rent the ground, and the waters subsided that had swept away the +strong ones of the earth in their raging flood. There they lay hurled +one upon another, the motionless giants; the mighty powers that had +moved them lay slumbering now, and peace as of the grave lay over all +as over monuments of the dead, and pure and still as heavenward +aspirations the white glaciers rose high above them. Only man, +ever-restless man, carried on even here his never ending strife, and +with his suffering destroyed the sublime peace of nature. + +At last Wally opened her eyes and gathered her strength to go on; no +further lamentation passed her lips, she looked at her father +strangely, as though she had never seen him before; her tears were +dried up. + +"Thou may guess now what'll come of it, if thou thinks any more of yon +scoundrel that made thy father a jest for children," said he, holding +her by the arm, "for thou may know this, that I'd sooner fling thee +down from the Sonnenplatte than let Joseph have thee." + +"It is well," said Wally, with an expression that startled even +Stromminger; such unflinching defiance lay in the simple words, in the +tone in which they were spoken, in the glance of irreconcilable enmity +which she threw at her father. + +"Thou's a wicked--wicked thing," muttered he between his teeth. + +"I have not stolen anything," she answered in the same tone. + +"Only wait awhile--I'll pay thee out," he snarled. + +"Yes, yes," she answered, nodding her head, as if to say, "only try +it!" Then they said no more to each other the whole way back. + +When they had reached home, and Wally had gone into her room to take +off her holiday finery, old Luckard who had lived with her mother and +her grandmother, and who had brought Wally up from her cradle, put her +head in at the door. "Wally, hast been weeping?" she whispered. + +"Why?" asked the girl with unwonted sharpness. + +"There were tears on the cards--I laid out the pack of cards for thy +confirmation; thou fell between two knaves and I was frightened at it; +it was all as near as if it had happened to-day and close by." + +"Like enough," said the girl indifferently, and laid away her mother's +beautiful gown in the big wooden chest. + +"Does anything ail thee, child?" asked the old woman. "Thou looks so +ill and thou'st come home so early. Didn't thou dance?" + +"Dance!" The girl laughed, a hard shrill laugh, as though one should +strike a lute with a hammer till the strings ring back all jarred and +jangled out of tune. "What have I to do with dancing." + +"Something's happened to thee, child--tell me--perhaps I can help +thee." + +"None can help me," said Wally, and shut down the lid of the chest as +if she would bury in it all that was oppressing her. It was as though +she were closing down the coffin-lid over all her youthful hopes. + +"Go now," she said imperiously, as she had never spoken before, "I +shall rest awhile." + +"Jesus, Maria!" shrieked Luckard, "there lies thy rosary all broken. +Where are the beads?" + +"Lost." + +"Oh! Lord! Lord! what ill luck! only the cross is left and the empty +string. To break thy rosary on thy confirmation day! and tears on the +cards besides! Our Father in Heaven! what will come of it?" + +Thus lamenting, half pushed out by Wally, the old woman left the room, +and Wally bolted the door after her. She threw herself on the bed and +lay motionless, staring at the picture of the Holy Mother and at the +crucifix which hung on the wall opposite. Should she pour out her +sorrows to these? No! The Mother of God could bear her no good-will, +otherwise she would not have let just her confirmation day above +all others be so spoilt for her. Besides, she could not know what +love-sorrows were, for she had known suffering only through her Son, +and that was something quite different from what Wally felt. And the +Lord Jesus Christ!--He certainly did not trouble himself about +love-stories; no one might dare to approach Him with such matters as +these. All that He desired was that one should be always striving after +the kingdom of Heaven. Ah! And all her young, wildly-beating heart was +longing and yearning with every throb for the beloved, the best-beloved +one down here on earth; the kingdom of Heaven was so far away and so +strange, how could she strive after it in this moment when, for the +first time, all powerful nature was imperiously claiming in her its +right? With bitter defiance she gazed at the images of the Mother and +Son, whose pity was for quite other griefs than hers, who demanded of +her only what was impossible. She vouchsafed to them no further word, +she was angry with them as a child is angry with its parents when they +unjustly deny it some pleasure. Long she lay thus, her eyes fixed +reproachfully on the holy images; but soon she saw before her only the +dear and beautiful face of Joseph, and involuntarily she grasped her +shoulder with her hand where his hand had lain, as though to keep firm +hold of his momentary touch. And then she saw his mother again of whom +she had been so jealous, and she lay once more in Joseph's arms, and he +caressed her so fondly; and then Wally pushed the mother away and lay +herself instead on Joseph's heart; and he held her clasped there, and +she looked down into the depths of his black flaming eyes, and she +tried to imagine what he would say, but she could think of nothing but, +"Thou dear little one," as he had said, "Thou dear little mother." And +what could be sweeter or dearer than that? Ah! what could the kingdom +of Heaven, in which those Two up yonder wanted to have her, what could +it be in comparison with the blessedness that she felt in only thinking +of Joseph--and how much greater must the reality be! + +There was a tap at her window, and she started up as if from a dream. +It was the young vulture which she had taken two years before from the +nest, and which was as faithfully attached to her as a dog. She could +leave him quite free, he never hurt anyone, and flew after her with his +clipped wings as best he could. She opened the little window, he +slipped in and looked trustingly at her with his yellow eyes. She +scratched his neck gently and played with his strong wings, now +spreading them out, now folding them together again. A cool air blew in +through the open window. The sun had already sunk low behind the +mountains, the narrow casement framed the peaceful picture of the +mountain tops veiled in blue mist. In herself too all grew more +peaceful; the evening air revived her spirit. She took the bird on her +shoulder. "Come, Hans," she said, "we are doing nothing, as though +there were no work in the world." The faithful bird had brought her +wonderful comfort. She had taken it for her own from the steep cliff +where no one else would venture; she had fought its mother for life or +death, she had tamed it and it belonged wholly to her. "And he will +also one day be mine," said an inward voice, as she clasped the bird to +her bosom. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Unbending. + + +This was the short story of love and sorrow, whose pain even now awoke +again in the young heart as she looked down into the valley, thinking +to see Joseph who so often passed along it, and never found the way up +to her. She wiped her forehead, for the sun was beginning to burn, and +she had already mowed the whole meadow-land from the house up to the +"Sonnenplatte;" so the point on which she stood was called, because +rising high above all around, it ever caught the earliest rays of the +morning sun. From it the village took its name. + +"Wally, Wally," some one now called from behind her, "come to thy +father, he's something to say to thee," and old Luckard came towards +her from the house. Her father had sent for her? What could he want? +Never since their adventure in Sölden had he spoken with her excepting +of what concerned the day's work. Wavering between fear and reluctance +she rose and followed the old woman. + +"What does he want?" she asked. + +"Great news," said Luckard, "look there!" + +Wally looked, and saw her father standing before the house, and with +him a young peasant of the place named Vincenz, with a big nosegay in +his button hole. He was a dark, robust fellow whom Wally had known from +her childhood as a reserved and stubborn man. He had never bestowed a +kindly word on anyone but Wally, to whom from her school-days upwards +he had shown a special goodwill. A few months previously both his +parents had died within a short time of each other; now he was +independent, and next to Stromminger the richest peasant in the country +side. The blood stood still in Wally's veins, for she already knew what +was coming. + +"Vincenz wants to marry thee," said her father; "I've said 'yes,' and +next month we'll have the wedding." Having thus spoken he turned on his +heel and went into the house as if there were nothing more to be said. + +Wally stood silent for a moment as though thunderstruck; she must +collect herself, she must consider what was to be done. Vincenz +meanwhile confidently stepped up to her with the intention of putting +his arm round her waist. But she sprang back with a cry of terror, and +now she knew well enough what it was she had to do. + +"Vincenz," she said, trembling with misery, "I beg of thee to go home. +I can never be thy wife--never. Thou wouldn't have my father force me +to it. I tell thee once for all I cannot love thee." + +A look brief as lightning flashed across Vincenz's face; he bit his +lips, and his black eyes were fixed with passionate eagerness on Wally. +"So thou doesn't love me? But I love thee, and I'll lay my life on it +that I'll have thee too. I've got thy father's consent and I'll never +give it back, and I've a notion thou'll come to change thy mind yet if +thy father wills it." + +"Vincenz," said Wally, "if thou'd been wise thou'd not have spoken like +that, for thou'd have known I'll never have thee now. What I will not +do, none can force me to do--that thou may know once for all. And now +go home, Vincenz; we've nothing more to say to each other," and she +turned short away from him and went into the house. + +"Oh, thou!" Vincenz called out after her in angry pain, clenching his +fist. Then he checked himself. "Well," he murmured between his teeth, +"I can wait--and I _will_ wait." + +Wally went straight to her father. He was sitting all bent together +over his accounts and turned round slowly as she entered. "What is it?" +he said. + +The sun shone through the low window and threw its full beams on Wally, +so that she stood as though wrapped in glory before her father. Even he +was amazed at the beauty of his child as she stood before him at that +moment. + +"Father," she began quietly, "I only wanted to tell you that I will not +marry Vincenz." + +"Indeed!" cried Stromminger, starting up. "Is that it? Thou won't marry +him?" + +"No, father, I don't like him." + +"Indeed! and did I ask thee if thou liked him?" + +"No, I tell it you plainly, unasked." + +"And I tell thee too unasked that in four weeks thou'll marry Vincenz +whether thou likes him or not. I've given him my word, and Stromminger +never takes his word back. Now get thee gone." + +"No, father," said the girl, "things can't be settled in that way. I'm +no head of cattle to let myself be sold or promised as the master +pleases. It seems to me I also have a word to say when it has to do +with my marriage." + +"No, that thou hasn't, for a child belongs to her father as much as a +calf or a heifer, and must do what its father orders." + +"Who says that, father?" + +"Who says so? It's said in the Bible," and an ominous flush rose on +Stromminger's face. + +"It says in the Bible that we are to honour and love our parents, but +not that we are to marry a man when it goes against us merely because +our father orders it. See, father, if it could do you any good for me +to marry Vincenz, if it could save you from death or from misery--I'd +do it willingly, and even if I were to break my heart over it. But +you're a rich man that need ask nothing of anyone; it must be all one +to you whom I marry; and you give me to Vincenz out of pure spite, that +I may not marry Joseph, whom I love, and who would certainly have loved +me if he could have got to know me; and it's cruel of you, father, and +it says nowhere in the Bible that a child should put up with that." + +"Thou--thou pert thing, I'll send thee to the priest; he'll teach thee +what the Bible says." + +"It will be no good, father; and if you sent me to ten priests, and if +they all ten told me that I must obey you in this, I yet wouldn't do +it." + +"And I tell thee thou _shall_ do it so sure as my name is Stromminger. +Thou shall do it, or I'll drive thee out of house and home and +disinherit thee." + +"That you can do, father, I'm strong enough to earn my own bread. Yes, +father, give everything to Vincenz--only not me." + +"Foolish nonsense," said Stromminger perplexed. "Shall people say of me +that Stromminger cannot even master his own child? Thou shall marry +Vincenz; if I have to thrash thee into church, thou shall." + +"And even if you thrashed me into church I'd still say no, at the +altar. You may strike me dead, but you cannot thrash that 'Yes' out of +me; and even if you could, sooner would I fling myself down from the +cliff, than I'd go home with a man I've no love for." + +"Now listen," cried Stromminger; his broad forehead was cleft as it +were, with a swelling blue vein that ran across it, his whole face was +suffused, his eyes bloodshot. "Now listen, thou'd better not drive me +mad. Thou's already had enough of my cudgel; now give in, or between us +things will come to a bad end!" + +"Things came to a bad end between us a year ago, father. For when you +beat me so that time on my confirmation day, then I felt all was at an +end between us. And see, father, since then it's been all one to me +whether you are bad to me or good, whether you treat me well or strike +me dead--it's all one to me. I have no heart left for you. You're no +dearer to me than the Similaun-, or Vernagt-, or Murzoll-glacier." + +A stifled cry of rage broke from Stromminger. Half-stupified he had +listened to the girl's words, but now, incapable of speech, he sprang +upon her, seized her by the waist, swung her from the ground high over +his head, and shook her till his own breath failed; then flinging her +to the ground he set his heavy heel studded with nails upon her breast. +"Unsay what thou has said," he gasped, "or I'll crush thee like a +worm." + +"Do it," said the girl, her eyes fixed steadily on her father. She +breathed hard, for her father's foot weighed on her like lead, but she +did not stir; not so much as an eyelash trembled. + +Stromminger's power was broken. He had threatened what he could not +perform, for at the thought of crushing the fair and innocent breast of +his child his anger faded, he grew suddenly calm. He was conquered. +Almost staggering he drew back his foot. + +"Nay, I'll not end my days in a prison," he said gloomily, and sank +exhausted into his chair. + +Wally got up, she was pale as death, her eyes were tearless, +lustreless, like a stone. She waited passively for what might come +next. Stromminger sat for a minute in bitter reflection, then he spoke +in hoarse tones. + +"I cannot kill thee, but since Similaun and Murzoll are dear to thee as +thy father, by Similaun and Murzoll thou may remain for the future, +thou may belong to them. Thou shall never more stretch thy feet under +my board. Thou shall go and mind the cattle up on the Hochjoch, till +thou's found out it's better to be in Vincenz's warm home, than in the +snow drift of the glacier. Tie up thy bundle, for I'll see no more of +thee. Go up early tomorrow, I'll let the Schnalser people know, and +send the cattle after thee next week by the boy. Take bread and cheese +enough to last till the beasts come; Klettenmaier will guide thee up +there. Now take thyself off. These are my last words and by _these_ +I'll stand." + +"It is well, father," said Wally softly; she bowed her head, and +quitted her father's room. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + Outcast. + + +"Up on the Hochjoch!" It was a fearful sentence. For in the +inhospitable regions of the Hochjoch there is none of the joyous life +of the lower pastures, where the sweet aromatic air resounds with +the tinkle of bells, with the calls of the herdsmen and mountain +girls--here are eternal winter, and the stillness of death. Sadly and +gently as a mother kisses the pale forehead of her dead child, so the +sun kisses these cold glaciers. Scanty meadows, the last clinging +vestiges of organic life penetrate, as though lost, the wintry desert, +till the last shoot perishes, the last drop of rising sap is frozen; it +is the slow extinction of nature. But the frugal peasant utilises even +these niggard remains; he sends his flocks up to graze on what they may +find there, and the straying sheep tempted to reach after a plant which +has wandered hither from a milder region, not unfrequently falls into +some crevice in the ice. + +Here it was that the child of the proud chief peasant, whose +possessions extended for miles in every direction and reached up even +to the clouds, must spend her bloom in everlasting winter. While on the +lower earth May-breezes were blowing, the rising sap opening every bud, +the birds building their nests, and all things stirring in joyous +unison, she must take the herdsman's staff and quit the spring-meadows +for the desert of the glaciers above; and only when autumn winds should +be sighing and winter preparing to descend into the valley, might she +also return thither, as though she had been sold to winter, life and +limb. + +No one of the peasants of the neighbourhood would send his shepherds up +there, but they let out the meadows to the Schnalser people who lay +nearer to the ridge on the farther side, and they sent a few half-wild, +weather-beaten fellows, who clothed themselves in skins and lived miles +asunder in stone cabins like hermits; and now Stromminger, who hitherto +had always leased his pastures, condemned his own child to lead the +life of a Schnalser herdsman. But from Wally's lips came no complaint; +she prepared herself in silence for her mountain journey. Early in the +morning, long before sunrise, whilst her father, the men, and the maids +were still sleeping, Wally set out from her father's house for the +mountain. Only old Luckard, "who had known it all beforehand from the +cards" and who had passed the night with Wally helping her make up her +bundle, stuck a sprig of rue in her hat as a farewell-token, and went +part of the way with her. The old woman wept as if escorting the dead +to the grave. Klettenmaier came behind with the pack. He was a faithful +old servant, the only one that had grown grey in Stromminger's service, +because he was deaf and did not hear when his master stormed and swore. +This was the guide her father had selected for Wally. Luckard went with +her till the road began a steep ascent. Then she took leave of them and +turned back, for she had to be home in time to prepare the first meal. + +Wally climbed the hill and looked down upon the road along which the +old woman went crying in her apron, and even her heart almost failed +her. Luckard had always been good to her; though she was old and +feeble, at least she had loved Wally. Presently the old woman turned +once more and pointed above her head. Wally's eyes followed the +direction of her finger, and behold! something floated towards the +mountain heights clumsily, uncertainly through the air, like a paper +kite when the wind fails, now flying on a little way, then falling, and +with difficulty rising again. The vulture with his clipped wings had +painfully fluttered the whole way after her; but now his strength +seemed to give way and he could only scramble along, flapping his +pinions. + +"Hansl!--oh, my Hansl!--how could I forget thee!" cried Wally, +springing like a chamois from rock to rock the shortest way back to +fetch the faithful bird. Luckard stood still till Wally once more +reached the narrow path, then greeted her again as if after a long +separation. At last Hansl too was reached, and Wally took him in her +arms and pressed him to her heart like a child. Since last evening the +bird was so identified in all her thoughts with Joseph, that it seemed +almost as if it were a dumb medium between him and her; or as though +Joseph had changed into the vulture, and in holding Hansl she clasped +him in her arms. + +As an ardent faith creates its own visible symbols to bring near to +itself the unattainable and the remote and to seize the intangible, and +as to faith a wooden cross and a painted image become miraculous--so +ardent love creates its own symbols, to which it clings when the +beloved one is far off, unattainable. Even so Wally derived now a +wonderful consolation from her bird. "Come, Hansl," she said tenderly, +"thou shall go with me up to the Ferner; we two will never be parted +more." + +"But, child," said old Luckard, "thou never can take the vulture up +there, he'd die of hunger. Thou's no meat for him up there, and +creatures like him eat nothing else." + +"That is true," said Wally sadly, "but I can't part from the bird; I +must have something with me up there in the wilderness. And I can't +leave him alone at home either; who'd look after him and take care of +him when I'm away?" + +"Oh! for that thou may be easy," cried Luckard, "I'll look after him +well enough." + +"Ay, but he'll not follow thee," said Wally; "thou'rt not used to his +ways." + +"Nay, let me have him," said Luckard. "All this long time I've taken +care of thee, surely I can take care of the bird. Give him me here, +I'll carry him home," and she pulled the vulture out of Wally's arms. +But it would not do; the noble bird set himself on the defensive, and +pecked so angrily at Luckard that she was frightened, and let go. It +was of no use for her to think of taking him home with her. + +"Thou sees," cried Wally joyfully, "he'll not leave me; I must keep +him, come what will. I was once called the Vulture-maiden and the +Vulture-maiden I must still remain. O, my Hansl, as long as we two are +together, we shall want for nothing. I'll tell thee what, Luckard, I'll +let his wings grow now, he'll not fly away from me, and then he can +find food for himself up yonder." + +"God bless thee, then, take him with thee. I'll send thee up some fresh +and salt meat by the boy, thou can give him that till he can fly +abroad." And so it was settled. Wally took the vulture under her arm +like a hen, and parted from Luckard who began to cry afresh. But Wally, +without further delay, went up the mountain again after the guide, who +had meanwhile gone on ahead. + +In two hours they reached Vent, the last village before entering the +realms of ice. Wally mounted the hill above Vent; here began the path +to the Hochjoch. Once more she paused, and leaning on her Alpenstock +looked down on the quiet, still half-dreaming village, and over the +lake beyond, and the last houses of the Oetz valley, to the farms +of Rofen which, lying almost at the foot of the ever-advancing, +ever-receding Hochvernagtferners, seemed defiantly to say to it, "Crush +us!"--even as Wally yesterday had defied her father. And like her +father the Hochvernagt each time withdrew its mighty foot, as though it +could not bear to destroy the home of its brave mountain children, "the +Klötze of Rofen." + +While she thus stood, looking down on the utmost dwellings of man +before mounting to the desert beyond the clouds, there rose from the +church-tower of Vent the sound of the bell for matins. Out of the door +of the little parsonage, where the buds of the mountain-pink tapped the +window in the morning breeze, came the priest and went with folded +hands to his pious duty in the church. Here and there the wooden houses +opened their sleepy eyes, and one figure after another coming out, +stretched itself and took its way slowly to the church. Carefully and +losing no tone by the way, the wind-winged angels bore the pious sound +up the slope, and it rang in Wally's ear like the voice of a child that +prays. And as a child arouses its mother by its sweet lisping, so the +peal from Vent seemed to have aroused the sun. He opened his mighty +eye, and the rays of his first glance shot over the mountains, an +immeasurable shaft of flame that crowned the eastern heights. The dim +grey of the twilight sky suddenly lighted up to a transparent blue, +each moment the beam grew broader in the heavens, and at length mounted +in full splendour over the cloud-veiled peaks, and turned his flaming +countenance lovingly to earth. The mountains threw off their misty +shrouds, and bathed their naked forms in streams of light. Deep down in +the ravines the clouds heaved and rolled, as though they had sunk down +thither from the pure heaven above. In the air was a rushing as of wild +hymns of joy, and the earth wept tears of blissful waking, like a bride +on her wedding morning; and like the tears on the eyelashes of the +bride, the dewdrops quivered joyfully on each blade and spray. Joy lay +everywhere,--above on the mountain tops where the dazzling rays were +mirrored in the farseeing eyes of the chamois,--below in the valley +where the lark soared, warbling, from amongst the springing corn. + +Wally gazed intoxicated on the awakening world, with eyes that could +hardly take in the whole shining picture in its pure morning beauty. +The vulture on her shoulder lifted its wings as though longingly to +greet the sun. Below in Vent, meanwhile, all was awakening to new life. +From where Wally stood she could see everything distinctly in the clear +morning light. The lads kissed the maidens by the well. White smoke +curled upwards from the houses, vanishing without a trace in the serene +spring air, as a sorrowful thought loses itself in a happy soul. On +the green in front of the church the men assembled in white Sunday +shirt-sleeves, their silver-mounted pipes in their mouths. It was +Whit-Monday, when all make holiday and rejoice. Oh! holy Whitsuntide! +just such a day must it have been when the Spirit of the Lord fell on +the disciples and enlightened them with divine illumination, that they +might go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel of Love, preach +it to open hearts, touched by the happy spring--for, in the spring-tide +of the year appeared also the spring-tide of man--the religion of love. +For her only who stood up there on the mountain was there no +Whitsuntide, no revelation of love. In her no persuasive voice had +quickened the gospel into life. A meaningless letter it had remained to +her, a buried seed which needed the vivifying ray to make it spring up +in her heart. No dew of peace fell on her from the deep blue heavens; +the bird of prey on her shoulder was to her the only messenger of love. + +At last Wally broke away from her dreamy contemplation. She gave one +farewell glance to the merry, noisy villagers, then she turned to climb +the silent snow fields of the Hochjoch--in banishment. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Murzoll's Child. + + +For five hours did Wally continue to ascend; now over whole fields of +fragrant Alpine plants, now sinking ankle-deep in snow-fields, or +crossing broad moraines. Last night's sleeplessness lay heavily upon +her limbs, and she almost despaired of ever reaching the end of her +journey. Her hands and feet trembled, for to struggle for life during +five hours against so steep an ascent is hard work. Large drops stood +on Wally's brow, when suddenly as by a magic stroke she stood before a +dense wall of cloud. She had turned an angle of the rock which hid the +sun, and now thick mists enveloped her and an icy breath dried the +sweat from her forehead. Her foot slipped at every step, for the ground +was like glass; she stood upon ice, she had stepped upon the Murzoll +glacier, the highest ridge of the serrated Hochjoch. Nothing grew here +but starveling mountain-grass between clefts in the snow; around were +the blue gleaming ice-crevasses, the virgin snow-flats, untrodden this +year by foot of man or beast. Mid-winter! Wally shuddered at its icy +touch. This was the forecourt to Murzoll's ice-palace, of which so many +tales are told in the Oetz valley, where the "phantom maidens" dwell, +of whom old Luckard had related many a story to the little Wally in the +long winter evenings when the snowstorms howled round the house. The +air that blew on her now from those desolate walls of ice, those caves +and dungeons, came to her with a ghostly thrill like a shudder out of +her childhood, as though in very truth there dwelt the dark spirit of +the glacier, with whom Luckard had so often frightened her to bed when +she had been naughty. + +Silently she walked on. At last her deaf guide halted by a low cabin +built of stone, with a wide overhanging roof, a strong door of rough +wood, and little slits instead of windows. Within were a couple of +blackened stones for a hearth, and a bed of old rotten straw. This was +the hut of the Schnalser herdsman, who had formerly found shelter here, +and here Wally was now to dwell. She did not change countenance however +at the sight of the comfortless hut; it was neither more nor less than +a bad mountain cabin, there were many such, and she was used to hard +living. It was not such things as these that could quench her resolute +spirit; but she was exhausted to faintness; since yesterday she had +gone through more than even her unusual strength could bear. +Mechanically she helped the deaf man, whom Luckard had loaded with a +number of good things for Wally, to arrange a better bed, and to make +the desolate hut somewhat more habitable. Mechanically she eat with him +some of the food Luckard had sent. The man saw that she was pale, and +said compassionately, "There, now thou's eaten something, lie down a +while and sleep. Thou needs it. I'll fetch thee up some wood meanwhile +to last thee a few days, then I must go back, or I shall never be home +by daylight, and thy father strictly ordered me to get back to-day." He +shook up a good bed of straw that he had brought with him; she sank +down on it with half closed eyes and held out her hand gratefully. + +"I'll not wake thee," he said. "In case thou'rt still asleep when I go, +I'll say goodbye to thee now. Take care of thyself and don't be +frightened. I'm sorry for thee all alone up here; but, why didn't thou +obey thy father?" + +Wally heard the last words as in a dream. The deaf man left the cabin, +shaking his head compassionately; the girl was already sound asleep. + +Her breast heaved painfully, for even in her sleep her past sorrow +weighed on her like a mountain. And she dreamed of her father; he was +dragging her into church by her hair, and she thought that if only she +had a knife so that she might cut off her hair she would be free. Then +suddenly Joseph stood by her, and with one stroke he cut through the +long plait, so that it remained in her father's hand; and while Joseph +was struggling with her father she ran out and climbed to the height of +the Sonnenplatte to throw herself into the torrent. But a terror came +over her, and she hesitated; then again she heard her father close +behind her, and urged by despair she made the leap. She fell and fell, +but could never reach the bottom, and suddenly she felt as if she were +met from below by a gust of wind that supported and carried her +upwards. So she floated, struggling always to keep the balance she +continually feared to lose, up to the very summit of Murzoll. But she +could gain no footing on the rock; a terrible whirlwind had seized her, +and she strove in vain to cling to the bare precipice, like a ship that +cannot reach the land. Black storm-clouds gathered together around her, +through which Murzoll's snowy summit rose in ghostly whiteness. Fiery +snakes shot through the black mass, the mountains quaked beneath a +crashing thunder-clap, and flung whirling backwards and forwards +between these mighty powers, a terror came over her that the tempest +might cast her head downwards into the abyss. She bowed and turned, +like a little ship on the swaying waves of the wind, striving only to +keep her head uppermost. But suddenly her feet were raised and she felt +that the weight of her head must carry her down, through the storm and +thunder and the black darkness of the clouds; she would have cried for +help, but could utter no sound--terror choked her voice. Then all at +once she felt herself supported, she was on firm ground, she lay in a +mountain cleft, as it seemed; but no, it was no cleft, they were giant +arms of stone that embraced her, and behold, out of the brightening +clouds a mighty face of stone bent over her: it was the hoary +countenance of Murzoll. His hair was of snow-covered fir trees, his +eyes were ice, his beard was of moss and his eyebrows of edelweiss; on +his brow was set as a diadem the crescent moon which shed its mild +radiance over the white face; and the icy eyes shone with a ghostly +light in its bluish rays. He gazed at the maiden with these cold eyes, +piercing but unfathomable, and beneath their glance the drops of agony +on her brow and the tears on her cheeks froze and fell down with a +faint ringing sound like crystal beads. He pressed his stony lips to +hers, and under the long kiss his mouth grew warm and dewy and +blossomed with Alpine roses, and when Wally looked up at him again +glacier streams flowed from the icy eyes down upon his mossy beard. The +black clouds had cleared away and the breath of spring stirred the +night. + +Now Murzoll moved his lips, and his voice sounded like the dull roll of +a distant avalanche. "Thy father has banished thee," he said, "I will +receive thee as my child, for a heart of cold stone may more easily be +moved than the hardened heart of man. Thou pleasest me, thou art one of +mine; there is strength in thy nature as the rocks are strong. Wilt +thou be my child?" + +"I will," said Wally, and clung to the stony heart of her new father. + +"Then stay with me and go no more among men; among them there is +strife, with me there is peace." + +"But Joseph, whom I love," said Wally, "shall I never have him?" + +"Let him be," replied the mountain, "thou mayest not love him; he is a +chamois hunter, and to such as he my daughters have sworn destruction. +Come, I will take thee to them, that they may deaden thy heart, else +thou canst not live in our eternal peace." And he carried her through +wide halls and endless galleries of ice till they came to a vast hall +that was transparent as though of crystal; the rays of the sun shone +through and broke into millions of coloured sparks, and through the +walls heaven and earth gleamed in varied and mingled splendour. There +white maiden-forms, glistening like snow, with waving veils of mist, +were playing with a herd of chamois, and it was charming to see them +sporting with the swift-footed animals, catching them and chasing them +here and there. These were Murzoll's daughters, the "phantom maidens" +of the Oetz valley. They crowded inquisitively round Wally as Murzoll +set her down on the slippery glass of the floor. They were as beautiful +as angels, and had faces like milk and blood; but as Wally observed +them more closely, a slight shudder ran through her, for she saw that +they had all eyes of ice, like their father, and that the rosy hue of +their cheeks and lips was not that of blood, but the sap of the Alpine +rose, and they were as cold as frozen snow. + +"Will you receive this maiden?" asked Murzoll. "I like her, she is +strong and firm as the rock, she shall be your sister." + +"She is fair," said the maidens; "she has eyes like the chamois. But +she has warm blood, and she loves a hunter--we know!" + +"Lay your hands on her heart that she may be frozen with all her love, +and live in bliss with you," said Murzoll. + +The damsels hastened to her--it was like the breath of a snow +storm--and laid their cold white hands on her heart; already she felt +it shrink and throb more slowly. But she kept off the maidens with both +arms and cried, "No, no, leave me. I want none of your bliss, I want +only Joseph." + +"If thou goest back amongst men we will dash Joseph to pieces, and +throw thee and him into the abyss," threatened the phantom maidens; +"for no one may live among men who has seen us." + +"Throw me into the abyss, but leave me my heart to love. All, anything +I will bear, but I will not part from my love," and with the strength +of despair Wally seized one of the damsels round the waist and wrestled +with her; and behold! the tender form was shattered in her arms, and +she held in her hand only dripping snow. The daylight was extinguished; +suddenly all was veiled in grey twilight. She stood on the bare rock; a +sharp wind drove needles of ice in her face, and instead of the +"phantom maidens" white mists whirled round her in a wild dance. High +above, Murzoll's pale countenance looked darkly down upon her through +the clouds, and his voice of thunder said, + +"Dost thou rebel against Men and Gods?--Heaven and earth will be thy +enemies. Woe is thee!" And all had vanished--Wally awoke. The chill +evening wind whistled through the window-slits on the girl. She rubbed +her eyes; her heart still trembled at the weird dream; she thought long +before she knew where she was, or could separate the images of her +dream from the reality; an inexplicable sense of horror remained in her +mind and mingled itself with all she saw. She rose from her bed and +involuntarily called loudly for the servant. She went out of the hut to +seek him; it was a clear and beautiful evening; the mists were +scattered, but the sun was low and the breeze blew keenly from the +heights. Wally hastened hither and thither in search of the deaf man; +she found only the pile of firewood that he had made for her. Then it +occurred to her that he had said he would go away while she was asleep. +It was so; he had not waited for her awakening. It was not right of him +to abandon her while she slept. To wake thus and find no one; it was +hard! All was so silent around her, so deserted and empty. It must be +six o'clock and milking time. The confiding cattle would look at the +stable door, where no mistress would come in with bread and salt for +them--she was sitting up here with her hands in her lap, and around her +far and wide stirred no living thing. Oh! the deathly stillness and +inaction--she knew not how she felt--alone, so terribly alone! She +climbed higher still, on to an overhanging point, that she might look +down upon the wide world. A vast unknown picture was spread before her +eyes in the purple of the setting sun. There lay before her to the very +verge of the horizon the great range of the Tyrol, in the distance +growing fainter and fainter, close at hand crushing and overpowering +her with their great silent sublimity; between them, like children in +their father's arms, slept the blooming valleys. A nameless longing +seized her for the beloved fields of home, that even now lay reposing +peacefully before her eyes in the evening shadows. The sun had set, and +on the horizon lay violet clouds shot with streaks of ruddy gold; +little by little, the pale full moon began to shine, contesting the +victory with the last flickering gleams of day. Down in the valleys it +was already night; here and there, scarcely visible in the distance, a +light glimmered from afar--a star of earth. Now they were going to +rest, her weary companions down yonder. With them all was well; a +friendly roof was above their heads; they rested securely in the bosom +of a sheltered home--perhaps, already half-asleep, they still listened +behind the coloured curtain of the little window to the beloved one's +song--only she was alone, thrust forth and banished, exposed +defenceless to every terror, her only shelter the inhospitable hut, +where the wind whistled through the empty window-slits. "Father, +father, how could thou have the heart to do it?" she cried aloud, but +near and far nothing answered but the rush of the night-wind. Higher +and higher rose the moon, the streaks of light in the west lost their +gold, and glimmered only a pale yellow in the darkness of the evening +sky. The outlines of the mountains seemed to shift and grow larger in +the twilight; threatening, overpowering, her nearest neighbour, the +mighty Similaun, looked down upon her. All the giant peaks around +seemed to stare at her frowningly, because she had dared to spy out +their nightly aspect. It was as though only since Wally's arrival, they +had all become so still and quiet--as a company that confers of private +affairs is suddenly dumb when a stranger enters. There she stood, the +helpless human form, so lonely in the midst of this silent, motionless +world of ice, so inaccessibly high above all living things, so strange +in the weird company of clouds and glaciers, in the terrible, +mysterious silence. "Now art thou all alone in the world!" cried an +inner voice, and an unspeakable anguish, the anguish of the forsaken +ones, swept over her. It seemed to her all at once as though she were +doomed to go on, for ever lost, through vast immeasurable space, and as +though seeking help she clung to the steep wall of rock, pressing her +wildly-beating heart against the cold stone. + +What passed within her in that hour, she herself did not know, but it +seemed as though the stone against which she pressed her young, warm, +trembling heart, had exercised some mysterious power over her, for that +hour left her hard and rough as if she had been in very truth Murzoll's +child. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + Old Luckard. + + +When about a week later the herdsman came up the mountain with the +flocks, Wally almost frightened him, she looked so wasted away; but +when he said to her, "Thy father bids me ask thee if thou'st had enough +of being up here, and if thou'll do thy duty?"--she set her teeth and +answered, "Tell my father, I'd sooner let myself be eaten piecemeal by +the vultures, than do anything to please them that drove me up here!" + +This was for the present the last message that passed between her and +her father. + +When Wally had her little flock around her, which consisted only of +sheep and goats, for larger animals could not find sufficient food on +these heights, then her old spirit revived and the mountain lost its +terrors for her. In the midst of her helpless charges she was no longer +alone, she had again some one to work for, something to care about. For +though the vulture had been a faithful companion, yet he could not do +away with the inactivity that had driven her almost to despair, and +allowed dark thoughts to gain the mastery over her. + +So little by little she became accustomed to the solitude, and it grew +dear and sweet to her. Life with its daily claims, small and great, +narrows and confines every great nature: up here Wally's untameable +spirit could expand without constraint; up here was freedom--no human +being to gainsay her, no alien will to oppose itself to hers--and +standing there, the only soul-gifted being far and wide, by degrees she +felt herself a queen on her solitary, lofty throne, a sovereign in the +unmeasurable, silent realm that lay beneath her eyes. And she looked +down at last from her heights with a mixture of pity and scorn on the +miserable race below, who, wrapped in earth-born clouds, spent their +lives in longing and grasping, in haggling and hoarding, and a secret +aversion took the place of her first home-sickness. There, far below, +were strife and anguish and crime. Murzoll had spoken truly in her +dream--up here among the pure elements of ice and snow, in the clear +atmosphere, free from all smoke, or pestilential taint of death--here +was peace, here was innocence; here among the mighty tranquil mountain +forms, which in the beginning had terrified her, the sentiment of the +sublime had flooded her soul and had raised it far above the common +measure of mankind. One only of all those low earthly inhabitants +remained to her dear and beautiful and great as before. It was Joseph +the bear-slayer, the Saint George of her dreams. But he, like herself, +dwelt more on the heights than in the valleys, he had climbed all the +sky-piercing peaks on which no other foot would venture, he brought +down the chamois from the steepest rocks, and for him nor height nor +depth had any terror; he was the strongest, the bravest of men, as she +was the strongest, the bravest of maidens. In all the Tyrol no maiden +was worthy of him but herself; in all the Tyrol no man was worthy of +her but he. They belonged to one another, they were the giants of the +mountains; with the puny race of the valleys they had nothing in +common. + +So, in her solitude, she lived for him only, and awaited the day when +this promise should be fulfilled to her. That day must come, and being +certain of this, she did not lose patience. + +Thus the summer passed away, and winter fell upon the valleys, and soon +Wally must descend with its wild forerunners, the storm and the snow, +to her estranged home. She quailed at the thought. Rather would she +have crept up here into some deepest ice-cave with suspended existence +like the wild bear than go down again to the noise and smoke of the low +spinning-room, and be wedged, together with her morose father, her +detested suitor, and the malicious servants, within the narrow compass +of the house, imprisoned behind walls of snow a foot high, out of +which, often for weeks at a time, no escape was possible. + +The nearer the time came, the heavier her heart grew, the more +despondingly did she revolt against the thought of that imprisonment; +but time passed on, and no one came to fetch her; it seemed as though +down there she was entirely forgotten. Colder ever and more wintry grew +the weather, the days ever shorter, the nights ever longer; two sheep +perished in a snow-storm; soon the animals could find no more food, and +the time for fetching home the flocks was gone and past. "They mean to +leave us to die up here of hunger," said Wally to the vulture, as she +divided her last piece of cheese with him, and a secret horror swept +over her; the young healthy life rebelled within her against the +terrible thought. What should she do? Forsake the flock and find the +homeward track, leaving the innocent beasts to perish miserably? +Nay!--that Wally would not do--she would stand or fall like a brave +commander with his troops. Or should she set out together with the +flocks, all ignorant of the road as she was, and wander over the +snow-covered Ferner to see at last one animal after another sink amid +the ice and snow, or fall into the clefts of the rock? This also was +impossible; she could do nothing but wait. + +At last, one misty autumn morning when she could not see her hand +before her face for the fog, when the little flock, trembling with +frost, were all huddled together in their fold, and Wally, stiff with +cold, sat over the fire on the hearth--then the boy appeared to conduct +her home. And though she had shrunk with horror from the thought of +slowly starving up here with her flock, yet now all her former dread of +the return home came upon her again, and she knew not which seemed the +greater evil--to sink here by the side of her harsh father Murzoll, or +to be obliged to go back to her real father. + +The herd-boy broke the silence: "Thy father bids me tell thee thou's +not to come into his sight unless thou'll do as he bids thee; but, if +thou'll not hear reason, then thou may stay with the cow-herd in the +stable--into the house thou shall not come; that he's sworn." "So much +the better," said Wally, drawing a deep breath, and the boy stared at +her in astonishment. + +Now she could go down with a light heart; now she would be spared all +contact with those hated people, and could live for herself in barn and +stable; what her father had devised as a punishment, was to her an act +of kindness. Now she could indulge her thoughts undisturbed; and if she +was in need of encouragement there was old Luckard who was always so +good to her. Yes, in her solitude she had first learned to understand +what was the true worth of such a faithful heart, and that her father +could not take from her. + +She set to work almost cheerfully to prepare for her homeward journey; +for now that her dread of the hateful intercourse with her father was +removed, she could think with silent joy on the gladness of the old +woman at the return of her foster-child. There was still some one down +yonder who took pleasure in her, and that thought did her good. + +"Come, Hansl," she said when all was packed to the vulture, who, with +ruffled feathers, sat unwilling to move on the hearth, "now we are off +to see old Luckard!" + +"But Luckard's not at the farm any more," said the boy. + +"Why, where is she, then?" asked Wally startled. + +"The master has turned her out." + +"Turned her out! old Luckard!" cried Wally. "Why, what's been the +matter?" + +"She couldn't get on with Vincenz, and he's everything with the master +now," the boy explained in a tone of indifference, and, whistling, he +hoisted the bundle of Wally's things. Wally had turned quite pale. "And +where is she now?" she asked. + +"With old Annemiedel in Winterstall." + +"How long ago did it happen?" + +"Oh, about three weeks ago. She cried ever so, and could hardly walk, +the fright went to her knees; Klettenmaier and the boy had to hold her +or she'd have tumbled down. All the village stood round and looked on +to see her go away." + +Wally had listened motionless, her sunburnt face had turned quite pale, +and her breast heaved painfully. When the boy had ended, she seized her +staff from the wall, flung the vulture on to her shoulder, and stepped +out of the hut. + +"Go on first," she commanded in a hoarse voice. The little flock was +quickly assembled, the milking gear packed together, and the procession +set itself in motion. Wally spoke not a word; a fearful tension marked +her features, and with lips pressed together, a threatening line that +recalled her father's look between her thick brows, she led the flock +onwards with long strides, her firm step leaving deep tracks in the +snow. Faster and ever faster she walked, the farther down she got, till +the boy with the flock could scarcely keep up with her, and where the +way was steep she struck the iron point of her staff into the soil and +swung herself down with a mighty spring, so that only the vulture in +the air could follow her path over cliffs and crevasses. Often both +herdsman and flock vanished in the mist behind her; then she stood +still and waited a moment till they were in sight, and when the boy had +indicated the direction of the road, on she went again without rest or +pause, as if it were a matter of life and death. + +At last the region of perpetual snow was passed, and at Wally's feet +lay Vent, as it had lain six months before when she had gone up the +mountain; only not now in the glow of the May sunshine, but forlorn, +autumnal, cold and dead. The boy announced that they must rest there +for a while. Wally refused, but the boy declared it would be as good as +killing both man and beast, not to rest for half an hour. + +"As thou will," said Wally, "stay--. I am going on. If they ask where I +am when thou gets home, say only that I am gone to old Luckard." And +she strode on, the flapping wings of the faithful Hansl rustling over +her; he could fly now as he liked, for Wally no longer clipped his +wings. + +Now she had reached the spot where on her upward journey Luckard had +bid her farewell and turned homewards again. "Dear old Luckard!" Wally +fancied she could see her again quite plainly, crying in her apron as +she turned away, waving her one more farewell with her brown, bony +arms, her silver locks that always hung from below her cap fluttering +in the wind. She had grown grey in honour and fidelity in Stromminger's +house, and now shame had fallen on that white head! And Wally had +parted from her so lightly, and repressed her tears, and had torn +herself impatiently away when the old woman in her grief would not let +her go; and no foreboding had warned her of the fate to which she was +sending the unprotected old servant with that brief farewell, or that +Luckard for her sake would suffer hardship and disgrace. Wally ran and +ran as if she could overtake Luckard going down the road as she had +gone six months before; and in spite of the autumn frost, the sweat +stood on her brow, the sweat of a winged haste to pay her heavy debt of +gratitude; and hot tears gathered in her eyes as she seemed always to +see the old woman silently walking and walking on before her. She went +so slowly, poor old Luckard, and Wally so fast; and yet they remained +always as far apart, and Wally could not overtake her. + +For one instant must Wally pause for rest and breath. She wiped the +drops from her brow and the tears from her eyes; then she felt as if +driven inexorably onwards again. "Wait, Luckard, only wait, I'm coming +to thee," she murmured breathlessly to herself, as if for her own +comfort. + +At last the church tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her, and from +thence a giddy path led high over the torrent to a solitary group of +houses on the farther side of the ravine. This was the little spot +called Winterstall, where Luckard was living. Wally passed behind the +houses of Heiligkreuz, and crossed the slight bridge beneath which the +wild waters of the Ache roared and foamed as though they would sprinkle +with their angry froth even the defiant girl who looked carelessly down +into the awful depths as though neither danger nor dizziness existed in +the world. The bridge was passed, still a steep bit of road remained, +and then at last it was reached, the goal for which she had striven +with a beating heart; she was in Winterstall, and there just to the +left of the path stood the hut of Luckard's cousin, old Annemiedel, +its tiny windows deep set beneath the overhanging thatch. Behind +them, no doubt, the old woman sat spinning, as was her custom in the +winter-season, and Wally drew a deep breath out of a lightened heart. +She had reached the cottage, and before entering she looked smiling +through the low window for Luckard. But there was no one in the room; +it looked empty and deserted with an unmade bed in one corner left +standing in a disorderly heap. Above it, a smoke-blackened wooden +Christ stretched his arms on a cross, on which were hung a piece of +crape and a dusty garland of rue. It was a dreary scene, and at the +sight of it all joy forsook Wally; she set down the vulture on a rail, +unlatched the door and stepped into the narrow passage. At one end an +open door led into the little kitchen, where a small fire of brushwood +smouldered on the hearth. Some one was there busily at work; it must +certainly be old Luckard, and with a beating heart Wally walked in. The +cousin stood on the hearth cutting up bread for her soup. No one else +was there. + +"Oh, my God! Wally Stromminger!" cried the old woman, and let her knife +fall into the platter in her astonishment. "Oh, my God, what a pity, +what a pity!" + +"Where is Luckard?" said Wally. + +"She is dead! Oh, my God, if thou'd only come three days sooner--we +buried her yesterday." Wally leant silent and with closed eyes against +the door post; no sign betrayed what was passing in her soul. + +"It's a real pity!" continued the old woman loquaciously. "Luckard said +she felt as if she couldn't die without seeing thee once more, and thou +was always coming on the cards, and day and night she would listen to +hear if thou wasn't coming. And when she felt herself near death, +'After all, I must die,' she said, 'and I've never seen the child,' and +then she would have the cards once more, and she wanted to lay them out +for thee in the very death-struggle, but she couldn't do it, her hand +shook on the counterpane. 'I can see no more,' she said, and lay back, +and it was all over." + +Wally clasped her hands over her face, but still no word passed her +lips. + +"Come into the bedroom," said the old woman goodnaturedly. "I've hardly +borne to go in there since they carried Luckard out. I'm always so +alone, and I was so glad when my cousin came and said now she'd stay +with me. But I soon saw she couldn't live long after her disgrace. It +went to her stomach, she could hardly eat anything, and every night I +could hear her crying, and so she got always weaker and thinner--till +she died." + +The old woman had opened the door of the room into which Wally had +looked before, and they went in. A swarm of autumn flies buzzed up. In +the corner stood Luckard's old spinning wheel silent and still, and the +empty disordered bed confronted it sadly. + +From a panelled cupboard on which the black Virgin of Altenötting was +depicted, Annemiedel took a worn pack of German cards. + +"There, see; I laid the pack by for thee, I was sure thee would come. +It always stood so on the cards. They're true witches' cards these, and +a pack that has had the touch of a dead hand on it, that is doubly +good. I don't know what misfortune they're sending thee, but Luckard +always shook her head and read them with a fearful heart. She never +told me what she saw in them, but for sure it was no good." + +She gave Wally the cards; Wally took them in silence and put them in +her pocket. The cousin wondered that Luckard's death should not touch +her more nearly, that she should be so quiet and not even shed a tear. + +"I must go," the old woman said, "I've got my soup on the fire. Say, +thou'll dine with me?" + +"Yes, yes," said Wally gloomily, "only go, cousin, and let me rest +awhile. I sprang almost straight down here from the Hochjoch." + +Annemiedel went away shaking her head. "If Luckard had only known what +a hard-hearted thing it is!" + +Scarcely was Wally alone when she bolted the door behind the old woman +and fell on her knees by the empty bed. She drew the cards from her +pocket, laid them before her, and folded her hands over them as over +some holy relic. + +"Oh! Oh!" she cried aloud, in a sudden outburst of grief: "Thou'st had +to die, and I was not with thee; and in all my life long thou's always +been loving and good to me--and I--I did not pay it back. Luckard, dear +old Luckard, can thou not hear me? I am here now--and now it is too +late. They left me up there. There's no herdsman they'd have left so +long, and it was all malice, that I might just be frozen and then give +in! It had already cost me two of my flock--and now thee too, thou poor +good Luckard!" + +Suddenly she sprang to her feet; her eyes red with crying flashed with +a feverish light, she clenched her brown fists. "Only wait down yonder, +you scoundrels--only wait till I come. I will teach you to drive +innocent and helpless folk out of house and home. As true as God is +above us, Luckard, thou shall hear even in thy grave how I will stand +up for thee!" + +Her eyes fell on the crucifix over the dead woman's bed. "And Thou! +Thou let'st everything go as it will, and Thou helps no one that cannot +help himself," she murmured bitterly in her storm of grief to the +silent enduring image above, whose significance she never could +understand. She was terrible in her righteous anger. All that lay in +her of her father's inflexible nature had developed itself unfettered +up yonder in the wilds, and her great and noble heart that knew none +but the purest impulses drove without suspecting it ill-seething blood +through her veins. + +She gathered together her sacred relics, the cards, on which the dying +woman's clammy fingers had traced the last message of her love; then +she went out into the kitchen to Annemiedel. + +"I will now go on, cousin," she said calmly, "I only beg thee to tell +me how things fell out between Luckard and Stromminger--" she no longer +called him father. The old woman had just served the soup in a wooden +bowl and she insisted on Wally's sharing it with her. + +"Thou must know," she said, while Wally was eating, "Vincenz there, he +knows just how to come over thy father, and he's got the better of him +altogether. Ever since the summer, Stromminger's had a bad foot and +cannot walk. So Vincenz goes up to him every evening and passes the +time for him playing cards, and always lets him win--he thinks he'll +gain once for all when he wins thee. The old man can hardly live now +without Vincenz, and so little by little he's given him the oversight +of everything, because with his lame foot he can never get about +himself. So Vincenz thinks now the house and farm half belong to him +already, and bustles in and out just as he pleases. That was how the +quarrel began with Luckard, for Luckard, she would always see that +everything was right and fair, as she was used to do, and Vincenz took +everything out of her hands and she durst never say a word. Then when +he saw that Luckard was downright pining, he said to her that he'd let +her manage everything just as if she'd been mistress, and that he'd +take care to wink at anything she might like to do, if she'd only help +him to get thee--for he knew very well that she could do anything with +thee. And then Luckard grew angry; 'She'd never stolen in her life,' +she said, 'and wasn't going to begin now in her old age--she wanted +nothing but what she could earn honestly, and that as for the man who'd +look on at cheating and say nothing, she'd never recommend him to +Wally,' she said. And what does the villain do? goes straight to +Stromminger and accuses Luckard. He'd convinced himself now, he said, +that it was only Luckard that had set thee against him and thy father, +and it was all her doing, he said, that thou was so unruly, because she +was fain to hold everything under her own hand. That's how it all came +about. And it just broke her heart to think that such things were +believed of her, when not a word of it all was true. It grieved her +such injustice should be done. Is it not true, she never said to thee +that thou shouldn't obey thy father?" + +"Never, never; on the contrary she was always humble and discreet, and +never talked about what she had nothing to do with," said Wally, and +again her burning eyes were wet. She turned away her face and rose to +go. "God keep thee, cousin," she said, "I'll soon come back again." She +took her staff and hat, called her bird, and set out hastily towards +home. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A Day at Home. + + +As Wally went back across the bridge, she turned giddy; she felt now +for the first time how the blood had mounted to her head. The milder +air down here that felt heavy and oppressive after the clear, icy +atmosphere of the Ferner, the bird that clung tightly to her shoulder +as her rapid movements made his hold insecure--all seemed painful, +almost unbearable. At last she came to the village where her home +stood, but to reach it she was obliged to go the whole length of the +street, to the very last house. All the villagers, who had just +finished their dinners, put their heads out of window and pointed at +her with their fingers. "See, there goes the Vulture-maiden. Hast +ventured down at last, then? And thou's brought the vulture back with +thee, thou and he were not frozen together, then? Thy father left thee +to shiver up there long enough!" "Let's see, now, how thou'rt looking? +As brown and lean as a Schnalser herdsman." "He! he! thou's grown tame +enough up yonder; yes, yes, that's the way to serve such as will not +obey their father!" + +A shower of spiteful comments such as these fell around Wally; she kept +her eyes bent on the ground, and the burning red of shame and +bitterness mounted to her brow. Insulted--scoffed at--thus the proud +daughter of the chief peasant returned to her home. And all--for what? +An implacable hatred rose up in her, sorer, bitterer than anger; for +anger may subside, but the deep hatred that grows in an embittered, +ill-treated heart strikes its roots through the whole being; it is the +silent, persistent outcome of helpless revenge. + +Silently Wally mounted the hill behind the hamlet whence Stromminger's +farm looked proudly down. No one noticed her arrival but the deaf +Klettenmaier, who was splitting wood for winter-use under the wooden +shed in the yard; all the others were in the field. + +"God be praised," he said, and took off his cap to his master's child. +She set down her burden, the heavy vulture, on the ground, and gave her +hand to the old man. + +"Thou's heard?" he said. "Old Luckard?" + +Wally nodded. + +"Ay! ay!" he continued without interrupting his work. "If Vincenz once +takes a dislike to any one he never rests till he's driven them out. +He'd be glad enough to see me off the place, for he knows very well I +always held by Luckard, and he thinks that if no one was left at the +farm to help thee, thou dursn't be so wilful. And because there's +nothing else he can do to me, he leaves me always the hardest work; +I've a whole waggon load of wood to cut up every day, but I can't do it +for long. See, I'm nearly seventy-six years old, and this is the third +day. But that's just what he wants, to be able to tell Stromminger that +I'm no longer good for anything, or else for me to go away of myself +when I can hold out no more. But where could I go--an old man like me? +I _must_ hold out." + +Wally had listened with a gloomy countenance to the old man's speech. +Now she went quickly into the house to fetch bread and wine for him; +but the store-room was locked and so was the cellar. Wally went into +the kitchen. Her heart felt a pang--here had been Luckard's peculiar +domain, and she felt as if the old woman _must_ come to meet her and +ask: "How is it with thee?--what does thou want?--what can I do to +serve thee?" But all that was over and gone. A strange and sturdy +servant girl sat on the hearth, peeling potatoes. + +"Where are the keys?" asked Wally. + +"What keys?" + +"The keys of the store-room and the cellar!" + +The girl looked insolently at Wally. "Ho, ho! what next--and who may +thou be?" + +"That thou might guess well enough," said Wally proudly, "I am the +master's daughter." + +"Ha, ha," laughed the girl, "then thou may just take thyself out of the +kitchen. The master has forbidden that thou should come into the house. +Over there in the barn--that's thy place. Dost understand me?" + +Wally grew pale as death. Thus, then--thus was she to be received in +her father's house. Wallburga, daughter of the Strommingers, must give +way to the lowest servant girl on the estate to which she was heir! Not +only was she to be forbidden her father's presence--it was intended to +break her spirit through degrading humiliations. She, Wally, the +Vulture-maiden, of whom her father had once proudly said that a girl +like her was worth ten boys! + +"Give me the keys!" she commanded in a firm voice. + +"Ha! ha! that's better still. The master has ordered us to look on thee +as a stable girl--there's no question of keys there. I look after the +house, and I give out nothing but what the master allows." + +"The keys," cried Wally in an outburst of anger, "I command thee!" + +"Thou's no call to command me--dost understand? I'm Stromminger's +servant, and none of thine. And I am master in the kitchen, dost +understand? It's Stromminger's orders. And if Stromminger holds his own +daughter lower than a servant--no doubt he knows the reason why!" + +Wally stepped close up to the servant, her eyes flashed, her lips +quivered; the girl was frightened. But only for an instant did the +struggle last in Wally, then her pride conquered; with the miserable +serving maid she had nothing to do. She left the house. Her pulses beat +like hammers, her eyes swam, her bosom rose and fell in gasps; it was +too much--all that this day had brought her. She crossed the yard, took +the cleaver from the hand of the old man who was trembling with his +efforts, and led him to a bench that he might rest himself. He honestly +resisted, he dared not leave his task incomplete; but Wally made him +understand she would do his work for him. + +"God bless thee, thou hast a good heart," said the man, seating himself +wearily on the bench. Wally went into the shed and split the heavy logs +with mighty blows. So wrathfully did she swing the axe that at each +stroke she hit it through the wood deep into the block. The old man +watched with astonishment how the work went on better in her hands than +in a man's, and he took a pride in it--he had seen the child grow up +from her birth and loved her in his own way. But Wally saw afar the +hated form of Vincenz approaching, and involuntarily she discontinued +her work. Vincenz did not see her. He came up from behind Klettenmaier, +and suddenly stood close in front of the startled old man, whilst Wally +observed him from within the shed. He seized the man by the doublet and +pulled him up. "Hallo," he screamed in his ear, "dost call that +working? thou lazy dawdle, thou; as often as I come by thou's sitting +there doing nothing--now I've had enough of it--be off with thee," and +he gave him a push with his knee, so that the trembling old man was +flung to a distance on the stone pavement of the yard. + +"Help, master! help me up," cried the man imploringly, but Vincenz had +seized a cudgel and raised his arm. "Wait a bit--thou shall see how I +help up a lazy knave!" he said. At this moment such a blow fell on +Vincenz's head that he uttered a loud cry and staggered backwards. "God +in heaven, what is that?" he stammered and sank upon the bench. + +"It is the Vulture-maiden," answered a voice trembling with rage, and +Wally, the hatchet in her hand, stood before him with white lips and +staring eyes, struggling for breath as if the wild pulses of her heart +were choking her. + +"Did thou feel that?" she panted out with breathless pauses. "Dost know +now how it feels to get a heavy blow? I'll teach thee to oppress my +faithful old servant. Thou'st already sent my Luckard underground, and +now thou'll do the same by this old man? Nay, before I'll suffer such a +deed, I'll set my whole inheritance in flames and smoke thee out of it +as I would a fox." Meanwhile she had helped up old Klettenmaier, and +led him out to the barn. "Go in, Klettenmaier," she said, "and recover +thyself, _I_ order thee." + +Klettenmaier obeyed; he felt that at this moment she was master, but at +the door he freed himself from her support and said, shaking his head, +"Thou shouldn't have done it, Wally--go and look after Vincenz; I fear +thou'st given him a heavy blow." + +She left the old man and went out again. Vincenz lay quite still. Wally +looked at him with half-averted eyes; he had lost consciousness and lay +stretched out on the bench, and blood dripped from his head on to the +ground. With quick decision, Wally went into the kitchen and called to +the girl; "Come out here; bring some vinegar and a cloth and help me." + +"What, thou's more orders to give already," said the girl, laughing out +loud, without stirring from the spot where she sat. + +"It's not for me," said Wally with a dark and evil glance, as she took +the vinegar flask from the shelf. "Vincenz is lying out there--I've +half killed him." + +"Heaven and earth!" shrieked the maid; and instead of hastening to help +Vincenz, she ran screaming about the house and yard. "Help, help," she +cried; "Wally has struck Vincenz dead!" And from every side the alarm +cry was echoed back till it reached even to the village, and every one +ran to the spot. + +Wally had meanwhile called Klettenmaier to her assistance, and was +washing the face of the senseless man with vinegar and water. She could +not understand how it was the wound was so deep, for she had struck +with the back of the hatchet, and not with the sharp edge; but the blow +had been dealt with a force of which she herself was unconscious. Her +long restrained rage had concentrated itself in that one stroke, which +came crashing down as if she were still splitting the logs of wood. + +"What's happened here?" roared a voice in Wally's ear, and her blood +stood still--her father had dragged himself out on his crutches. +"What's happened here?" repeated twenty or thirty voices, and the yard +was filled with people. + +Wally was silent. + +A buzzing murmur arose all round her, every one pressed forward, +touching and examining the lifeless man. "Is he dead?" "Will he die?" +"How came it about?" "Did Wally do it?" was asked from one to another. + +She stood there as though she neither heard nor saw, and laid a bandage +on the wounded Vincenz. "Can thou not speak?" thundered her father. +"What hast thou done, Wally?" + +"You can see!" was the short reply. + +"She owns to it," they all shrieked together. "Gracious Heaven, what +insolence!" "Thou gallows-bird, thou!" cried Stromminger. "Is it so +thou comes down again to thy home?" + +At the word "home," Wally gave a short bitter laugh and fixed a +piercing glance on her father. + +"Laugh away," cried Stromminger; "I thought thou'd learn better up +there, and now, scarce a quarter of an hour in the house, thou's +already at mischief again." + +"He moves," cried one of the women, "he's still alive." + +"Carry him into the house and lay him on my bed," ordered Stromminger, +making way by the kitchen door against which he was leaning. Two men +raised Vincenz and carried him indoors. + +"If only the doctor were here," lamented the women, following the sick +man into the room. + +"If only we had old Luckard, we should need no doctor," said some of +them, "she knew what was good for everything." + +"Let her be fetched," cried Stromminger, "tell her to come this +instant." + +Again Wally laughed. "Yes, truly, old Luckard," she said. "Thou'd be +glad to have her back again now, Stromminger! Thou must seek her now in +the churchyard!" + +The people looked at each other in consternation. "Is she dead?" asked +Stromminger. + +"Yes, three days ago she died--died heartbroken because of what you did +to her. See, Stromminger, it serves thee right, and if yon man dies +because there is no one by who knows how to cure him, it serves him +right too; so much as that he has well deserved of Luckard." + +Now there arose a tumult--this was too bad. "After such a deed to talk +like this, and say it served him right, instead of repenting it. Why, +no one's life was safe! and Stromminger to stand by and let her talk +like that and never say a word! there was a fine father for you!" So +they talked together, while Wally, with folded arms, stood defiantly in +the kitchen door looking at Stromminger, who, in spite of himself, was +hard hit by her reproaches. Now however his wrath returned with double +force, and raising himself on his crutch he cried to the crowd; "I'll +show you what manner of father I am! seize her and bind her." + +"Yes, yes," cried the people confusedly, "bind her, such a one should +be under lock and bolt--before the justice she shall go, the +murderess." + +Wally uttered a dull cry at the word "murderess," and drew back into +the kitchen. "Hold," cried Stromminger. "Before a justice my daughter +shall never go; do you think I'll live to see the chief peasant's child +taken off to prison? Do you know Stromminger no better than that? Do +_I_ need a court of justice to punish a wilful girl? Stromminger +himself is man enough for that, and on my own ground and my own +territory I am my own judge and justice. I'll soon show you who +Stromminger is, though I am lame. Into the cellar she shall go, and +there remain under lock and key, till her proud spirit is broken and +she comes after me on her knees before you all. You have heard, all of +you, and if I don't keep my word you may set me down a rascal." + +"Merciful God, hast Thou forgotten judgment?" cried Wally. "No, father +no! for God's sake don't lock me up! Turn me out, send me up the +Murzoll to perish in the snow--I'll die of hunger--I'll die of +cold--but under the open heavens. If you lock me up, harm will come of +it!" + +"Aha, thou'd like to be off again wandering round like a vagabond--that +would please thee better? Not so; I've been too soft with thee. Thou'll +stop under lock and key till thou asks pardon on thy knees of me and of +Vincenz." + +"Father, all that is no good with me; sooner than do that, I'd rot away +in the cellar--that you might know of yourself. Let me go, father, or, +I tell you once more, harm will come of it." + +"There--enough said. Well, you--what are you all standing there for? +Are you dreaming? Am I to run after her with my lame foot? Seize her, +but hold her fast--she has Stromminger blood in her that'll try your +teeth--hold on there!" + +The peasants, stung by this mockery, crowded into the kitchen. "We'll +soon get hold of her!" they said scoffingly. + +But with one spring Wally was at the hearth, and had snatched burning +brands from the fire. "The first that touches me, I'll singe him, hair +and skin!" she cried, and stood like the archangel with the flaming +sword. + +All fell back. + +"Shame upon you!" cried Stromminger. "All of you together might be a +match for a girl! Strike the brands from her hand with a stick," he +ordered, in a paroxysm of rage, for it was now a point of honour with +him to master his daughter before the eyes of the whole village. Some +of them ran and fetched sticks; it was like hunting a wild animal, and +a wild animal Wally had in truth become. Her eyes bloodshot, the sweat +of agony on her brow, her white teeth clenched, she defended herself +against this pack of hounds, fought like the wild beast of the forest, +without reflection, without calculation, for her freedom--her life's +element. Now they struck with the sticks at the brands in her grasp, +her only weapon, and she flung them into the midst of the crowd, so +that they fell back on one another, shrieking; then, snatching another +brand from the hearth, and yet another, she threw them like fiery shot +at the heads of her assailants. The uproar grew louder. + +"Water here," cried Stromminger, "fetch water,--put out the fire!" + +This would be an end to everything; the fire once out, Wally was lost. +One moment more, and the water would be brought--despair seized the +girl. All at once there came a thought--a terrible, desperate thought; +but there was no time for consideration; the thought was a deed before +she could reflect upon it, and waving a burning log in her hand, she +rushed swift as an arrow through her pursuers out into the courtyard, +and hurled the brand with a mighty fling on to the hay-loft, right into +the middle of the hay and straw. + +There was a scream of terror and amazement. "Now put the fire out," +cried Wally, and flew across the courtyard through the gate, away and +away, whilst all in the farm hurried shouting and storming to +extinguish the flames that were already blazing upwards through the +roof. + +With the rising pillar of smoke, as if born of the roaring flame, a +dark object rose screeching from the roof, circled two or three times +high overhead in the air, and then took flight in the direction in +which Wally had fled. + +Wally heard the rushing sound behind her; she thought it was her +pursuers, and ran blindly on. It was already night, but there was no +darkness, clear light quivered all around her, so that she might still +be seen from afar. She mounted a steep point of rock whence she could +look down the road, and now she saw that her pursuer was coming through +the air. She had attained her end, no one thought any more of following +her. To save the farm buildings was a more pressing need, and all hands +were engaged in the work. The vulture overtook her as she stood there, +and bounded against her with such force as nearly to throw her down +from the rock. She pressed the bird to her bosom and sank exhausted on +the ground. With dazed eyes she looked up at the glare of the fire that +shone afar, and lighted up the dark mountain tops around. With a +glowing and angry aspect her deed looked down on her--threatening, +wrathful, overpowering. From every church tower in the canton round +sounded the dismal peal of warning, and the bells rang out quite +distinctly, "Incendiary, incendiary." But the terrible song lulled her +senses to sleep--unconsciousness dropped a kindly veil over her hunted +spirit. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + "Hard Wood." + + +Deep night surrounded Wally when she once more opened her eyes. The red +glow was extinguished, the bells were silent; far below her in the +ravine the Ache thundered its monotone, and over her head high in the +heavens, stood a star. She gazed at it as she lay motionless with +upturned face on the ground, and it seemed to beam down upon her with a +look of forgiveness. A wonderful sense of consolation breathed through +the night. The wind caressingly cooled her burning brow, she sat up and +began to collect her thoughts. It could not be late, the moon was not +yet up, and the fire must have been very quickly extinguished. It must +have been--for how could the conflagration spread when every one was +there, and ready that moment to lend a helping hand? She knew not how +it was, she searched herself to the very bottom of her soul, and she +could not feel herself guilty. She had done it only from necessity, to +keep off her pursuers whilst she gave them something else to do. She +knew quite well that she would now be called an "incendiary," but was +she one indeed? She raised her eyes to the stars over her head; it was +as if now, for the first time, she held communion with the great God, +and what He said to her was--forgiveness. The pure night-sky looked +peacefully down on her, that open sky, for the love of which she had +done the deed. Only under this high, vaulted dome of stars could she +find space to breathe; to lie imprisoned in the gloomy cellar without +light, without air, for weeks, for months--till, to escape, she went to +the home of her hated suitor, and made herself a mockery and disgrace +by open repentance on her knees before her father! It was worse than +death--it was an impossibility! + +The girl who in utter loneliness had for six long months been the guest +of the inhospitable wilderness of the Ferner, who had watched through +many nights with the storm, the hail, the rain for her wild associates; +whose brow the fire of heaven had kissed before it quivered to earth; +round whom the thunder had warred in all its terror, whilst its power +was as yet unspent by the winds; the girl who had almost daily staked +her life springing over some bottomless abyss to save a straying +goat--this girl could no longer bend herself to the ideas and the +tyranny of small minds, could not submit to bit and bridle like +an animal, must defend herself for life--unto death. Men had no +longer any right over her; she had renounced them and mated herself +with the elements. What wonder that she had called one of her wild +companions--Fire--to her aid when warring against man? + +She could not understand it all, she had never learnt to reflect about +her own consciousness; she knew not the "wherefore!" But she felt that +God would not call her to account, that He from His supreme throne +measured with a quite other standard than that of man; even to her, up +on her mountain heights, everything had appeared so small that down in +the valley she had thought so large--how much more to Him up there in +Heaven? God alone understood her; down below they might think her a +criminal--God acquitted her. + +She raised herself and shook the burden from her soul, and felt herself +as heretofore, vigorous and confident, strong and free. + +"Now, Hansl, what shall we do next?" asked she of the vulture, to whom +in her solitude she had accustomed herself to talk aloud. Hansl was at +that moment watching some reptile of the night, then snatched at it, +and killed it. + +"Thou'rt in the right," said Wally, "we must seek our bread. For thee, +it is well, thou can find it anywhere--but I?" Suddenly the bird became +uneasy, flew up and watched something in the distance. + +Then it occurred to Wally that as soon as the fire was out she would be +searched for, and that she must get farther away as quickly as might +be. But whither? Her first thought was Sölden. But the blood mounted to +her face--might not Joseph think that she was running after him? And +should he see her in disgrace and dishonour, poor, a runaway from +home--pointed at and decried as an "incendiary." + +No, he at least should never see her thus, rather would she run to the +very ends of the earth. And without any further consideration she took +the vulture on her shoulder--the only good or chattel that troubled +her--and set out in the direction whence she had come in the morning, +to Heiligkreuz. + +She had walked for two hours, her feet were sore, she was weary to +death, when the tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her in the +darkness, and, like a gleam from a lighthouse, the rising moon shone +through the open belfry and showed the way to the aimless wanderer. + +Stumbling with fatigue, she dragged herself through the sleeping +village up to the church. Now and then a dog barked, as with quiet +steps she passed along. Whoever observed her now would take her for a +thief; she trembled as though she really were one; to what had the +proud Wally Stromminger come! + +Behind the church was the parsonage; near the door was a wooden bench, +and from wooden boxes in the little windows bushes of withered +mountain-pinks hung down. Here she would remain till daylight; the +priest would at least protect her from ill-usage. She lay down on the +bench, the vulture perched on the railing at her head, and in a few +minutes nature asserted its rights and she was asleep. + +"May the Lord defend us! what foundling has He sent me here!" sounded +in Wally's ears, and she opened her eyes. It was broad daylight, and +there stood by her none other than the reverend curé himself. + +"Praised be Christ the Lord," stammered Wally in bewilderment, and put +her feet down from the bench. + +"For ever and ever. Amen. My child, how did you come here? who are you, +and what strange companion is that you have with you? it is almost +enough to frighten one!" said the priest with a friendly smile. + +"Your reverence," said Wally simply, "I've something heavy on my +conscience, and I would be glad to confess to you. My name is +Wallburga, and I belong to Stromminger, the chief-peasant of the +Sonnenplatte. I've run away from home; you see--Vincenz Gellner wanted +to marry me, and I struck his head open with a blow, and then I set +fire to my father's barn--" + +The priest clasped his hands together. "God help us, what tales are +these! So young, and so wicked already!" + +"Your reverence, I am not really wicked, truly I am not--I wouldn't +hurt a fly--but they made me do it!" said Wally, and she looked up at +the priest with her large honest eyes, so that he was obliged to +believe her whether he would or not. + +"Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it--but leave that monster +outside;" he meant the vulture. Wally flung the bird upwards into the +air, so that it flew on to the roof; then she followed the priest into +the little house, and he made her come into his sitting-room. + +There all was still and peaceful. In the alcove stood a rough wooden +bedstead with two flaming hearts painted over it, which to the curé +signified the hearts of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary; over the bed +was a holy-water cup in porcelain, and a shelf full of books of +devotion; in the room there were more shelves with other books and an +old writing desk, a brown bench behind a large heavy table, some wooden +seats, a praying-stool beneath a great crucifix with a garland of +edelweiss, and a few gaily coloured lithographs of the Pope and of +various saints. From the ceiling hung a bird-cage with a crossbeak. An +antique commode with lions'-heads holding rings in their mouths as +handles to the heavy drawers, represented the luxury of the dwelling, +and on this commode were all sorts of beautiful things. A little shrine +with a carved saint, a glass box with a wax image of the infant Christ +in a red silk cradle, a glass spinning wheel, and a bunch of tarnished +artificial flowers, such as are made in convents, in a yellow vase +under a glass shade; a small box with many coloured shells, a tiny +model of a mine in a bottle, and, as a centre-piece, a little manger +made in moss and sparkling fragments of spar, with delicately carved +figures of men and beasts. A few pretty cups and mugs were not wanting +amid these holy surroundings, and two small crystal salt cellars to the +right and left of the nativity set off on either hand the central +piece. + +And all was as clean as if no such thing as dirt existed in the +world. This commode with the various objects upon it constituted the +child-like altar which the lonely priest, six thousand feet above the +sea and above modern culture, had raised to the God of beauty. Here he +had stood many a time when the snow was whirling outside and the storm +rocked the little wooden house, and gazed musingly at the tiny, +neatly-carved world within, shaking his head with a smile and saying, +"What will not men do next?" + +Much the same, thought Wally in passing by, as her glance fell on the +marvellous trifles. Rich as her father was, such things as these had +never found their way into his house; what indeed could the clumsy +peasant have done with them? In her whole life she had never seen such +things--she to whom, in comparison with her scythe and hay-fork, a +spinning-wheel seemed the height of elegance. She felt as if in this +little room she dare not move for fear of injuring something, as if +here she must be particularly well-behaved. She wished to leave +her iron-shod shoes at the door, so as not to spoil the smooth, +white-scoured boards; but the priest would not allow it, so she trod as +softly as she could and seated herself modestly at the farthest end of +the bench which the curé offered her. The priest let his clear friendly +eyes rest observingly upon her, and saw that she could not remove her +astonished gaze from the ornaments on the commode. The old man was a +student of humanity. + +"You would like first to look at my pretty little things? Do so, my +child; besides, you are not just yet collected enough for the serious +matters we must speak of." + +And he led Wally to the mysterious commode, and explained everything to +her, and told her where each thing had come from. + +Wally did not venture to speak, and looked and listened full of +reverence. When they had come to the manger, the last and the best, +"See," said the priest, "here at the back is Jerusalem, and there are +the three Wise Kings who travelled to see the Holy Child--see, there is +the star that is guiding them--and there lies the child in the manger, +and does not dream yet that he is born to suffer for the sins of the +whole world. For as yet He cannot think, and has brought no remembrance +with him of His Heavenly home; for the Son of God became in all things +a real child of man, like any other--else men might have said that +there was no miracle in being as good and patient as Jesus Christ was, +if He was the Son of God and had the power of God, and that it was no +use to strive to follow such an example, if one was only an ordinary +man. They say it often enough as it is, and go on in their sins." + +Wally looked at the pretty naked infant with his gold paper glory lying +there so patiently, and when she thought of the stern dark crucified +God as a poor helpless baby born to suffering, it touched her +compassion, and she was sorry that she had been "so rude" to the poor +crucified Being yesterday when standing by Luckard's bed. + +"But why did He let it all happen to Him?" she said involuntarily more +to herself than to the priest. + +"Because He wanted to show mankind that they should not repay evil for +evil, and should not revenge themselves; for God has said, 'Vengeance +is mine.'" Wally grew red, and cast down her eyes. + +"Now come, my child," said the wise man, "and make your confession." + +"That will soon be done, your reverence," said Wally. And honest as was +her nature, she related to him, in low and timid tones indeed but +without any attempts at palliation, how all had happened, and soon the +whole circumstances were made clear to the confessor. A mighty picture +of life lay unrolled before him, sketched in rude and rough outlines, +and he pitied the noble young blood that had grown wild between rugged +rocks and rugged men. + +Long after Wally had ended he sat silent, looking meditatively before +him. His gaze fixed itself on an old, much-read volume on a book-stand +by the wall; a stranger whom he had received hospitably had given it to +him; on the back stood printed in gold letters--Das Niebelungen-Lied. + +"Your reverence," said Wally, who took the thoughtfulness on his +features for an expression of reproof; "it was too much, all coming +together. I was still full of anger about poor old Luckard, and then he +must needs strike the old man also. I couldn't look on and see the old +man beaten, that I could not, and if it were all to come over again, I +should do just the same. An incendiary I am not--not even though they +call me one. When a house is set fire to in broad daylight when +everyone is about, nothing much can be burnt, that is certain. I didn't +know how else to help myself, and I thought that if they had to put it +out, they couldn't come after me. And if that is a sin, then I don't +know what is to be done in this world where men are so wicked and do +one all the harm they can." + +"We must do as Christ did--suffer and endure!" said the priest. + +"But, your reverence," said Wally, "when Jesus Christ let men do as +they would with Him, He knew _why_ He did it--He wanted to teach people +something. But I don't know why I should do it, for no one would learn +anything of me in all the Oetz valley. And if I had let myself be +locked up in the cellar ever so patiently, it would all have been for +nothing, for nobody would have taken example by me, and it would very +likely have cost me my life." + +For a moment the priest paused to reflect; then he fixed his kindly +observant eyes on Wally and shook his head. + +"You wilful child, you. Even now you would like to begin some fresh +dispute with me. They have wickedly roused and irritated you, till you +imagine enmity and contradiction everywhere. Look round, recollect +yourself and see where you are--you are with a servant of God, and God +says 'I am Love.' And this shall be no empty word to you, I will show +you that it is true. I will tell you that when all men hate and condemn +you, still the good God loves you and forgives you. Such as you are, +hard men, stern mountains, and wild storms have made you; and that the +good God knows very well, for He can look into your heart and see that +it is good and upright, however much you have been in fault. And He +knows that no garden-flower can bloom in the desert, and that a rude +axe never carved a fine image. But now look farther. If our Lord and +Master finds a piece of rude carving in particularly good wood, so that +it seems to Him worth the trouble of making something better out of it, +then He Himself takes the knife and carves the bungling work of man, +that under His hand it may grow into beauty. Now listen, for I say take +heed not to let your heart grow harder, for when the Lord has cut once +or twice at the wood, if He finds it too hard He grudges the trouble, +and throws the work away. Take heed then, my child, that your heart be +soft and yielding under the shaping finger of God. If its hard pressure +seems to you unbearable, yield, and think you feel the hand of God that +is working on you. And if pain cuts sharply into your soul, think it is +the knife of God cutting away its ruggedness. Do you understand me?" + +Wally nodded somewhat doubtfully. + +"Well," said the old man, "I will make it still clearer to you. Which +would you rather be, a rough stick with which men may perhaps fight and +kill each other, and which when it is rotten is broken up and burnt, or +a finely carved holy image like that one yonder that is set in a frame +and devoutly honoured?" + +This time Wally understood and nodded quickly. "Why, of course--rather +a holy image like that." + +"Well, see now. Rude hands have made a rough block out of you, but +God's hand can carve you into a holy image if you will do just as He +bids you." + +Wally looked at the speaker with wide, astonished eyes; she felt so +strangely--pleased and yet ready to weep. After a long silence, she +said timidly, "I don't know how it is. Sir, but with you everything is +quite different to what it is anywhere else. No one ever spoke so to me +before. The priest at Sölden always scolded and talked about the Devil +and our sins; and I never knew what he would have, for at that time I +had done nothing wrong. But you speak so that one can understand you--I +mean that if I might stay with you--that would be the best for me; I'd +work night and day and earn my bit of bread." + +The curé considered a long time; then he shook his head mournfully. + +"That cannot be, my poor child. Even if I myself wished it, it would +not do. Though I might grant it to you in God's name, before men I dare +not. For God sees the motive, men see only the deed. The priest in the +confessional is one thing--the priest in common life is another. In the +confessional he is the medium of Grace, in the world he is the medium +of Law. He must incite men, by word and example, to honour and keep the +law. Think what people would say if the priest took a notorious +incendiary into his house. Would they understand why I did so? +Never--they would only conclude that I had taken the sinner under my +protection, and thereupon sin the more. And if afterwards we lived to +see a really wicked incendiarism, I should have to reproach myself +bitterly that I had given encouragement to it by my indulgence to you. +Can you not understand this, and take it without murmuring as the +unavoidable result of your deeds?" + +"Yes," said Wally gloomily; and her eyes reddened with repressed tears. +Then she rose quickly and said shortly, "I thank your reverence very +much then, and wish you good morning." + +"Hey, hey," cried the priest, "so high-flown again already? Don't you +think it will be shorter to go through the wall than through the door? +In your place, I would sooner go straight through the wall!" + +Wally stood still ashamed, and looked down at the floor. The old +gentleman looked at her with a comical expression of wonder, "How much +will it not cost you to subdue that hasty blood? Is that the way you +mean to run off? Did I say I would leave you to your fate because I +cannot keep you with me in my house? First of all, you must have +breakfast with me, for man must eat, and God knows how long it is since +you eat last. Then we will talk farther." He went to a sliding panel +that opened into the kitchen, and called to the old maidservant to get +breakfast for three; then sitting down at his simple desk, he wrote +down for Wally the names of a few peasants whom he knew to be worthy +people. + +"See, here is a whole list of honest men and women in the Oetz and +Gurgler valleys," said he to Wally. "Try to find a place with one of +them; over the mountain nothing will be yet known of your fault, and by +the time people hear of it you can have shown yourself to be an honest +girl, so that they will be willing to shut their eyes to it. You must +not appeal to me, but you are as tall and as strong as a man, and they +will gladly take you; you can work with a will and make yourself +useful, if you choose. But you must learn to obey--must give in to +custom and order, else you will do no good. I do not ask you to go back +to your father, and let yourself be locked up in the cellar; that would +be undue punishment, and do you more harm than good. Nor do I ask you +to marry Vincenz out of obedience to your father and make yourself +miserable for life. But I do ask of you that you should curb your wild +spirit in the service of worthy people, in reasonable and regular +activity, and so become again a useful member of human society. Will +you promise me this?" + +"I will try," said Wally, in her unwavering honesty. + +"That is all I ask of you in the first instance, for I know well that +you cannot with a good conscience promise more. But try to do it with +an honest will, and remember always that God throws away wood that is +too hard. I will go to-day to your father and speak to his conscience, +that he may forgive you and be reconciled to you, or at least not +pursue you any farther. Give me news soon of where you are, that I may +let you know how things stand." + +Marianne brought the breakfast, and the pastor said the morning +prayers. Wally, too, devoutly folded her hands, and from her deepest +soul prayed God that he would help her to become good and useful; she +was in such holy earnest--she would so gladly have been good and +useful, if only she had known how. + +When prayers were over, all three sat down, she, and the pastor, and +Marianne to breakfast. But scarcely had they begun when a shout was +heard outside. "A vulture! See, up on the roof there, a vulture! shoot +him down, bring guns!" + +"Heavens! my Hansl," cried Wally springing up, and would have run out +at the door. + +"Stop," cried the priest, "what are you doing? Why risk yourself +needlessly? You cannot go out now, when at any moment your father's +people may come to take you!" + +"I'll not leave my Hansl in the lurch, come what may," cried Wally, and +with one spring she stood outside the house. + +The curé followed her, shaking his head. "The vulture is tame," she +cried to the people. "He belongs to me; leave him alone." + +"One can't leave a creature like that to fly about as it will," said +the people, grumbling. + +"Has he taken a sheep or a child?" asked Wally defiantly. + +"No." + +"Well, then, leave me and my bird unmolested!" said the girl; and she +stood there with an air so proud and threatening that the people looked +at her with astonishment. "Wally, Wally," gently warned the priest, +"think of the hard wood." + +"I do think, your reverence!" she said, and beckoned with her hand to +the vulture. "Hansl, come back." The bird shot down from the roof, so +that the people all shrank back frightened. She took him on her +shoulder, and stepped up to the priest. "God keep your reverence," she +said gently, "and thank you for all your kindness." + +"Will you not come in and finish breakfast?" said the old man. + +"No, I'll not leave the bird alone again, and besides I must go +on--what have I to stay for?" + +"May God and all the Saints preserve thee, then!" said the pastor +troubled, while Marianne was furtively thrusting some food into the +pocket of her pleated gown. + +For a moment her foot lingered on the threshold that had grown dear to +her, then she silently stepped forward between the people, who made way +for her. + +"Who is she?" they asked each other. + +"She is a witch!" she heard them whisper behind her. + +"She is a stranger," said the priest, "who came to make her confession +to me." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The Klotz Family of Rofen. + + +Day after day Wally wandered round the canton seeking a place, but no +one would take her with her vulture, and from him she would not part. +Even if she had abandoned him, he would have flown back to her again, +and as to killing the faithful bird, such a thought could not enter her +mind, let what might befal her. Now, in very truth, she was the +Vulture-maiden, for her destiny was inseparably linked to that of the +bird, and he had as much influence over it as a human being. Luckard's +old cousin, to whom she once paid a passing visit, would have taken her +in gladly, but she would have been too near home, and wholly in her +father's power. She must go farther--as far as her feet would carry +her. Every day the season grew more severe; it began to snow, and the +nights, which Wally was often forced to spend in an open barn, were +keenly cold. The clothes she wore grew old and shabby, she began to +look like a beggar and a vagabond, and she was every day more summarily +dismissed from the doors where she ventured to knock with her +companion. She looked so strange that no good housewife now would let +her work in the house for even a few hours, and eat at her table +afterwards. They gave her a piece of bread at the door for "God's +pity's sake;" and Wally, the haughty Wally, daughter of the +Strommingers, sat down on the threshold and eat it. For she would +not die! Life--tormented, baited, poor and naked--life was still +fair to her, so long as she could hope that sooner or later Joseph +might come to love her; for the sake of that hope she would bear +everything--hunger, cold, weariness. But her frame, hitherto so +powerful, began to fail under the constant consuming anxiety and +tension, her eyes were dim, her feet refused to serve her, and as soon +as she lay down quietly her thoughts whirled in her brain, and she fell +into a feverish dose. With overwhelming dread she met the feeling that +she might be going to fall ill. It was too much! If she were to lose +consciousness in some barn or shed, she might be taken back to her +father, she would find herself once more in his power. She had wandered +up into the Gurgler valley, and as she had there found nothing to do, +she had taken the weary road again over to the Oetz valley; she had +been as far as Vent, which lying in the domain of her father Murzoll, +seemed to her almost like a home. But there things had gone worse than +ever with her; the ruder the place, the ruder the inhabitants, and when +Wally arrived there, she found that the news of her deed had hastened +to precede her, and that wherever she showed herself she was met with +horror and aversion. She did not appeal to the curé of Heiligkreuz; he +had desired her not, and she perceived that he had been right to do so; +but for that reason she sought no more priests; not one of them would +dare to take any interest in her. + +The last door in Vent had just been closed upon her. Before her lay +nothing but the cloud-reaching wall of the Platteykogel, the Wildspitz, +and the Hochvernagtferner, which closed in the valley, and over which +no pathway led. Here on all sides the world was shut in like a +_cul-de-sac_, and she was at the end of it; she stood still and looked +up and around at the steep and towering walls. It was a grey morning; +thick snow had fallen during the night and lay all over the valley, +which looked like a prodigious trough of snow; every trace of a path +was obliterated. She sat down and thought, "If I go to sleep, and am +frozen, it is an easy death." But it was not yet cold enough for that; +the snow melted under her, and she was soon shivering from the wet. +Then she started up and dragged herself up the slope that leads up +behind Vent to the Hochjoch; from thence she could look over all the +surrounding country, and here she became aware of a sort of furrow in +the snow that led behind the village along by the Thalleitspitz into +the very heart of the Ferner. It might be a footpath--but whither did +it lead? She went up higher to get a wider view, and a bandage seemed +to fall from her eyes--that was the path that led from Vent to +Rofen--Rofen, the highest inhabited spot in the whole Tyrol, the last +in the Oetz valley where men, like eagles, can still dwell, and of them +only two families, the Klotz family and the Gestreins; Rofen that lies +silent and hidden at the foot of the terrible Vernagt-glacier, on the +shore of the lake of ice where no straying foot wanders from year's end +to year's end, which a venerable tradition wraps in a mysterious veil. +This was the place that Wally must strive to reach, this was the last +refuge where she might perhaps find help, or at least could die in +peace and unseen, like the wild animal of the desert. Thither would she +go--to the Klötze of Rofen; they were the most renowned guides in all +the Tyrol, they were at home on the mountains as the mountain-spirits +themselves; they would understand how Wally would sooner burn down a +house, would sooner die, than let herself be deprived of the breath of +freedom; and they could protect her against all the world, for the +farms of Rofen had right of sanctuary. Duke Frederick had granted it in +token of gratitude, because he once in sore distress had found refuge +there from his enemies. Joseph the Second had indeed withdrawn it at +the end of the last century, but the peasant clings to old usages, and +the villagers of the Oetz valley willingly continued to hold it in +honour. No one who sought and found asylum at Rofen could be touched; +for the Rofeners--the Klötze and the Gestreins--harboured no one who +did not deserve it, and were held in as great respect as their +forefathers. An assault on their home-right would have been simply a +sacrilege. + +Wally lifted her arms to Heaven in passionate thankfulness to God who +had shown her this path. Her head swimming, her feet stumbling, she +strove for the last goal that her strength might yet avail to reach; +first, downwards to the path that led from Vent, then again steeply +upwards. For an endless hour she mounted the encumbered path; there +they lay before her as if sleeping in the snow, the peaceful, honoured +farms of Rofen, which she had so often seen from Murzoll looking like +eagles' nests clinging to the cliff. Her heart beat so that she could +hear it, her knees almost failed her; if she were to be turned away, +even here! A fresh storm of snow whirled silently around her, and +wrapped the whole scene in a white, shifting veil. It flitted and +glanced before her eyes, and the white veil waved coldly about her +head, but it melted on her fevered brow and flowed in drops down her +face and hair, and she trembled again with the chill. At last she stood +before the door of Nicodemus Klotz, and took hold of the iron knocker; +but as she put out her hand, a strange light flashed before her eyes, +she fell heavily against the door, then sank down in a heap on the +ground. + +On and on the white flakes drifted up the narrow valley and wrapped it +in a shrouding veil, and heaped themselves before the well-closed door +of Nicodemus Klotz over the stiffened body that lay there, till it was +a peaceful white hillock. + +Nicodemus Klotz sat on his warm bench by the stove, smoked his pipe, +and looked comfortably out of window at the snow. So the peaceful +half-hours passed by, whilst his brother Leander, a fine-looking +hunter, read the weekly news out of a shabby paper. "It is coming down +finely," said Nicodemus, blowing out a cloud of smoke. + +"Yes," said Leander, looking up at the snowflakes floating and swarming +before the little window. Suddenly in the midst of the white whirl a +dark wing struck on the panes, something fluttered and croaked, then +flew up to the roof. + +"There is something there," said Leander standing up. + +"What matter?" growled the elder brother, "whatever it may have been, +thou can't go out in this storm." + +"Why not?" said Leander taking his rifle from the wall; the wing-stroke +of the passing bird had roused his hunter's instincts; he must see what +it was. He went to the door and opened it cautiously, so as not to +disturb the bird by any noise. A mass of snow fell inwards, and he +perceived the heap that had piled itself up on the threshold. He could +not get out; he must fetch a spade to clear away the wall, and +impatiently putting aside his gun, he began to shovel. + +"Heavens! what is this?" he cried out suddenly, "Nicodemus, +come--quick--here is some one buried under the snow--help me!" + +His brother hastened forward; in a moment the heap was dug into, and a +beautiful rounded arm appeared, and then from beneath the light +covering, they drew forth a lifeless body. + +"Good God! a maiden--and what a maiden!" whispered Leander as the +beautiful head and the finely-moulded form revealed themselves. + +"How can she have wandered up here?" said Nicodemus, shaking his head +as he lifted, not without effort, the heavy body out of the snow. + +"Is she dead?" asked Leander touching her, while his eyes rested with +mingled alarm and pleasure on the pale, sunburnt face. + +"She must instantly be rubbed," ordered Nicodemus, "inside, in the +bedroom there." + +They carried the weighty burthen into the house and laid it on +Nicodemus' bed. "She must have lain a good half-hour out there; it must +be about that time since I heard a heavy blow against the door, but I +thought it was a lump of snow fallen from the roof." + +Leander fetched a tub full of snow, and officiously tried to help in +pulling off the girl's garments. "Let be," said the older and more +discreet man, "that will not do--a youngster like thee; the girl'd be +ashamed if she knew it. Do thou go out and see if thou can bring down +one of the Gestreins, Kathrine or Marianne. Go!" + +Leander could not take his eyes from the lifeless form. "Such a +beautiful maid!" he muttered compassionately as he went out. + +With gentle care the experienced man now undressed the girl, and rubbed +her hard with the snow till warmth revived in her skin, and the blood +began to circulate again. Then he dried her well, covered her up +carefully, and poured a few drops of a strong cordial extracted from +herbs down her throat. At last she recovered consciousness, turned and +stretched herself, and looked once round the room; but her eyes were +glazed and vacant, and muttering a few unintelligible words, she closed +them again. + +"She is ill," said Nicodemus to Leander, who at this moment reappeared, +whilst a sturdy peasant woman who stopped at the door to shake off the +snow followed him. + +"Marianne," said Nicodemus--she was his married sister, "thou must help +us here. Two men like Leander and me can't look after the girl. There +is Leander making eyes at her already." + +He threw a dissatisfied glance at the young man, who was again standing +by the head of the bed and seemed to devour with his eyes the face of +the sick girl; but he turned away hastily and blushed at being found +out. + +Marianne went up to the bed, and her first question was: "Who can she +be?" + +"God only knows! Some vagabond," said Nicodemus. + +"What should make thee say that?" growled Leander, "one can see plainly +enough she's no vagabond." + +"Ay, because she's a handsome girl and pleases thee," said Marianne; +"there's many a fair face covers a blackened soul--good looks prove +nothing; a decent girl doesn't wander round the country at this time of +year, all alone in the snow till she falls in a heap. Likely enough +she's in some scrape, and God knows what sort she may be to harbour in +the house." + +"Well, it's all one now," said Nicodemus good-naturedly, "we can't turn +a sick girl out in the cold and snow, be she what she may." + +"As you will," said the woman, "I'll come over here and welcome, to +take care of her for you; but I won't take her into my house, and that +you may know once for all." + +"No one asked thee; we will keep her ourselves," said Leander +irritated, and as Wally again muttered some words to herself, he leaned +tenderly over her and asked, "What is it? What dost thou want?" + +The elder brother and sister exchanged glances. "As for thee," said +Nicodemus, "I have something to say to thee. Thou's willing enough and +ready to open house and home before we know who this woman is. There +stands the door;--now walk out and come in here no more unless thou'd +like to see me turn out the girl, ill as she is. Dost understand?" + +"What, one mayn't even look at a girl now," grumbled Leander, "I see no +reason why thee should come in before me." + +"Thou'st nought to do but to go out; I'll allow none of this so long as +I am master of the house and eldest brother to thee." So saying +Nicodemus took him by the arm and pushed him out, and remained himself +alone with his sister by the sick girl. + +Wally did not recover consciousness, she lay in a fever; her throat +was swelled, her limbs stiff and aching. The brother and sister +soon saw that the stranger must have suffered terribly from cold and +over-fatigue, and they tended her to the best of their powers. Leander +meanwhile wandered idly and restlessly through the house, and as often +as one of them came out of the sick room he was in the way to enquire +how things were going on. He was full of grief and vexation; he also +would so willingly have tended the beautiful girl. Towards evening it +ceased snowing, and he took his rifle and went out. But he had scarcely +been away a minute when he came back again and called Nicodemus from +the sick room. "Look here," he said, much excited, "there is a vulture +on the roof, a splendid golden vulture, and he looks at me quite +quietly and confidingly, as though he belonged there." + +"Ah!" said Nicodemus, "that is singular." + +"Only come and see," said Leander, and drew his brother out, in front +of the house. "There--there he sits and never moves. A state prize, and +I can't shoot him! The devil take it all!" + +"Why can't thou shoot him?" asked Nicodemus. + +"How can I fire now, with the sick girl lying indoors?" said Leander, +stamping his foot. + +"Drive him away," advised Nicodemus, "and then thou can follow him and +shoot him further off where she cannot hear." + +"Tsch, tsch," said Leander, throwing up balls of snow to scare off the +bird. The vulture ruffled his feathers, screamed, and at last rose. But +he did not fly away, he floated for a minute high in the air, and then +quietly let himself down on to the roof again. + +"That is strange, he won't go away; it's just as if he were tame." + +Once, twice more they tried to drive it off--always with the same +result. + +"He's bewitched," said Leander, making the sign of the cross; but it +did not seem to trouble the bird--so it was certain the devil could +have nothing to do with it! + +"It seems to me that he's been shot already, and cannot fly," said +Nicodemus, "any way let him be in peace till he comes down of himself, +if thou doesn't wish to frighten the girl with the crack of the rifle." + +"He's half down already; I believe I might take him with my hand," said +Leander. He fetched a ladder, laid it against the wall and cautiously +ascended. The bird quietly let him approach; he drew his handkerchief +from his pocket, and would have thrown it over the vulture's head, but +the bird struck and pecked at him so violently, that he was obliged to +beat a hasty retreat. + +Nicodemus laughed. "There, he's shown thee how to catch a vulture with +the hand. I could have told thee as much as that." + +"I never saw such a bird in my life," said Leander grumbling, and +shaking his head, "Wait a bit," he added, threatening his foe above, +"only wait till I find thee somewhere else." + +"Thou can hunt him to-morrow if he's not perished in the night. If he +can fly, he'll go farther away, and hardly come so far as this again." + +It was getting dark now, and Marianne came out to say she must go home +and cook her husband's supper. The brothers went in, and Nicodemus also +went to prepare supper, by fetching bread and cheese from the store +room. While he was gone, Leander softly opened the door that led from +the living room into the bedroom and peeped through the crack at Wally. +She lay still now, and slept soundly. It was so long since she had lain +in any bed, that it could be seen even in her sleep how comfortable she +found it; she lay reclining so softly, so easily amongst the pillows. +"God help thee, thou poor soul, God help thee!" whispered Leander to +her through the opening, then hastily closed the door again, for he +heard Nicodemus coming. He was sitting quite innocently on the bench by +the stove when his brother came in with the food. + +"To-night," said Nicodemus, "we shall do well enough; as Benedict is +not here, I can sleep upstairs in his bed, but to-morrow night, when +he's back again, we three must divide the two beds between us." + +"Oh, I need no bed," said Leander hastily. "For the sake of her in +there, I'd as soon sleep on the bench here, or in the hay-loft; it is +all one to me. If any of us is to be put out for her, it shall be me, +and no one else." + +"Well, if it pleases thee, thou can have it so. But in the hay-loft, +not on the bench; that is too near the sick-room--dost understand?" + +"Ay, ay, I understand well enough," muttered Leander, and bit into his +cheese as if it were a sour apple. + +The bedroom of the two younger brothers was exactly opposite that of +Nicodemus, who took the bed of the absent Benedict. Two or three times +in the night he got up, and went to listen at Wally's door; she talked +and wandered a good deal, and once Nicodemus could clearly understand +that she was speaking of a vulture. "Ah," thought he, "she too will +have seen the vulture when she came up, and the fright comes back to +her in her dreams." + +Early in the morning, before breakfast even, the restless Leander was +up and out; he did not come home till nearly mid-day. + +"Well, how is she getting on?" he asked as he came in. + +"Just the same; she doesn't come to herself at all, and she's always in +dread of people who, she thinks, want to take her away." + +Leander scratched his head behind his ear. "Then I can't shoot yet. +Only think now--there's the vulture outside still sitting on the roof." + +"Never!" + +"Ay, when I went out this morning, I couldn't see him anywhere; then I +thought, he's flown away, and I went after him for nearly three hours. +Then when I get home, there he is, sitting quietly on the roof again." + +"Well," said Nicodemus, "that's a thing that might make one really +uneasy, if one happened to be superstitious." + +"Ay, indeed. One might almost think of the phantom maidens of Murzoll, +and that they meant to play me a rogue's trick." + +"God be praised!" said a rough deep voice, and Benedict the second +brother, who had been away on a journey, now walked in. + +"Ay, God be praised thou'rt back again," cried his brothers together. +"What's the news? What's thou been doing?" + +"Oh, nothing much; they've only sent me from Herod to Pilate again down +in the Court-house, and crammed me with half-promises. I only know that +all Oetzthal, man and beast of all three genders, may break neck and +limb over the road here before we get the path." The speaker threw off +his knapsack discontentedly and seated himself on the bench by the +stove. "Is there anything to eat?" he said. + +"Directly," said Nicodemus, who did the cooking himself, and he fetched +in the soup. + +He also brought a bowl of milk, and took it in to the sick girl; +Leander's eye followed him enviously. Benedict was hungry and fell to +on the soup without observing what his brother had done: Nicodemus soon +returned, and silently, like all peasants, who seem to fear when +performing the solemn act of eating that they will get out of time if +they speak, the three spooned up the soup in a measured rhythmical +movement, so that neither of them should get more nor less than his +share. + +When they had eaten, the weary Benedict lighted his pipe and stretched +himself comfortably on the bench. + +"What's the news in the world? Tell us all about it," said Leander, who +knew his brother's habit of silence. Benedict had stuck his pipe aslant +in his mouth and yawned. "I know of nought," he said. After a time, +however, he went on: "Rich Stromminger of Sonnenplatte, his daughter, +the Vulture-maiden, you know--she set her father's place on fire, and +is running now about the country begging." + +"Ah, when did that happen?" asked the brothers astonished. + +"She must be a real bad girl that," continued Benedict. "Her father had +sent her up to the Hochjoch before this, because she wouldn't do his +bidding, and when she comes down, the first thing is that she half +kills Gellner, and sets her father's house on fire." + +"Jesu Maria!" + +"After that she naturally ran away, and is now wandering about the +neighbourhood. Yesterday she was in Vent, and trying to get a place, +but who would have such a girl in the house? To add to it all, she +drags the big vulture about with her that she took from the nest, and +expects folk to take that in too. Naturally every one refuses." + +Nicodemus looked at Leander, and Leander grew crimson. + +"Well!--" said Nicodemus, "now I know who's lying in there!--The +vulture that won't leave the roof--and all night she was raving about a +vulture--that's not so bad--we've the Vulture-maiden in the house!" + +Benedict sprang up. "What!" he cried. + +"Don't cry out so loud," said Leander, "dost want the poor sick girl to +hear it all?" + +Then Nicodemus related how Leander had found her half dead in the snow, +and how they could not do otherwise than keep her in the house, at +least till she was able to walk. But Benedict was a rough man, and +thought the illness was only a pretence--that his brothers had been too +soft and should have sent her away. He would soon have got the better +of her. "For incendiaries he had no sanctuary," he cried, and his +piercing eyes glanced wrathfully under his bushy brows. + +"If thou'd seen the maid, thou'd have taken her in too," said Leander, +"It'd have been less than human to turn the poor thing out in the wind +and weather." + +"Indeed? And in that way we should get at last every robber and +murderer in the neighbourhood in asylum here, till it is said that +Rofen is a hiding-place for all the rabble--that'd be a fine thing for +the justices to get hold of. If you two can be taken in by a cunning +chit, I at least must maintain order and decency in Rofen!" + +He approached the door. Nicodemus stood before it and said quietly, but +firmly, "Benedict, I am the eldest, and I'm master in Rofen as much as +thou, and I know as well as thou what is our duty as Rofeners. I give +thee my word I will keep the girl no longer in the house than I must +for human and Christian duty; but now she is sick, and I will not +suffer thee to ill-use her. So long as I live at Rofen I'll have no +injustice done under my roof." + +Then Leander broke in. "Look here," he said confidently and with +flashing eyes; "only let him go in--when he sees her, he'll never send +her away." + +"I believe thou'rt right, thou simpleton," said Nicodemus smiling, and +he softly opened the door. + +Benedict hastily and noisily entered; this time Leander ventured to +slip in also, and Nicodemus had nothing to say against it; he might +help to watch over the harsh Benedict and keep him from being too +rough. Marianne was sitting by the bed making new stockings for the +sick girl, for she had become so ragged that she would have had none to +wear when she could get up again. At Benedict's noisy entrance she made +a sign that he should be quiet; but scarcely had he perceived the sick +girl, when of himself he hushed his footsteps, and went slowly up to +the bed. Wallburga was fast asleep. She lay on her back, and had thrown +one beautiful rounded arm over her head; her abundant dark-brown hair +fell loosely over the snow-white neck that no sunshine could tan +through her thick peasant's bodice, and which her loose linen chemise +now left partly uncovered; her mouth was half-open as though smiling, +and two rows of pearly teeth shone between the arched lips; on the +sleeping brow lay an unspoken expression of nobility and purity that no +words can describe. Benedict had grown quite still. He gazed long at +the touching and yet innocent picture as if astonished, and his brown +face began gradually to redden--like Leander's, which seemed dyed in a +crimson glow. Then he ground his teeth together and turned round. "Aye, +she is certainly ill," he said in a voice which implied, "There is +nothing to be done," and he went out of the room on tiptoe. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + In the Wilderness. + +Once again spring-breezes blew across the land. The melting snows +flowed down in rushing mountain-torrents; timidly, half-suspiciously +the first Alpine plants peeped out, as though to ask the sunshine if it +were indeed in earnest, and they might venture forth a little further. +Here and there isolated patches of snow still lay like forgotten linen +sheets. In the evergreen pine and fir-woods, the birds lifted their +wings, held twittering consultations, and attuned their little throats +to the universal song of rejoicing. + +From the Ferner mountains avalanches came thundering down into the +valleys, and beneath the terrible, moving masses, walls and rafters, +trees and bushes, crashed together. There was a thronging and +wrestling, a thundering and rustling--there were threats and +allurements, fears and hopes, in the heights and in the valleys, and +man also, ever-venturesome, ever-inquisitive man, arose from his long +winter's rest, stretched forth his feelers, and began to grope about +the mountains with his alpenstock for some foothold in the loose and +shifting snow. + +Only Rofen yet lay in the shadow of its narrow, heaven-high walls, +hidden like a late sleeper beneath its white coverlet. Before the door +of the Rofen farm stood Leander, feeding Hansl with a big mouse that he +had caught for him. Hansl had been Leander's pet from the hour when it +came out that he belonged to Wally, and the bird was well cared for +among the Rofeners. + +Benedict came towards the house with his mountain pole. He had been +reconnoitring the path to Murzoll, and had more than once hovered +between life and death. His glance was unsteady, his whole appearance +agitated and gloomy. + +"Well?" asked Leander in anxious suspense. + +"The road is passable at need. If I guide her, she can risk it." + +"Nay, Benedict, don't thee do that, don't let her go up there--I pray +thee, don't." + +"What she will--she will," said Benedict gloomily. + +"Tell her the mountain's not safe, then she'll remain of herself." + +"Where's the good of lying? She'll not change her mind however long she +stays here, and thou hast nothing to hope, I've told thee that often +enough. An unfledged stripling like thee is not for a maid like Wally! +Now keep thyself quiet." He went into the house, and the tears sprang +into Leander's eyes with anger and pain. + +Wally came with the hayfork out of the stable towards Benedict. + +"Wally," he said, "if it must be so, I'll lead thee up there, I've +found out the way; but it is still dangerous." + +"Thank thee kindly, Benedict," said Wally, "tomorrow, then, we will +go." She hung up the hayfork, and went into the kitchen. Benedict +stamped with his foot, and set his alpenstock in the corner. For a +while he stood reflecting, then he could keep quiet no longer--he +followed her. + +Wally had tucked up her gown and was preparing to wash the kitchen. + +"Wally, leave all that, I want to talk with thee." + +"I cannot, Benedict, I must scour the kitchen. If I go away to-morrow, +I must have the whole house clean. I'll leave no dirt or disorder +behind me." + +"Thou's always worked more by us than thou hast eaten or drunken. Let +be now, the house is clean enough, and if thou goes away--all is one." +He chewed at a piece of wood, then spit out the bitten splinter. Wally +saw the terrible state of excitement he was in, and left off her work +that she might listen to him. + +"Wally," he said, "consider once more whether thou'll not have one of +us. See now, thou'st no need to be so proud. There's such a cry against +thee, that it's through great love only, that one can take thee at +all." + +Wally nodded her head in perfect agreement. + +"Now see, we Rofeners, we are people who may knock at every door, and +there's not a girl but would be glad to get one of us. Thou hast the +choice between two of us brothers, and refusest such a piece of luck. +See, Wally, thou may some day repent of it." + +"Benedict, thou means well, and I care for thee and Leander as one can +care for only one person, but not enough to marry you. And I'll marry +no one that I can't love as a husband, and that thou may know that I +mean it, I once saw one that I can never forget, and till I do forget +him, I'll take no other." + +Benedict grew pale. + +"See, I tell thee that thou may be at peace, and no longer torment +thyself with the thought of me. Only believe, Benedict, I know well +what thou hast done, thou and all of you for me. You saved me from +death, you protected me when my father'd have taken me away by force, +and it was really fine how thou defended me and thy rights. I'd be a +happy girl if I could love thee and forget that other. I'm right +thankful to thee, and if it could help thee, I'd give thee my life--but +tell thyself, what would thee do with a wife who loves some one else? +That were truly a bad return to a man like thee." + +"Yes," said Benedict hoarsely, and wiped his forehead. + +"And thou sees now, that I must go away, that things can't go on as +they are?" + +"Yes," he said again, and left the kitchen. + +Wally looked after him as, full of emotion, he strode away, the brave +and proud man who had offered her all, all that--as he himself had said +in his uncouth fashion--would have made the happiness of any other +girl. And she herself could not understand how it was that she could +not care more for this man, who had done so much for her, than for the +stranger who had never once given her a thought. And yet so it was! +There was not one who could be compared with Joseph for power and +excellence; she saw him always before her as when he had flung the +bloody bear's skin from his shoulder and related how he had wrestled +with the monster, whilst all stood around and admired him, the mighty, +the beautiful, the only one! And then how he had conquered her father, +the strong man who had always appeared to her hitherto so unconquerable +and terrible! And with what goodness and kindness he had spoken to him +afterwards, in spite of her father's hostility! No, there was not one +that could rise up and stand comparison with Joseph. + +She went back to her work. "If only Joseph knew all that I am giving up +for his sake," she thought as she looked out, and saw how in front of +the window Benedict with a red face was talking to Leander, and how +Leander wept. + +Old Stromminger had at first stormed against and cursed his unruly +child, and not even the good pastor of Heiligkreuz had succeeded in +pacifying him. When it was at length rumoured that Wally kept herself +hidden at Rofen, he sent people to fetch her away. But on their own +ground and territory it was easy for no one to move the "Klötze of +Rofen," and they defended like knights the sacred rights and freedom of +the Rofeners. When Wally however perceived that a passion for her had +taken possession of the brothers, then she made a confidant of the +quiet and prudent Nicodemus, and he understood what was needful to be +done. He went to Stromminger, and his wise eloquence was so far +successful that the old man at last gave up the idea of imprisoning +Wally, and contented himself with banishing her for ever from his +sight. In the summer she should tend the flocks again upon Murzoll, +"because that is the only way in which one can make any use of her." In +the winter she might seek service wherever she liked--only she was not +to venture to come back to her home. + +When Nicodemus returned with this answer, Wally insisted upon going +that moment to await the flocks upon the Ferner, and only Nicodemus' +firm decision prevailed upon her to wait at least till Benedict should +have examined whether the mountain road were passable. + +So the hour came when Wally must once more fly before the winds of +spring on to the mountains, into the desert. It was hard to part with +the brothers, and with good Marianne. They had become dear to her, +these worthy people, who had come so readily to her help. + +Benedict went up the mountain with her; he would not let himself be +deprived of that. "Thou'st been entrusted to us, we will at least hand +thee back again with a whole skin. Whatever may happen to thee then, we +can, alas! do nought to hinder." + +It was a fearful road up which they had to make their way in the midst +of the wild confusion wrought by the spring, and Benedict, acknowledged +far and wide to be the best and surest of guides, said himself he had +never seen so bad a mountain-path. They spoke little, for they were +engaged in a constant, breathless struggle for life, and could look +neither to the right nor to the left. It was hard work. At length, +after fighting half the day with snow and ice and crevasses, they found +themselves on the summit. The old hut still stood there, somewhat more +ruinous than before, and a heavy weight of snow lay on the roof and all +around it. + +"There thou means to house thyself--there! Sooner than become +an honoured wife and lead with us down yonder a respected and +home-sheltered life as a peasant of Rofen?" + +"I can do no other, Benedict," said Wally gently, and looked with sad +eyes at the snow-covered inhospitable hut. "I believe the mountain +spirits have thrown a spell upon me, so that I must needs come back to +them, and never more feel myself at home in the valleys." + +"One might almost believe it! There's something strange about thee. +Thou's quite different from other maids, so that one loves thee in +quite a different way--much, much more dearly, and yet as if thou +didn't belong to us, as if an evil spirit drove thee round." + +He threw down the bundle of provisions that he had brought up with him +for Wally, and began removing the snow from the door of the hut that +she might be able to get into it. + +"Benedict," said Wally softly, as though she could be overheard, "dost +thou believe in the phantom maidens?" + +Benedict looked down meditatively and shrugged his shoulders. "What can +one say? I've never seen any myself--but there are people who'd hold to +it to their last breath." + +"I'd never believed in them--but when I came up here last year, I +had a dream so lifelike, I could almost believe it was no dream, and +since then, whatever happens to me, I can't help thinking of the +phantom-maidens. + +"What sort of a dream?" + +"Thou must know that him whom I love is a chamois-hunter, and it was +because of him my father sent me up last year, and the first hour I was +here I dreamt that the phantom-maidens and Murzoll threatened me that +if I wouldn't leave off thinking of the lad, they'd fling me down into +the abyss!" And she related her whole dream in detail to Benedict. He +shook his head, and became quite melancholy. "Wally, in thy place, I +should be afraid." + +She threw her head back. "Ah well. Thou goes on shooting the chamois, +in spite of the phantom-maidens. One has only got not to be afraid. +I've sprung over many a chasm since then, and I've felt well enough +that there was somewhat that wished to pull me down, but I held myself +firm, and kept the upper hand." + +She raised her strong brown arm defiantly. "So long as I've got two +arms, I've no need to fear whatever it may be." + +This did not please Benedict. In his solitary wanderings over the +terrible Similaun and the wild glacier peaks, he had acquired a taste +for subtle meditations and reflected more deeply on many things than +other people. "Take care, Wally! He who sets himself too high thrusts +his head up easily enough, but that's what those up yonder won't +endure, and they thrust him down again." + +She was silent. + +"It's too early for thee to be up here--" he began again, "no one could +stand it." + +"Oh, it was worse still when I was up here last autumn," said Wally, as +she went into the hut. + +"Who won't be advised, can't be helped. But if _he_ doesn't some time +recompense thee for all thou'rt going through for him, he deserves to +be dragged round by the collar." + +"If he knew of it, for sure he'd recompense me," said Wally reddening +and looking down. + +"He doesn't know of it?" asked Benedict astonished. + +"No, he scarcely knows me." + +"Now may God forgive thee that thou should so set thy heart on a +strange man, and them, them who love thee, and have cherished thee and +tended thee, them thou pushes from thee. That is no love--that is mere +obstinacy." + +Wally was silent, and Benedict also said no more. He did now as old +Klettenmaier had done the year before. He set the hut in order as well +as he could for Wally, and brought her a store of wood. Then he held +out his hand to her in farewell. "May God guard thee up here! And if I +might say one more word to thee, it would be this: Watch over thyself, +and pray that no evil powers may get the better of thee!" + +Wally's heart contracted as his eyes full of deep sadness rested on +her. It seemed to her as though in truth she felt the evil powers +hovering round her, and almost unconsciously she held the hand of her +protector who had watched over her so faithfully, and accompanied him +part of the way back, as though she feared to remain alone. + +"Now then--here the path becomes bad; I thank thee for coming so far," +said Benedict, and parted from her. + +"Farewell, and a safe journey home," cried Wally after him. + +He looked round no more. She turned back to the hut, and was once more +alone with her vulture and her mountain spirits. But the spirits seemed +appeased. Murzoll smiled kindly in the glow of the spring sunshine upon +the returned child, and Wally no longer felt herself a stranger in the +midst of her mighty and sublime surroundings. Each fold on Murzoll's +brow was familiar to her now; she knew his smile and his frown, and it +no longer frightened her when sullen clouds beset his brow, or when he +rolled down avalanches into the abyss. She felt herself secure on his +harsh breast, and the breath of his storms blew away from her heart the +weight that she had brought up with her again from the valley. For a +healing power lies in the storm; it cools the blood, it bears the soul +on its rushing wings far away over the stones and thorns amongst which +it would flutter, painfully entangled. As when a child has hurt itself +and cries, we breathe on the place, saying, "It will soon be well," and +the child smiles back to us again, so Father Murzoll blew away from the +heart of his returned child the dull pain that oppressed it, and she +looked with shining eyes and an uplifted heart out into the wide +world--and hoped and waited. + +So weeks and months passed by. The July sun shone with such power that +the mountain was already completely "ausgeapert"; that is to say, the +lighter winter snow was all melted away to the limits of the eternal +snows where Wally dwelt. Now and then one of the Rofener brothers came +up to enquire whether she had not yet changed her mind. But they came +but seldom, and interrupted Wally's solitude by a few short half-hours +only. + +One day the sun's rays "pricked" with such sharp, unusual heat, that +Wally felt as though she were passing between glowing needles. When the +sun "pricks," it draws the clouds together, and soon, somewhere about +midday, it had gathered about itself a thick tent of clouds behind +which it disappeared, and a leaden twilight was spread heavily over the +earth. A strange disquietude seized the little flock; now and then a +quivering brightness shuddered through the grey cloud-chaos, as a +sleeper's eyelashes quiver in dreams, and gigantic black mourning +clouds waved about Murzoll's head. Now and again they were rent +asunder, affording faint glimpses into the clear distance, but +instantly across these thin places new veils were woven till all was +closed, and no empty space, as it seemed, left between earth and +Heaven. + +Wally well knew what all this foreboded; she had already experienced +plenty of bad weather up here on the mountains, and she drove the flock +together under a projecting rock, where she had herself arranged a fold +in case of need. But a young goat had wandered out of sight, and she +was obliged to go and seek it. No storm had ever yet come on with such +rapidity. Already hollow mutterings could be heard amongst the +mountains, whilst the gusts of wind swept roaring onwards, flinging +down isolated hailstones. Now it was a question of minutes only, and +the kid was nowhere to be seen. Wally extinguished her hearth fire and +stepped out into the conflict of the elements, like an heroic queen +amongst the hosts of her rebellious subjects. And queen-like indeed she +looked, without knowing or caring anything about it. She had set a +little copper milk-can upside down upon her head as a helmet to protect +her from the hailstones, and a thick horse-cloth hung down like a +mantle from her shoulders. Thus equipped, and a shepherd's staff with +its iron hook in her hand in the place of a lance, she threw herself +out into the storm, and fought her way through it till she reached a +point of rock from whence she could look out after the lost animal. But +It was impossible through the mists to distinguish anything. Wally +ascended higher and higher, till she had reached the path that leads +over the Hochjoch into the Schnalser valley; and there, deep below in +the ravine, the kid was clinging to the side of the steep precipice, +trembling with fear and crouching beneath the blows of the heavy +hailstones. The helpless animal moved her to pity--she must have +compassion on it. The hail rattled down thicker and thicker around her, +the wind and rain struck her like whips across the face, there was a +heaving and swelling on every side like the thundering waves of an +approaching deluge, but she paid no heed to it; the mute supplications +of the distressed animal rose above the raging of the storm, and +without a moment's hesitation she let herself down into the misty +depths. With infinite trouble she got far enough down the slippery path +to lay hold of the animal with her crook and draw it towards her, then +throwing it over her shoulder, she climbed upwards again with hands and +feet. Then, all at once, a stream of fire seemed to shoot from the +zenith down into the gulf, a shivered fir-tree crashed beneath her in +the depths, and in one universal roar of heaven and earth together +there came a crackling from above, a rushing, a thundering of hurling +streams and masses below, till to the solitary pilgrim clinging to the +quaking rock it seemed as though the whole world were whirling round +her in wild dissolution. Half-stunned, she swung herself up at last on +to the firm edge of the pathway, then stood a moment to recover breath +and wipe the moisture from her eyes, for she could hardly see, and +the kid too struggled on her shoulder, so that she was obliged to bind +it before carrying it any further. Meanwhile, thunder-clap after +thunder-clap crashed above her, beneath her, and as though heaven had +been a leaking cask filled with fire, the lightning struck downwards in +fiery streams. Hark!--what was that?--a human voice! A cry for help +sounded clearly above the rushing and roaring. Wally who had not +trembled at the fury of the thunder and the hurricane, trembled now. A +human voice--now!--up here with her in this fearful tumult of nature, +in this chaos! It terrified her more than the raging of the elements. +She listened with suspended breath to hear whence the voice came, and +whether she had not deceived herself. Again she heard the cry, and +close behind her. "Hi, thou yonder--help me, then!" And out of the +mists and rain emerged a figure that seemed to drag along a second +form. Wally stood as though suddenly stiffened--what face was that? The +burning eyes, the black moustache, the finely aquiline nose, she looked +and looked and could not stir a limb for the sweet terror that had come +upon her--it was indeed St. George, it was Joseph the bear-hunter. + +He himself was scarcely less startled than Wally when she turned round, +but from another cause. "Jesu Maria--it's a girl," he said almost +timidly, and looked at Wally with astonishment. Seeing her from behind, +he had thought from her height that she was a shepherd--now he saw a +maiden before him. And as she stood there, her long mantle falling +around her in stiff folds, her head protected by its warlike helmet +against the hail, her dark hair, loosened and dripping, hanging about +her face, the crook in her hand and the kid on her broad shoulders, her +great eyes flaming and fastened upon him, he had a weird feeling for a +moment, as though something supernatural stood before him. In his whole +life before he had never seen so powerful a woman, and he had to pause +for a minute before he could clearly make her out. + +"Ah," he said, "thou'rt only old Stromminger's Vulture-Wally?" + +"Yes, that am I," answered the girl breathlessly. + +"So--well, precisely then with thee I have nothing to do." + +"Why not?" asked Wally, turning pale, and a flash of lightning quivered +just over her, so that her copper helmet flashed red in the glare. + +Joseph was obliged to pause, so crashing was the thunder-clap that +followed, and with new fury a shower of hail came rattling down. Joseph +looked at the girl in perplexity as she stood there immovable, whilst +lumps of ice struck against the slight metal can on her head. Then he +bent down over the lifeless form that he was carrying. + +"See here, ever since that affair in Sölden I've been in disgrace with +thy father, and people say that thou also art not one to have dealings +with. But this poor maid can go no further; a flash of lightning struck +close by her and threw her down, and she's quite out of her senses. Go, +lead us to thy hut, that the girl may rest till the storm is over--then +we'll leave again at once; and for certain, such a thing shall never +happen again." + +Wally looked strangely at him during this speech--half in defiance, +half in pain. Her lips trembled as though she would have made some +vehement answer, but she controlled herself, and after a short and +silent struggle, "Come," she said, and strode onwards before him. +Presently she paused and asked, "Who is the maid?" + +"She's a poor girl out of Vintschgau on her way to the Lamb in +Zwieselstein. My mother is dead, and I've had to go over to Vintschgau, +where her home was, to look after the inheritance, and as our roads lay +together, I've brought the girl across the mountains with me," answered +Joseph evasively. + +"Thy mother is dead? Oh, thou poor Joseph--" cried Wally full of +sympathy. + +"Yes--it was a hard blow," said Joseph in deep sadness, "the good +little mother." + +Wally saw that it pained him to speak of her, and was silent. They said +no more till they reached the hut. + +"Here's a horrible hole," said Joseph stooping and yet knocking his +head as he entered. "It's not for nothing that a man sends his child +off to live in a dog-kennel like this. Well, certainly thou'st done +enough to deserve it." + +"Ah!--thou's sure of that?" said Wally, breaking out bitterly now as +she untied the kid and set it down in a corner. Then she shook up her +bed and helped Joseph to lay the stranger on it. Her hands trembled as +she did so. + +"Well," said Joseph indifferently, "everyone knows how wild thou's been +with thy father, and how thou nearly killed Vincenz Gellner dead, and +set fire to thy father's barn in a rage. It seems to me, that with such +a beginning thou may go still further." + +"Dost know why I struck Vincenz, and fired the barn?" asked Wally with +a trembling voice, "Dost know _why_ I am up here in this dog-kennel as +thou calls it? Dost know?" And with her two hands she broke a strong +branch in pieces across her knee, so that the wood cracked and +splintered, and Joseph involuntarily admired her strength. + +"No," he said, "how should I know?" + +"Well then, if thou doesn't know, thou needn't speak of it," she said +low and angrily as she made up the fire that she might warm some milk +for the sick girl. + +"Tell me, then, if thou thinks I'm doing thee a wrong." + +Wally broke out again suddenly into the shrill, bitter laugh peculiar +to her when her heart was secretly bleeding. "Thee I'm to tell--thee?" +she cried, "Yes, truly; thou'rt a fitting person for me to tell!" And +she rinsed out a kettle with feverish haste, poured the milk into it, +and hung it up over the crackling fire. + +Joseph did not discover the pain that lay hidden in this scorn--he only +felt the scorn, and turned away from her offended: "With thee there's +nothing to be said; people are right enough there," he answered, and +thenceforward occupied himself only with the sick girl. + +Wally also was silent, and only now and then as she moved about her +work cast a stolen glance to where Joseph, with the red light of the +fire upon him, sat on a stool not far from the bed. His eyes glowed +like two coals in the reflection of the flames, which shining now +brightly, now faintly, lighted up the strong and handsome face of the +hunter with strange changes, so that it appeared sometimes friendly, +sometimes full of gloom. + +All at once Wally remembered her dream on the first night of her +arrival on the Hochjoch. "If the phantom-maidens could see him now, +they would melt away before him like snow before the fire." Something +of this she thought, and it seemed to her as if only with tears of +blood--as it is said of a heart that it bleeds--could she tear her +glance away from him. Two scalding drops did in truth fall from her +eyes, and though they were not drops of blood, they gave her no less +pain. + +The stranger now recovered consciousness. "What has happened?" she +asked in astonishment. + +"Thou must keep thyself quiet, Afra," said Joseph, "the lightning +nearly struck thee dead, and so Wally Stromminger has brought us to her +hut." + +"Jesu Maria, are we with the Vulture-Wally?" said the girl terrified. + +"Keep thyself still," said Joseph, comforting her, "as soon as thou's +recovered, we'll go on our way again." + +"So over in Vintschgau even thou's heard talk of me? There, take +something to drink against the fright," said Wally quietly and with a +touch of good-humoured sarcasm, as she reached her the warm milk mixed +with some brandy. Joseph had stood up to allow Wally to come to the bed +with the drink. Afra tried to sit up but she could not manage it, and +Wally coming quickly to her aid raised her and held her in her arms +like a child, whilst she gave her the milk with the other hand. Afra +took a thirsty draught out of the wooden bowl, but she was so weak that +her head sank upon Wally's shoulder when she had done drinking, and +Wally, beckoning to Joseph to take the bowl from her hand, remained +sitting patiently so as not to disturb the sick girl. + +Joseph looked at her meditatively, as she sat there on the edge of the +bed with the girl in her arms. "Thou'rt a handsome maid," he said +honestly, "it's a pity only thou should be so bad." + +A slight colour passed over Wally's face at these words. + +"How thy heart beats all at once!" said Afra. "I can feel it on thy +shoulder." And a little stronger now, she raised her head and gazed at +the beautiful tanned face, and the large eyes. Wally also now studied +the girl more attentively. She saw that she had charming features, blue +eyes full of expression, fair hair that looked like floss silk, and a +strange, uneasy feeling of aversion stole over her. She looked at +Joseph, stood up, and began to bustle round again. + +"Is that really the Vulture-Wally?" asked Afra of her guide, as though +she could not understand how the decried Vulture-maiden could be so +kind. + +"One wouldn't suppose it, but she says herself that it's she," answered +Joseph half-aloud. + +"And I'll soon prove to thee that I am," cried Wally proudly, and +opening the door, she cried "Hansl--Hansl, where art thou?" A shrill +scream answered her, and forthwith Hansl came rushing down from the +roof, and in at the door. + +"Heavens, what is that?" screamed Afra, crossing herself; but Joseph +placed himself before her, as a protector. + +"That is the vulture that I took as a child out of its nest--away +yonder on the Burgsteinwand. It is from him I got my name--the +Vulture-maiden!" and her eyes rested proudly on the bird, as a +soldier's eyes rest on the conquered colours. "See, I've tamed him so +that I can let him fly where he likes now--he never flies away from +me." She set him on her shoulder and unfolded his wings, so that Joseph +might see they were not cut. + +"That fellow's a state-prize," said Joseph, his eyes resting with both +longing and hostility on the splendid booty which no hunter will yield +to another, least of all to a girl! There must have been something in +the look that irritated the vulture, for he uttered a peculiar whistle, +bristled up his feathers, and bent his neck forward towards Joseph. +Wally felt the unwonted agitation on her shoulder and tried to quiet +the bird with caresses. "Nay, Hansl, what's come to thee? Thou wert +never so before." + +"Aha!--thou knows the hunter, my fine fellow," said Joseph with a +challenging laugh and snatching violently at the vulture as though to +tear him from Wally's shoulder. Suddenly the irritated bird put forth +all its might, spread out its wings, rose to the ceiling, and thence +swooped with its whole strength down upon the enemy below. A shriek of +terror rang from Wally's lips, Afra saved herself in a corner, the +narrow hut was almost filled with the rushing monster who no longer +heard his mistress's voice, but dashed again and again at Joseph with +his terrible beak striving to strike his talons into the man's side. It +was one wild confusion of fighting fists and wings, in which feathers +flew about, and the walls grew red where Joseph's bleeding hands +touched them. "My knife, if I could only get at my knife," he cried. + +Wally tore the door open. "Out, Joseph, out into the open air; in this +narrow hole thou can do nothing with him." + +But Joseph the bear-slayer had no idea of running away from a vulture. +"The devil take me if I stir from the spot," he said with a groan. For +one moment longer the battle wavered. Then Joseph, his face pressed +against the wall, managed with his iron fists to seize the vulture by +the claws, and with giant strength forced down the struggling animal as +in a trap whilst it hacked at his hands and arms with its beak. "Now my +knife, draw out my knife--I have no hand free," he cried to Wally. + +But Wally used the moment otherwise; she sprang by, and threw a thick +cloth over the vulture's head. It was easy for her now to tie its feet +together with a cord, so as to render it helpless, and Joseph flung it +on the ground. Trembling and without strength the proud animal +exhausted itself in struggles in the cloth on the floor, and Joseph +taking up his gun, began to load it. + +"What art thou doing there?" asked Wally astonished. + +"Loading my gun," he said, setting his teeth with the pain of his torn +hands. When it was loaded, he took the captive bird up from the floor, +and flung it out of the hut into the open air. Then placing himself at +a little distance, he took aim, and said low and imperiously to Wally, +"Now let him loose." + +"_What_ am I to do?" said Wally, who could not believe she had heard +aright. + +"Let him fly!" + +"What for?" + +"That I may shoot him. Doesn't thee know that no true hunter shoots his +game excepting on the spring or on the wing?" + +"For God's sake," cried Wally, "thou wouldn't shoot me my Hansl?" + +Joseph, in his turn, looked at her wonderingly. "Thou'd have me let the +rabid brute live, perhaps?" he said. + +"Joseph," said Wally, stepping resolutely up to him, "leave me my +Hansl untouched. I fought with the old one for the bird at the risk +of my life, I've brought him up from the nest, no one loves me as he +does--he's my only one, all that I have in the world--thou shall do +nothing to my Hansl." + +"Indeed," said Joseph sharply and bitterly, "the devil nearly tore out +my eyes, and I shall do nothing to him?" + +"He didn't know thee. How can a bird help it that he has no more sense? +Thou'll never revenge thyself on a beast without understanding?" + +Joseph stamped his foot. "Unbind him that he may fly," he said, "or +I'll shoot him in a heap, as he is." He took aim again with his rifle. + +All the hot blood flew to Wally's head, and she forgot everything but +her favourite. "That we will see," she cried in flaming anger, "whether +thou'll dare to lay hands on my property. Put down the gun. The bird is +mine! Dost hear? _Mine_. And none shall hurt or harm him when I am by, +come what will. Away with the gun, or thou shall learn to know who _I_ +am!" And she struck the gun out of his hand with a swift blow, so that +the charge went off, rattling against the wall of rock. + +There was something in her demeanour that subdued the strong young +fellow, the mighty bear-hunter, for he picked up his gun with apparent +composure, saying with bitter scorn, "Please thyself for all I care; +I'll not touch thy hook-beaked sweetheart; he's like enough the only +one thou'll ever have in thy life! Thou--thou's nothing but the +Vulture-Wally." + +And without deigning even to look at her again he tore his +pocket-handkerchief into strips, and tried to bind up his torn hands +with it. Wally sprung forward and would have helped him; now for the +first time she saw how severe the wounds were, and it was as if her own +heart were bleeding at the sight. "O Heavens, lad, what hands thou'st +got!" she cried out. "Come, and I'll wash them and dress them for +thee." + +But Joseph shoved her aside. "Let be--Afra can do it," he said. + +He went into the hut. An anguish as of death came over Wally; she +suddenly understood that she had made Joseph her enemy, perhaps for +ever, and she felt as if she must die at the thought. As though +suddenly crushed, she followed him in, and her eye watched the stranger +as she bound up Joseph's hands, with jealous hatred. + +"Joseph," said she in a stifled voice, "thee mustn't think that I don't +care for thy wounds, because I wouldn't let thee shoot my Hansl. If it +could have made thy hands whole, thou might have shot Hansl first, and +me after him; but it would have done thee no good." + +"It's no matter, there's no need to excuse thyself," said Joseph, +turning away. "Afra," he continued to the girl, "can thou go on now?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"Make thyself ready then, we'll go." + +Wally turned pale. "Joseph, thou must rest thyself a little longer. +I've given thee nothing yet to eat; I will cook thee something at once, +or would thou sooner have a draught of milk?" + +"I thank thee kindly; but we must go so as to be home before nightfall. +It no longer rains, and Afra can walk again now." And with these words +he helped the girl to get ready, slung his gun over his shoulder, and +took his alpenstock in his hand. + +Wally picked up one of the feathers which had fallen from Hansl in the +struggle, and stuck it in Joseph's hat. "Thou must wear the feather, +Joseph. Thou ought to wear it, for thou conquered the vulture, and he'd +have been thy booty if thou'd not given him to me." + +But Joseph took the feather out of his hat. "Thou may mean well," he +said, "but the feather I'll not wear. I'm not accustomed to share my +booty with girls." + +"Then take the vulture altogether, I'll give him to thee; only I pray +thee, let him live," urged Wally breathlessly. + +Joseph looked at her in wonder. "What has come to thee?" he said, "I'll +take nothing from thee on which thy heart is so set; one day perhaps I +may take a live bear, and if so I'll bring it up to thee that the party +may be complete. But till then, thou'll see no more of me; I might +happen to shoot the bird yet if I came across him anywhere, so I'd +better keep away from his haunts! God be with thee, and thanks for the +shelter thou's given us." So saying he walked proudly and quietly out +of the hut. + +Afra stooped down and picked up the feather that Joseph had thrown +away. "Give me the feather," she said; "I'll lay it in my prayer-book, +and so often as I see it I will say a Pater Noster for thee."' + +"As thou will," said Wally gloomily; she had scarcely heard what Afra +had said. Her bosom heaved and throbbed, and in her ears there was a +rushing noise as though the tempest was still raging round her. She +followed the departing guests out of the hut. The storm had passed +away; the veil of black clouds hung raggedly down, and through the +rents sparkled the wet, far-gleaming distance. But for the sullen +mutterings of the Thunder-god as he withdrew, and the roar of the +waters as they rushed down the gullies into the depths, all around was +tranquil and silent, and a white shroud of snow and hail stones had +spread itself upon the mountains. + +Wally stood motionless, her hands pressed upon her bosom. "He never +thinks how poor one must be to set one's heart so upon a bird," said +she to herself. Then she stooped down and freed the half-numbed animal +that climbed, staggering, on to her arm and looked at her with +intelligence, as if to ask her forgiveness. "Aye, thou may look at me," +she sobbed; "oh, Hansl, Hansl, what hast thou done for me!" + +She sat down on the door-step of her little hut, and wept from the very +bottom of her heart till she was weary of the sound of her own sobbing. +She looked up to where a high wall of snow rose perpendicularly behind +her, down to where on the right hand and on the left death had prepared +his cold nest in the snowy hollows,--away into the grey distance, where +long streaks of rain cloud hung down from heaven to earth, and suddenly +she felt again as she had felt on the first day, that she was alone in +the wilderness--and must stay there. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte. + + +Again a year had gone by, a hard year for Wally; for when her lonely +summer in the wilds was ended and Stromminger had sent to fetch the +flocks home, she had gone down into the Schnalser valley on the other +side of the Ferner where she was quite a stranger, and there had sought +service. To the Rofeners she would not return, as she must again have +rejected their suit. But it was just as hard to find employment with +the vulture here as it had been in the Oetz valley, and at last she +gave up all thought of remuneration, only to be taken in with Hansl. +Naturally her lot was a forlorn one--for on account of this folly, as +they called it, she was often turned away or scornfully treated by the +women; and often she had to defend herself stoutly against the rude +importunities of the men, who, here as everywhere, admired the +beautiful girl. Nevertheless she bore it all steadfastly, for she was +too proud to lament and complain of a burden she had laid on herself of +her own free will. But she grew hard under it, hard and ever harder, +just as the good pastor had forewarned her. The ghosts of all the +murdered joys of her young life haunted her and cried out for revenge; +in the short spring time of life three lost years count for much. Other +young girls weep and lament over a lost dance. Wally did not weep for +all the lost dances, for all the thousand pleasures of her youth, she +grieved only for her wasted love; and her spirit, on which no ray of +happiness had shone, waxed sour and hard like a fruit that has matured +in the shade. + +Again the spring time came, and again Wally ascended the Ferner. It was +a bitter spring and a stormy summer; rain, snow, and hail succeeded +each other in turns, so that her clothes often did not dry the whole +day through, and for weeks together she breathed the damp atmosphere of +an impenetrable chaos of drizzling clouds, through which, as before the +first day of Creation, no ray of light would dawn. And, in her soul, +the vast outer chaos reproduced itself in little, gloom reflected +gloom. The whole world as yet was but a dark and troubled dream like +the cloud drifts around her--and God came not, who alone could say, +"Let there be Light." + +One day, however, after endless weeks of darkness, He spoke again the +mighty word of creation, and a gleam of sunshine shot through the +clouds and parted them, and gradually there emerged from the chaos a +fair and well-ordered world, with mountains and valleys, pastures and +lakes and forests; it was spread out suddenly complete before her eyes, +and she felt as if she also were now first suddenly roused to life--as +was once the mother of mankind--that she might rejoice in this world +that God had made so beautiful, not for Himself alone, but for those +beings whom He had created to take delight in it with Him. + +Was it possible there should be no happiness in so fair a world? And +wherefore had God set her, this hapless Eve, up here in the desert, +where he for whom she had been born could never find her? "Oh! yonder, +down yonder--enough of these lonely heights!" a voice cried suddenly +within her, and all at once the wild yearning for life, for love, for +happiness broke forth, so that she longingly stretched out her arms +towards the smiling, sunny world that lay below at her feet. + +"Wally, thou must come down at once. Thy father's dead." The shepherd +boy stood before her. + +Wally stared at him as if dreaming. Was it a vision called up by her +own heart, that even now had cried out so rebelliously for happiness? +She grasped the lad by the shoulder as though to assure herself that he +was indeed there, and it was no trick of the imagination. He repeated +the message. "The place in his foot got worse and worse, then it +mortified, and he died this morning. Now thou's mistress at the farm, +and Klettenmaier sends thee greeting." + +Then it was true, really true! the messenger of release, of peace, of +liberty stood before her in the flesh. For this it was that God had +shown her the earth so fair, as though He would say to her beforehand, +"See, this is now thine own, come down and take that which I have given +thee." + +She went silently into the hut and closed the door. Then she knelt down +and thanked God, and prayed--prayed again, for the first time in many +weeks, ardently, from the depth of her soul; and hot tears for the +father who was now for ever gone--whom living she could not and dared +not love as a child--welled up from her released and reconciled heart. + +Then she went down to the home, that now at last was again a home to +her, where her foot once more trod her own soil, her own hearth. Old +Klettenmaier stood at the gate and joyfully waved his cap when she +arrived; the servant-girl who, two years before, had been so rude to +her, came weeping and submissive to give her the keys, and at the +sitting-room door she was received by Vincenz. + +"Wally," he began, "thou'st used me very badly, but--" + +Wally interrupted him quietly but severely. "Vincenz, if I've done thee +any wrong, may God punish me as it shall please Him. I cannot regret it +nor make it good to thee, nor do I ask thee for forgiveness. Now thou +know'st my mind, and all I pray thee is, leave me to myself." + +And without vouchsafing him another glance, she went in to where the +body of her father lay, and locked the door. She stood by it, tearless. +She had been able to weep for the transfigured father, freed from the +"tenement of clay;" but standing by that form of clay itself, which +with a heavy fist had marred her and her life, which had struck her +down and trodden on her--she could shed no tears, she was as if made of +stone. + +Quietly she said a Pater Noster, but she did not kneel to say it. As +she had stood motionless, self-possessed before her living father, so +now she stood before him dead; only without resentment, reconciled by +death. + +Then she went into the kitchen to prepare a supper by the time the +neighbours should come for the night to pray and to watch the dead. It +kept all hands busy, and by midnight the room was so full of watchers +that she could hardly provide enough to eat and to drink. For the +richer a peasant is, the more neighbours come to the watching and +praying by the corpse. + +Wally looked on with silent aversion. Here lay a dead man--and so they +ate and drank like so many flies! The dull hum and bustle were so +strange to her after the sublime stillness of her mountain home, and +struck her as so small and pitiful, that involuntarily she wished +herself back again on the silent heights. Speechless and indifferent +she passed to and fro between the noisy eating and drinking groups, and +people said how much she resembled her dead father. On the third day +was the funeral. From far and near people of the neighbouring hamlets +came to it, partly to pay the last respect to the important and +dreaded chief-peasant, partly to "make all straight" with the wicked +Vulture-maiden, who now was mistress of all the great possessions of +the Strommingers. Hitherto, indeed, she had been only an "incendiary" +and a "ne'er do weel;" but now she was the wealthiest owner in all the +mountain range, and that made all the difference. + +Wally felt the change keenly, and she knew too whence it came. When she +saw now after the funeral the same people stand before her with bent +backs and obsequious grins, who, but one year before, had turned her +from their doors with scorn and flouting when, starving with cold and +hunger, she had asked them for work--then she turned away with +loathing--then, and from that hour she despised mankind. + +The curé of Heiligkreuz came too, and the Klötze from Rofen. Now was +the moment for making at least an outward return for all their goodness +to her when she had been poor and abandoned, and she distinguished them +from all the others and kept with them only. When the funeral feast was +over and the guests had at last dispersed, the priest of Heiligkreuz +remained with her yet a little while, and spoke many good words to her. +"Now you are mistress over many servants," he said, "but remember that +he who does not know how to govern himself will not know how to govern +others. It is an old saying, that 'he who cannot obey, cannot command'; +learn to obey, my child, that you may be able to command." + +"But, your reverence, whom am I to obey? There's no one here now that +has any orders to give me." + +"God." + +Wally was silent. + +"See here," said the curé, taking something from the pocket of his +wide-skirted coat. "I have long meant this for you, ever since the time +you were with me, but you could not have taken it with you in your +wanderings." He took out of a box a small neatly-carved image of a +saint with a little pedestal of wood. + +"See, this is your patron saint, the holy Wallburga. Do you remember +what I said to you about hard and soft wood, and about the good God who +can carve a saint out of a knotty stick?" + +"Yes, yes," said Wally. + +"Well, you see, in order that you may not forget it, I have had a +little image brought for me from Sölden. Hang it up over your bed, and +pray before it diligently--that will do you good." + +"I thank your reverence very much," said Wally, evidently delighted, as +she took the fragile object carefully in her hard hands. "I will be +sure always to remember when I look at it, how well you explained the +meaning of it all to me. And this is how the holy Wallburga looked! Oh, +she must indeed have been a sweet and lovely woman; but who could be so +good and so pious as that?" + +And as Klettenmaier came towards her across the courtyard, she held the +figure out to him and cried, "See, Klettenmaier, what I have had given +me; it is the holy Wallburga, my patron saint. We will send his +reverence the first fine lamb that is dropped, as a present." + +The good priest put in a sincere protest against this kind of return, +but Wally, in her pleasure, paid no heed. + +When the curé was gone, she went into her room and nailed the carved +figure with the sacred images over her bed, and all round, like a +wreath, she placed the pack of cards that had been old Luckard's. Then +she went to see what there was to do in the farm or in the house. + +"Hansl," she cried as she passed the vulture who was perched on the +wood-shed, "_we_ are the masters now!" And the sense of mastery after +her long servitude pervaded her whole being, as intoxicating wine drunk +in deep draughts fills the veins of an exhausted man. + +In the courtyard the servants hired by Vincenz were all assembled, and +Vincenz himself was amongst them. He had grown haggard, his face was of +a yellow paleness, and on the back of his head in the midst of his +thick black hair he had a bald place like a tonsure; his glaring eyes +lay deep in their sockets, like the eyes of a wolf lurking in a crevice +for his prey. + +"What is it?" asked Wally, standing still. The upper servant, erewhile +so rude, approached with timid subserviency. + +"We only wished to ask thee if thou's meaning to send us away because +we treated thee so badly while the master was alive? Thou knows we +could only do what he would have done." + +"You did only your duty," said Wally quietly. "I send none away unless +I find him dishonest or a bad servant. And if you left off bowing and +bending before me, you'd please me better. Go to your work that I may +see what you can do, that's better worth than fooleries." + +The people separated; Vincenz remained, his eyes fixed glowingly on +Wally; she turned and stretched out her hand against him. "One only I +banish from my hearth and home--thee, Vincenz," she said. + +"Wally!" cried Vincenz, "this--this in return for all I did for thy +father." + +"What thou did for my father as his steward, so long as he was lame, +that thou shall get a return for. I give thee the meadows that adjoin +thy farm and round off thy land; that I think will repay thee thy +time and trouble, and if not, say so--I'll be beholden to thee for +nothing--ask what thou will but get thee from before my eyes." + +"I want nought--I'll have nought but thee, Wally. All is one to me +without thee. Thou'st well nigh murdered me, thou'st ill used me every +time I've ever seen thee--and--the devil's in it--I cannot give thee +up. Look here--I did it all for thee. For thee I'd commit a murder--for +thee I'd sell my soul's salvation--and thou thinks to put me off with a +few meadows? Thou thinks to be free of me so? Thou may offer me all +thou hast--all thy land and the Oetzthal into the bargain--I'd fling it +back to thee if thou didn't give me thyself. Look at me--my very marrow +is wasting away--I don't know how it is, but for one single kiss from +thee, I'd give thee all my lands and goods and starve for the rest of +my days. Now send a clerk to reckon once again with how many pounds and +acres thou'll be rid of me!" And with a glance of the wildest and +bitterest defiance at the astonished Wally he left the farmyard. + +She was awed by him--she had never before seen him thus; she had had a +glimpse into the depths of an unfathomable passion, and she wavered +between horror and pity. + +"What is there in me," she thought, "that the lads are all such fools +about me?" + +Ah, and only one came not; the only one that she would have +had--despised her. And if--if meantime he were already married? The +thought took away her breath. She thought again of the stranger that he +had brought with him across the Hochjoch--but no--she was only a +servant maid! + +And yet something must happen soon! She was rich and important now, she +might venture to take a step towards him! But all her maidenly pride +stood in arms at the thought, and "Wait--wait," was still all that was +left to her. + +She felt driven restlessly through house and fields; soon it was +apparent that she was spoilt for the village life; week followed week, +and she could not accustom herself to it. She was and she remained the +child of Murzoll--the wild Wally. She scorned pitilessly all that +seemed to her petty or foolish, she could bind herself to no +regularity, no customs, no habits. She feared no one--she had forgotten +what fear was, up there on the Ferner, and she met the smaller life +below with the same iron front that had defied the terrors of the +elements. Mighty and strong of body and soul she stood among the +villagers like a being of another world. She had become a stranger in +the boorish herd who stared at her with distrust and dislike--as boors +always stare at that which is unfamiliar--but who nevertheless dared +not approach too near to the great proprietress. But the girl was +sensible of their hostility, as of the mean cowardice which, while it +spoke her fair to her face, betrayed its hatred behind her back. + +"I ask leave of no one," was her haughty motto, and so she did whatever +her wild spirit prompted. When she was in the humour, she would work +all day like a labourer to incite the lazy servants, and if one of them +was not up to the mark in his work, she would impatiently snatch it +from his hand and do it herself. At other times she would spend the +whole day in melancholy dreaming, or she would wander about the +mountains so that people began to think her mind was unsettled. The men +and maids meanwhile did as they pleased, and the neighbours maliciously +whispered to each other that in this fashion she would let everything +go to ruin. + +While she thus set herself against all rule and order, she was on the +other hand stern even to hardness in matters which the other peasants +passed over much less strictly. If she detected a servant in dishonesty +or false dealing she at once gave information to the justices. If any +one ill-used a beast, she would seize him by the collar and shake him, +beside herself with rage. If one of her people came home drunk in the +evening, she would have him ignominiously locked out to pass the night +out-of-doors, whether in rain or snow. If she discovered any +immorality, the culprit that same hour was turned out of the house. For +her spirit was chaste and pure as the glaciers with whom she had so +long dwelt in solitude, and all the lovemaking and whispering, the +meetings and serenadings that went on around her, filled her with +horror. + +All this gained her a reputation for unsparing hardness, and made her +to be feared as her father had been before her. + +Nevertheless she seemed to have bewitched all the young men. Not only +her possessions;--no, she--she herself with all her strangeness was +what the lads desired to win. When she stood before them, tall, as +though standing on higher ground, slim and yet so strongly and +proudly built that her close-laced bodice could hardly contain her +nobly-moulded form, when she raised her arm, strong and nervous as a +youth's, against them threateningly, whilst a lightning flash of scorn +flamed like a challenge from her large black eyes--then a wild fire of +love and strife seized the lads, and they would wrestle with her as if +for life or death only to win a single kiss. But then woe to them, for +they had not the strength to conquer this woman, and must go their way +with scorn and derision. He was yet to come who alone could cope with +her--would he ever come? Enough, she awaited him. + +"He that can say of me I ever gave him a kiss, him will I marry, but he +that's not strong enough to win that kiss by force--Wallburga +Stromminger was not born for him!" she said haughtily one day, and soon +the saying was reported in all the surrounding neighbourhood, and the +young men came from far and near to try their luck and take her at her +word. It became indeed a point of honour to be a suitor of the wild +Wallburga, as any rash adventure is thought honourable by a man of +strength and courage. + +Soon there was not a man of marriageable age in all the three valleys +who had not striven to conquer Wally and to wrest the kiss from her, +but not one had succeeded. And she triumphed in the wild game and in +her mighty strength, for she knew that she was talked of far and near, +and that Joseph would often hear of her; and she thought that now he +must at last think it worth the trouble to come and carry off the +prize, if it were only to prove his strength--as that day when he had +gone to slay the bear. If only he were here, she thought, why should he +not fall in love with her like all the others,--above all, if she +showed to him how sweet and friendly she could be? + +But he never came. Instead, there came one day to the "Stag" which +adjoined Wally's kitchen-garden, the messenger from Vent. Wally, who +was at that moment weeding, heard Joseph's name spoken and listened +behind the hedge to the messenger's narration. + +Since his mother's death Joseph Hagenbach goes oftener to the "Lamb" at +Zwieselstein--was the man's story--and a love affair is talked about +between him and the pretty Afra, the barmaid at the "Lamb." Only +yesterday he was up there, and dined alone with Afra at the guest's +table while the hostess stayed in the kitchen. Suddenly the bull broke +loose, and ran through the village like a whirlwind; a hornet had stung +him in the ear. All fled to their houses and shut to the doors, and the +innkeeper of the "Lamb" is about to do the same, when he sees his +youngest child, a girl of five, lying in the road. She couldn't get up, +for the children had been playing coaches, and the little one was +harnessed to a heavy wheel-barrow when the cry was raised that the bull +was loose; the other children ran off, but little Liese with the heavy +barrow could not so quickly get away; she fell and entangled herself in +the rope, and there she lies right in the middle of the road, and the +brute is snorting quite close to her with his horns lowered. There is +no time to untie the child or to carry it off, barrow and all; the bull +is there; the father and Afra scream so that they can be heard all +through the village,--but all at once Joseph is on the spot, and +thrusts a hay-fork into the side of the beast. The bull bellows +and turns upon Joseph, and out of the windows, every one cries for +help--but no one comes to help him. He seizes the bull by the horns, +and with the strength of a giant forces him back a step or two whilst +the bull struggles with him. Meanwhile the father has had time to fetch +the child, and now the question is what will become of Joseph, whom all +have left in the lurch? Afra wrings her hands and screams for help, the +bull has forced Joseph with his horns to the ground and is about to +trample on him, when from below Joseph strikes him in the neck with his +knife, so that the blood spurts out all over him. The bull now begins +to kick, lifting Joseph who holds tight on to his horns, then rushes +furiously forward a little way, dragging Joseph with him, half in the +air, and half on the ground: Joseph meanwhile, who wants to bring him +to a stand-still again, never losing his hold. By this time the bull is +bleeding from five wounds, and gradually getting weaker; once or twice +Joseph finds his feet again, but each time the brute regains the +mastery, and with desperate leaps hurries him on. The peasants have +recovered themselves now and come out, the host of the "Lamb" at their +head, to help Joseph with hay-forks and knives. But the bull hears the +uproar behind him, and once more lowering his horns flings himself, +with Joseph, against a closed barn door, so that every one thought +Joseph must be crushed; but the door gives way under the blow and +flies open, the bull rushes into the shed, and there wallows in his +death-struggle among ladders, carts, and ploughs, so that all fall in +confusion one over another. Joseph however swings himself up to a beam +and throws the door to, so that the raging animal shall not get out +again; the people outside hear him barricade the door; he is shut up in +that narrow space alone with the brute, and those outside can do +nothing. They hear the stamping and storming, the bellowing and uproar +within, and shudder at the sound. At last all is still. After an +anxious interval, the door is opened, and Joseph comes staggering +forward bathed in blood and sweat. They suppose the bull is dead, but +Joseph says it were a pity to kill so fine a beast, that his wounds +could be healed and were none of them in a vital part. + +In the barn all is in confusion, everything upset, trampled, and +crushed, but the bull lies with all four legs tied and fastened to the +floor; he lies motionless on his side, snorting and gasping, like a +calf in a butcher's cart. Joseph has subdued the bull and bound him, +alive--all by himself. There is no one like him. + +When they came back with Joseph to the "Lamb," Afra fell on his neck +before all the people, crying and sobbing, and the hostess brought +Liese to him in her arms, and would have treated him to the best in the +house--but Joseph was in no mood for any more merry-making. He drank +one draught in his raging thirst, and then went home. The whole village +was full of him, and that evening there was a great drinking-bout in +his honour, that lasted far into the night. + +This was the news the messenger brought from Vent, and again there was +much talking about Joseph Hagenbach, and all the folks wondered that he +should never come up here after Wally. The mistress of the Sonnenplatte +had so many suitors--only Joseph seemed to wish to have nothing to do +with her. + +Wally left her place by the hedge: the words brought a hot blush of +shame to her brow. Thus it was then that people spoke of her,--that +Joseph would have nothing to say to her? And it was Afra that he was +following? That was the same girl that he had brought with him over the +Ferner the year before, and had been so careful of even then. + +She sat down on a stone and covered her face with both hands. A storm +raged within her, a storm of love, admiration, jealousy. Her heart was +as though torn in pieces. She loved him--loved him as she had never +done before, as though the panting breath with which she had followed +the narration of his deed had fanned the glimmering spark into a +glowing flame. Again, then--again he had done what no other could +accomplish, but she had no part in it--for Afra's master it had been +done, for love of Afra! Was it possible? must she give way to a +maid-servant--she, the daughter of the Strommingers? Was not she the +richest, and as all the young men told her, the most beautiful maid in +all the land? Far and wide, was there one that could compare with her +for strength and power? Was not she, and she alone, his equal, and +should they two not come together? There was but the one Joseph in the +world, and should he not belong to her? Should he throw himself away on +Afra, on a miserable beggar girl? No, it could not be, it was +impossible. Why, after all, should he not go to the Lamb, without its +being for Afra's sake? He wandered about so much in the course of +hunting, and the Lamb was at Zwieselstein, exactly where all the cross +roads met. "O Joseph, Joseph, come to me," she moaned aloud, and threw +herself with her face upon the ground, as if to cool its burning heat +in the little dewy leaves. Then all at once she remembered how the +messenger had said that Afra had thrown herself on Joseph's neck when +he came back to the inn. She shuddered at the thought. And suddenly she +pictured to herself how it would be if she were Joseph's wife, and if, +when after such a struggle he came home weary, wounded, and bleeding, +she had the right to receive him in her arms, to refresh him, to +comfort him. How she would wash his hot brow and bind his wounds and +lay him to rest on her heart till he fell asleep under her caresses! +She had never thought of such things before, but now, as they crowded +on her, she was thrilled by a hitherto unknown sense--as an opening +flower trembles when it bursts the encasing bud. + +In this moment she ripened into a woman, but, wild and ungovernable as +all her feelings were, that which made her womanly stirred up all the +hidden and sleeping powers of evil in her soul, and a fearful tempest +raged within her. + +The evening breeze swept coldly over her, she felt it not; night came +on, and the ever-peaceful stars looked down with wondering eyes on the +writhing form, as she lay on the earth in the night dews and tore her +hair. + +"The mistress wasn't in again all last night," said the housekeeper +next morning to the underservants. "What is it, think you, that she +does all night?" And they laid their heads together and whispered to +each other. + +But they all scattered like spray before the wind when Wally came +towards them across the courtyard from the kitchen-garden; she was +pale, and looked prouder and more imperious than ever. And so she +continued; from that day forth she was changed, unjust, capricious, +irritable, so that no one dared speak to her but old Klettenmaier, who +always had more influence with her than any one else. And withal she +carried her haughtiness in everything to the farthest point; her +last word was always "the mistress"--for "the mistress" nothing was +good enough--"the mistress" would not be pleased with this or with +that--"the mistress" might permit herself things which no one else +could venture on, and many another such provocation. + +Every day she dressed herself as if it were Sunday, and had new clothes +made, and even a silver necklace brought from Vent with all sorts of +pendants in filigree-work, so heavy and costly that the like had never +before been seen in the valley. At the feast of Corpus Christi she left +off her mourning for her father and appeared in the procession so +resplendent with silver and velvet and silk that the people could +hardly say their prayers for gazing at her. It was the first time that +she had joined in a procession, and indeed no one knew exactly what +kind of a Christian she might be; but it was clear that she only went +now to show her new clothes and her necklace, because most of the +people of the canton from as far up as Vent, and as far down as +Zwieselstein, were assembled there. + +When she knelt down there was a rustling and jingling of stiff silks +and plaitings and tinkling silver, and it seemed to say, "See, no one +can have all this but the mistress of the Sonnenplatte!" + +It happened that as the last Gospel was being read a slight confusion +arose in the procession, and some people who had been behind were now +walking before her. They were the hostess of the Lamb at Zwieselstein +and the pretty slim Afra; she found herself close to Wally, and nodded +to her, then looked back at Joseph, who was walking behind with the +men--so at least it seemed to Wally. Afra looked so lovely at this +instant, that for sheer jealousy Wally forgot to return her salute. +Then she heard Afra say to her companion, "See there, that is the +Vulture-maiden, that let her vulture tear Joseph to pieces nearly! Now +she'll not even take my good-day--and yet I've said many a Pater Noster +for her." + +"Thou might have spared thyself the trouble then," Wally broke in, "I +want none to pray for me--that I can do for myself." + +"But as it seems to me, thou doesn't do it," retorted Afra. + +"I've no need to pray as much as other folk; I've enough and to spare, +and don't need to pray to God like a poor maid-servant, who must say a +Pater Noster whenever she's in want of a new shoe-ribbon." + +The angry blood mounted in Afra's face. "Oh, for that matter, a +shoe-ribbon that's been prayed for may bring more happiness than a +silver necklace that's been got in a godless way." + +"Yes, yes," said the hostess, putting in her word, "Afra's in the right +there." + +"If my necklace doesn't please thee, walk behind me, then thou'll not +see it; nor does it become the mistress of the Sonnenplatte to walk +behind a servant wench." + +"It'd do thee no harm to tread in Afra's footsteps--that I tell thee +plainly," retorted the innkeeper's wife. + +"Shame on you, hostess, to lower yourself by taking part with your own +maid," cried Wally with flashing eyes. "He who doesn't value himself, +none other will value!" + +"Oh! then a maid-servant's not a human soul!" said Afra, trembling from +head to foot. "A silk gown though, makes no difference to the good God; +He sees what's beneath it, a good heart or a bad!" + +"Yes, truly," cried Wally with an outbreak of hatred, "it's not every +one can have so good a heart as thine--above all towards the lads. Go +to the Devil!" + +"Wally!" exclaimed Afra, and the tears rushed from her eyes. But she +had to be silent, for at this moment the procession had again reached +the church, the last benediction was pronounced, and the procession +broke up. Wally shot by Afra like a queen, so that she had to cling to +her companion; she had almost run over the girl, and every one turned +to look after her. The men said no more beautiful maid was to be found +in all the Tyrol, but the women were bursting with envy. + +"She looks rather different now to what she did up on the Hochjoch, +with a dog's hole to live in and neither combed nor coiffed--like a +wild thing!" said Joseph, who was standing not far off, and looked at +her with wondering eyes; then he nodded a farewell to Afra, and quitted +the crowd; he wanted to be home by midday. + +But Afra hastened after Wally. Her pretty blue eyes sparkled with +tears, like water sprinkled on a fire; she was beside herself with +anger, and so was the innkeeper's wife. They caught up Wally at the +village inn. She too was in the most terrible agitation; she had seen +the affectionate familiar farewell that Joseph had nodded to Afra, and +to her--to her, as she believed--he had not vouchsafed a single glance. +And now he was gone, and all the hopes betrayed that she had set on +this day's doings. This Afra! all her anger was centered on her, she +could have trampled her under foot. And here was Afra standing before +her, stopping her way and speaking to her with angry defiance--she, the +low servant-girl! + +"Mistress" Afra brought out breathlessly, "thou's said a thing that I +cannot let pass, for it touches my character--what did thou mean by +saying I had a good heart towards the lads? I will know what lay behind +those words!" + +"Dost wish to make a quarrel with Wallburga Stromminger," cried Wally, +and her flashing eyes looked straight down upon the girl. "Dost think +I'd enter into strife with such a one as thou?" + +"With such a one as me," cried the girl, "what sort of one am I then? +I'm a poor maid and have had none to care for me, but I've done no one +any harm, nor set fire to any one's house. I've no need to put up with +anything from _thee_--know that." + +Wally started as though stung by a snake. + +"A wench art thou, a shameless servant wench that throws thyself on a +lad's neck before every one," she cried, forgetting herself and every +thing, so that the people crowded round her. + +"What? who? whose neck?" stammered the girl, turning pale. + +"Shall I tell thee? Shall I?" + +"Yes, speak out; I have a good conscience, and the mistress of the Lamb +here, she can testify that it is not true." + +"Indeed--not true! is it not true that two years ago, when thou hardly +knew Joseph, he dragged thee with him over the Hochjoch, and had to +carry thee half the way because thou made as though thou could walk no +farther? Is it not true thou'st never let him be since, so that +everyone names him and thee together? Is it not true thou keeps Joseph +away from other maids that have better right and were better wives for +him than thou--a vagabond serving-girl? Is it not true that only the +other day, when he had fought the bull, thou fell on his neck before +the whole village as if thou'd been his promised wife? Is none of that +true?" + +Afra covered her face with her hands, and wept aloud, "Oh, Joseph, +Joseph, that I should have to put up with this." + +"Be quiet, Afra," said the good natured landlady consolingly, "she has +betrayed herself, it's only her anger because Joseph doesn't run after +her and won't burn his fingers for her like the other lads. If only +Joseph were here he would make her tell a different story." + +"Yes, I can well believe that he wouldn't leave his pretty sweetheart +in the lurch," said Wally, with a laugh so terribly sharp and shrill +that the sound re-echoed from the hills like a cry of pain. "Such a +sweetheart, who hangs about his neck, is no doubt more convenient than +one who must first be won, and with whom it might come to pass that +he'd have to take himself off again with scorn and mockery. The proud +bear-hunter would no doubt sooner mate with such a one than with the +Vulture-Maiden!" + +The innkeeper now stepped forward. "Hearken," he said, "I've had enough +of this; the lass is a good lass--my wife and I, we answer for her, and +we'll let no harm come to her. Do thou take back thy words; I order +it--dost understand?" + +Again Wally laughed aloud, "Landlord," she said. "Did thou ever hear +tell that the Vulture lets itself be ordered by the Lamb?" + +Everyone laughed at the play of words, for the host of the Lamb was +proverbially called a "Lamperl,"[1] because he was a weak good-natured +man who would put up with anything. + +"Aye, thou deserves thy name, thou Vulture-Wally--that thou dost." + +"Make way there," Wally now exclaimed, "I've had enough of this--this +threshing of empty straw. Let me pass!" and she would have pushed Afra +on one side under the doorway. + +But the innkeeper's wife held Afra by the arm. + +"Nay, thou's no call to make way--get thee in first; thou'rt no worse +than she is," she said, as she tried to press through the door with +Afra in front of Wally. + +Wally seized Afra by the waist, lifted her up and flung her from the +door into the arms of the nearest bystander. "First come the +mistresses, and after them the maids," she said; then passing before +everyone into the room she seated herself at the head of the table. + +Everyone chuckled and clapped their hands at the audacious jest. Afra +cried and was so abashed that she would not go in, and the innkeeper +and his wife took her home. + +"Only wait, Afra," said the good woman consolingly on the way home, +"I'll send Joseph to her, and he will take her in hand." But Afra only +shook her head and said no one would do her any good; disgraced she +was, and disgraced she must remain. + +"Well, but why must thou needs begin a quarrel with that bad girl of +Stromminger's," said the landlord, scolding her good-naturedly, "every +one keeps out of her way that can." + +Meanwhile Wally sat within and looked out of window at Afra departing +with her companions; her heart beat so that the silver pendants to her +necklace tinkled softly. + +She was called upon to eat, the vermicelli soup was getting cold; but +she found the soup bad and the mutton as tough as leather; she tossed a +gulden on the table, would take no change, and in the face of all the +astonished peasants rustled out of the house. + +Just as she had done after her confirmation five years before, she tore +off her fine clothes when she got home, and flung them into the chest. +The silver necklace with its filigree work she trampled into a +shapeless mass. What good had her splendour done her? It had not helped +her to please the only one whom she desired to please. And, as once +before, she threw herself on her bed, angrily chafing against the holy +images. A piercing torment tortured her soul as if with knives. Her +eyes fell on the carved image of Wallburga above her, and then she +thought that the pain she was enduring might be the knife of God +working on her, to make out of her a Saint--as the curé had said. But +why should she be made a saint? She would so much rather be a happy +woman. And that might have been done so easily; the good God would not +have needed to carve her out for that--she would already have been +quite right just as she was! + +So she murmured and rebelled against the knife of God. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + At Last. + + +For some time Wally's moods had been almost unendurable. The whole +night through she would wander about in the open air; by day she was +full of unceasing and indomitable energy, labouring restlessly early +and late, and expecting every one else to do the same--an impossibility +for most people. Vincenz might now venture to call again, for he always +knew the latest news in the valley--and Wallburga had all at once grown +eager for news. When Vincenz perceived this, he made it his express +business to enquire far and near, so as always to have some new thing +to retail to Wally, who thus became gradually accustomed to see him +every day. He soon observed that she always showed more curiosity about +Sölden and Zwieselstein than about any other place, and cunning as he +was, he easily discovered the reason. He constantly brought word of the +continued intimacy between Joseph and Afra; it was news that threw +Wally into the most frightful agitation, but he feigned not to perceive +this, and cautiously avoiding any mention of his own love, succeeded in +making her feel secure and trustful with him. But he was consumed with +jealousy of Joseph; that Hagenbach was the curse of his life. There was +no glory in which he had not anticipated him, no deed of valour in +which he had not stood before him, no match at skittles or at shooting +at which he had not carried off the prize, and now he had taken from +him Wally's heart also--Wally's heart, which his persistent suit might +perhaps have won, had not Joseph been there. "Why does God Almighty +pour everything down on one man and deal so niggardly with another?" +growled Vincenz, and tormented himself secretly as much as Wally did. +If they had only done their lamentations and grumbling together, it +would have been enough to desolate the whole Oetz valley! + +One evening--it was in haytime--Wally was helping to load a large +hay-cart; the load was ready and only the great crossbar had to be set +in its place, but the hay was piled so high that the men could not +throw it across. When they had got it half way up, they let it slip +again, laughing and playing foolish tricks the while. Wally's patience +all at once gave way. "Get out, you blockheads," she exclaimed, and +mounted on the waggon, pushing the men to right and left out of her +way; then drawing in the rope, she pulled up the crosstree, seized hold +of one end of it with both her rounded arms, and with a single jerk +hoisted it on to the waggon. A shout of admiration broke from all; the +girls laughed at the men for not being able to do what a woman had +done, and the men scratched their heads and thought that all could not +be as it should be with the mistress, and that the devil must have a +hand in it. + +Wally stood on the waggon, and looked at the red setting sun. In her +attitude and on her features was an expression of proud satisfaction; +once more she had felt the certainty that not one was her equal, and +strong in her sense of power, she was ready to challenge the whole +world. + +At that moment Vincenz came up. "Wally," he called out to her, "thou +looks like Queen Potiphar on the elephant. If Joseph had seen Potiphar +like that, for certain he'd not have been so bashful." + +Wally turned crimson at these offensive words, and sprang down from the +waggon. "I forbid such jests with me," she said, when she was on the +ground. + +"Nay," disclaimed Vincenz, "I meant no harm; but thou looked so +handsome up there, it came out without thinking: it shall not happen +again." + +They walked on silently together. + +"What news is stirring?" asked Wally at last, according to custom. + +"Not much," said Vincenz; "they say that Hagenbach is going to take the +maid Afra to the dance at Sölden on St. Peter's Day. I heard it from +the messenger who had had to fetch a new pair of shoes from Imst for +Afra, and a silk neckerchief, and Joseph paid for them." Wally bit her +lips and said nothing, but Vincenz saw what was passing in her mind. + +"I tell thee what," said Vincenz, "we also do things in style on St. +Peter's Day, and if the peasant-mistress would come, there would be a +feast to be talked of far and wide; come for once with me to the +dance." + +Wally gave her head a short toss. "I'm the right sort to go to dances," +she said. + +"Nay go, Wally," urged Vincenz, "just for once, if it's only to spite +people." + +"Much I care for them," said Wally, laughing contemptuously. + +"But think a bit, people say--" he paused. + +Wally stood still. "What do they say?" she asked, looking at him +piercingly. + +Vincenz shrank back at the expression on her countenance, "I only mean +that they say thou's got some secret trouble. The upper servant says +thou wast out the whole night, and goes wandering about like a sick +chicken. And folk say thou'st everything heart can desire, and suitors +as many as the sand on the seashore, so if thou's not content with +that, there must be some love-sorrow on thy mind--and ever since what +happened at the Procession--" + +"Well! go on!" said Wally huskily. + +"Since then they say that Joseph is the only lad in the Oetz valley +that thou cares to catch--and that he won't bite." + +He darted a lightning glance at Wally as he said the words; they +touched her to the quick. She had to stand still and lean her forehead +against the trunk of a tree, the blood throbbed so in her temples. + +"And if it is so, if they do say such things behind my back--" she +gasped, but she could not finish; a sudden mist seemed to cloud and +confuse all her thoughts. + +Vincenz gave her time to recover herself; he knew what it must be to +her, for he knew her pride. After a time he said, + +"Look here, it seems to me thou'd best come with me to the dance; that +were the best way to stop peoples' mouths." + +Wally drew herself up. "I go with no lad to the dance that I don't mean +to marry--that I tell thee once for all!" she said. + +"If I was thee, I'd sooner marry Vincenz Gellner than die an old maid +for love of Hagenbach," said Vincenz sneeringly. + +Wally looked at him with newly-awakened aversion. "I wonder thou'rt not +tired of that," she said; "when thou knows well it's all of no good." + +"Wally, I ask thee for the last time, can thou not bring thyself to +think of me as a husband?" + +"Never--never! sooner will I die," she said. + +Vincenz' sharp and prominent cheek bones became white spots on his +yellow face; he looked almost like the vulture, glancing sideways at +Wally, as at some defenceless prey. "I'm sorry, Wally," he said, "but +I've somewhat to say to thee--something that I'd fain have spared thee, +but thou forces me to it. I've given thee a twelvemonth, and now I must +speak." He drew a written sheet of paper from his pocket. "It's nigh +upon a year since thy father died, and if thou doesn't marry me at the +year's end thy right to the farm is over." + +Wally stared at him. + +He unfolded the paper. "Here's thy father's will, by which he appoints +that if thou don't marry me by a twelvemonth after his death, the farm +and all belonging to it is mine, and thou gets no more than he was +bound by law to leave thee. There'll be an end then of the proud +peasant-mistress. As yet, no one knows of this. Thou can turn it over +once more, and in the end I fancy thou'll give in, sooner than go with +me before the justices, and have the will carried out." + +Wally stood still, and measured Vincenz from head to foot with a +single glance of cold contempt, then said with perfect calmness: "Oh +thou pitiful fool! In _this_ net then thou'st thought to catch the +Vulture-maiden? You are a pair, thou and my father, but neither one nor +the other of you knew me. What do I care for money or property? That +which I want cannot be bought with gold, and so I care nothing for it. +On Monday will I pack up my things, and go away again, for thy guest +I'll never be--no, not for an hour. And if it gives me pain to leave +this farm, where I first saw the light--still, I've been no happier as +mistress than when I minded the cattle--and as much a stranger here as +there. So it's all for the best, and I'll leave the place, and go away +as far as I can." + +Calmly she turned towards the house. A wild anguish seized Vincenz; +he threw himself at her feet, and clasped her knees. "I never meant +that," he cried, "thou mustn't go away,--for God's sake, don't serve me +so--what do I want with the farm? I only meant--my God, my God--only to +try everything!" With one hand he held Wally fast, with the other he +thrust the paper into his mouth, and tore it with his teeth. "There, +there, see, there goes the scrawl--I'll have none of the farm, if +thou'll not stay--there--there--" he strewed the fragments to the wind, +"I want nothing--nothing--only don't thou serve me so--don't go away!" + +Wally looked at him in wonder. "I pity thee, Vincenz, but I cannot help +thee--no more than I myself am helped. Keep thou the farm and all that +belongs to it; my father left it to thee, and that remains the same, +although thou hast torn up the will--I'll take nothing as a gift from +thee. Everything here is hateful to me, even now--why should I wait? No +one is any good to me, nor I to any one. I'll take my Hansl, and go up +again to the mountain--that is where I belong. But if I might ask thee +one thing--tell no one till I'm gone that the farm was never mine; for +thou seest--there's one thing I cannot bear--that folk should make fun +of me. That--that drives me mad. Think of the pointing, and the scorn +when they know that the proud Wally Stromminger has been turned out of +house and home like a maidservant--I couldn't live through it. Let me +at least go forth as mistress." + +"Wally," cried Vincenz, "where thou goest, I will go. Thou cannot +hinder me--the roads are free to all, and he who will, may run. If +thou'rt resolved to leave--I go with thee." + +Wally looked at him with amazement, as he stood there raving before +her, and she shuddered as though she had raised some evil spirit. "What +will come of it all?" she murmured helplessly. + +At this moment the messenger from Sölden was seen coming across the +meadows from the house straight towards Wally. He had a big nosegay in +his hat and in his Sunday-coat, like a bridal messenger. + +"He's come to bid thee to Joseph and Afra's wedding," cried Vincenz +with a wild laugh. Wally's foot stumbled against something; she caught +hold of Vincenz, and he seized her round the waist and held her. + +Meanwhile the messenger came up, and took off his hat to Wally. "Good +day to thee, Mistress. Joseph Hagenbach sends thee friendly greeting, +and asks thee to the dance on St. Peter's Day. If it's thy pleasure, he +will come up at noon and fetch thee down to the Stag. Thou'lt send an +answer by me." + +If Heaven itself had opened before Wally, and Hell before Vincenz, it +would have been much the same thing. + +Then it was not true about Afra! He had come to Wally--he had come +after five years of sorrow and suffering--at last, at last! The word +was spoken--the winds bore it triumphantly onwards, the breezes echoed +it back again, the white glaciers smiled at it in the evening sunshine; +Joseph the Bear-hunter bade the Vulture-maiden to the dance! The +labourers in the field shouted, the waggons swayed beneath their loads, +the vulture on the roof flapped his wings for joy--the two who belonged +to one another were come together at last! + +Joy to all mankind: the race of giants would live again in this one +pair. And smiling graciously, like a Queen beneath the myrtle crown, +Wally bowed her beautiful head and told the messenger, half-bashfully, +that she should expect Joseph. + +Vincenz leaned against a tree, distorted, faded, mute--a ghost of the +past. + +Wally threw him a compassionate glance--he was no longer to be dreaded: +she bore a charmed life, none could hurt or harm her more. She hastened +into the house, and the servants looked at her wonderingly, such +rapture lay in her expression. But she could not stay indoors; she took +money, and went through the village like a bliss-bestowing fairy. She +entered all the poorest huts, and gave with liberal hand out of that +which she could rightfully and lawfully call her own,[2] for she had +decided irrevocably that the farm should belong to Vincenz. She was +still rich enough to give to Joseph, and to all around her--even her +rightful share of Stromminger's estate was a fortune. She must do good +to all; she could not bear alone her newly-learnt, immeasurable +happiness. + +The two days before St. Peter's festival were like a fairy tale +to all the villagers. Who could now recognize the morose and bitter +Vulture-maiden in the beatified girl who moved about as though borne on +invisible wings? It had needed but this one ray of sunshine, and the +hail-stricken, frost-bitten blossom had sprung up again. An +inexhaustible power made itself felt in her bosom, a power for love as +for hatred, for joy as for pain, for self-sacrifice as for defiance. +All around her breathed more freely; it was as though a spell had been +taken off them since Wally's dark repining spirit, that had weighed +like a storm-cloud upon everything, had melted away. + +"When one is as happy as I am, every one else should rejoice too," she +said; and soon it was known everywhere that it was because Joseph had +asked her to the dance--which was almost the same as asking her in +marriage--that Wally was so changed. Why should she conceal it, when in +so few days it would be known? why should she deny that she loved him +with all her heart, above everything? he deserved it all, and he loved +her in return, or he would not be coming to fetch her to the dance. It +was well for her that she dared to show all that she felt. If she met a +child she took it in her arms, and told it how, on St. Peter's Day, +Joseph the bear-hunter was coming--Joseph, who had slain the great +bear, and saved the innkeeper's little Lieserl from the mad bull, and +how they would all open their eyes, he was so tall, and so beautiful +to look at--they had never seen such a man, for there was not such +another in all the wide world. The children were quite excited, and +played all day at Bear and Joseph the bear-hunter. Then she joked +with Hansl, threatening him playfully. "Thou'rt to behave thyself +when Joseph comes, else something will happen--that I can tell +thee!" and Klettenmaier and all the best of the servants had new +holiday-clothes--they knew well enough the reason why; but Wally let +them chatter as they would about it, and was not angry. + +Then again she would sit for hours quietly in her room, doing nothing, +wondering only how it had happened that Joseph had so suddenly changed +his mind; but however much she thought and thought she could not +understand why the unhoped-for happiness, so sudden, so full, so +complete, had come upon her; and she looked up at her holy images, no +longer with enmity, but with friendly eyes, and thanked them for all +the good that they had brought to her. But when she looked at the cards +that were nailed up above her bed, she laughed aloud. "Well, what do +you now say? Own that you knew nothing of what was coming!" and like +enchanted spirits that no liberating spell can call forth again into +the light, the secrets of the future stared unintelligibly at her from +these mute tokens. If only old Luckard had been there, she could have +told what it was the cards replied to Wally--but to her they were dumb, +like a cipher of which the key is lost. If Luckard had been alive, how +rejoiced she would have been! Wally would have liked to lie down and +sleep till the day of the festival, so that the time might not appear +so long. But there was no question of sleep; she could not even close +an eye by day or by night for impatience. She was always counting, "Now +so many hours more--now so many--" + +At last the day was come. After breakfast Wally went to her room, and +washed herself, and combed her hair without end. Once more she was a +woman--a girl! Once more she stood before the glass, and adorned +herself, and looked to see if she were fair, if she might hope to find +favour in Joseph's eyes; and once more she had procured a new necklace, +even more beautiful than the first, and filigree pins for her hair as +well. The box was on the table before her, she took out the ornament, +and tied it above her bodice; the bright silver was as white as +the snowy pleated sleeves of her chemise and tinkled like clear +marriage-bells, and through the rose-coloured chintz curtains a dim +rosy light shed a tender mist of bridal-glow over the girl's noble +figure. When she was ready, she took from its case a meerschaum pipe +heavy with silver, such as no peasant of the country had far and +wide--a really splendid pipe--and yet she held it long in her hand, +doubting whether it were good enough for Joseph. And still there was +something else, that she took out slowly, almost timidly, looking at +the door to see if it were securely fastened; it was a small round box, +and in it there lay--a ring. She trembled as she took it out, and a +tear of unutterable joy and thankfulness glistened in her eye. She held +the ring in her folded hands, and for the first time for many days she +knelt down, and she prayed over it that the beloved one might be linked +to her for ever. And she no longer heard the rustle of her silks, and +the tinkle of her silver ornaments; she was lost in the passionate +fervour of her prayers; she pressed forward as it were to the presence +of God with the vehemence of a thankful child whose father has granted +its warmest desire. + +"The mistress will never have done with dressing herself to-day," said +the maids outside, as Wally did not appear. + +Already the peasants were flocking to the Stag. Whoever had feet to go +on, and Sunday-clothes to go in, would be there to-day, for the whole +village was stirred by the great event of the peasant-mistress going to +the dance with Joseph Hagenbach. The road swarmed with people, and the +landlord of the Stag had done his best, and sent for musicians to come +from Imst. + +The upper maid-servant stood at the dormer-window above, and looked +down the road by which Joseph must come. Wally stood ready dressed in +her room; her heart beat like a sledge-hammer, her cheeks glowed, her +hands were icy-cold, she held her white neatly-folded handkerchief +pressed tightly to her heart--it had been her mother's wedding +handkerchief. The pipe and the ring for Joseph she had hidden away in +her pocket; so she waited motionless whilst the minutes passed by, and +this silent pause of expectation, in which her breath almost failed her +for impatience, was certainly one of the hardest experiences of her +life. + +"They're coming, they're coming!" cried the maid at last. "Joseph and a +crowd of other lads from Zwieselstein and Sölden, and the landlord of +the Lamb--it's a regular procession!" + +Everyone ran out into the courtyard; already the noise of the +approaching steps and voices could be heard in Wally's room. She came +out, and a general "Ah!" of admiration broke from all as she appeared. + +At the same moment the procession approached the farm-gate, Joseph at +its head. She went forward to meet him, modestly but with the beaming +loftiness of a bride who is proud of her bridegroom--proud to have been +chosen by such a man. + +"Joseph, art thou there?" she said, and her voice sounded soft and +loving as she had never spoken before. Joseph glanced at her with a +strange, almost a shamefaced look, and then cast his eyes down again. + +Wally was startled--was it on purpose, or was it by accident? Joseph +had placed his black-cock feather upside down, as the young men are in +the habit of doing when they seek a quarrel. It could only have +happened from an oversight today! + +Every one stood round and watched her; she was so anxious that she +could say no more, and he also was silent. She looked at him with eyes +full of fervent moisture, but his avoided hers. He was as much +embarrassed as she was, she thought. + +"Come," he said at last, and offered his hand. She laid hers in it, and +they silently walked as far as the Stag. The strangers and all the +servants closed the procession. + +As, sometimes, when we have gazed at the sun, all grows black before +us, even in full daylight, so now with Wally in the midst of her +happiness, all suddenly grew dark to her soul. She knew not how it was; +she was bewildered and hardly knew herself--it was all so different +from what she had imagined. + +A noisy countrydance was beginning as they entered the Stag, and as +Wally passed down the long rows of dancers with Joseph, she heard the +people say: "There is not a handsomer couple in the whole world." She +now saw for the first time how many strangers had come with Joseph, and +that all her rejected suitors were there also. Once more she silently +compared them with Joseph, and she could truly say there was not one of +them who came up to him for stature and beauty. He was a king among the +peasants, a mortal of quite another stamp to the ordinary men who stood +around him, and her eye rested with silent delight on the tall figure, +from his broad chest down to his slender knees and ankles. Any one +seeing him thus must surely understand that him only would she have, +and none other. + +As she looked round, her glance met two piercing black eyes directed +like daggers at Joseph. It was Vincenz, wedged in among the crowd. And +not far off was another melancholy face--that of Benedict Klotz, who +observed her thoughtfully. As she passed him, he pulled her gently back +by the sleeve. "Mind what thou'rt about, Wally," he whispered, "there's +some plot against thee--I don't know what, but I forebode no good." + +Wally shrugged her shoulders carelessly. What harm could happen to her, +when Joseph was at her side? + +The sets formed for the dance, and Joseph and Wally were to +begin; every one wanted to see them dance together. No couple had +yet been watched with such envious eyes as this well-dressed, +distinguished-looking pair. Joseph, however, moved away from Wally's +side, and stood before her with something of solemnity in his air. + +"Wally," he said aloud, and the music stopped at a sign from the host +of the Lamb, who stood behind them, "I hope that before we dance +together, thou'lt give me the kiss that no one of thy suitors has yet +been able to win from thee?" + +Wally coloured and said softly, "But not here Joseph, not before +everyone." + +"Precisely here, before everyone," said Joseph, with strong emphasis. + +For a moment Wally struggled between desire and sweet embarrassment; to +kiss a man before all these people was to her chaste and half-defiant +spirit a severe humiliation. But there he stood before her, the man so +dear to her heart; the moment for which she would joyfully have given a +year of her life--nay her life itself--was there, and should she reject +it for the sake of a few bystanders who could do her no harm, if she +did kiss her bridegroom? She raised her beautiful face to his, and his +eyes were fixed for a moment on the full and blooming lips that +approached his own. Then with an involuntary movement, he pushed her +gently from him, saying softly, + +"Nay, not so; a true hunter shoots his game only on the spring or on +the wing--that I told thee once before. The kiss I'll wrest from thee, +not take it as a gift. And were I a maid like thee, I'd give myself +away less cheaply. Defend thyself, Wally, that I may win no easier than +the others, else my honour is lost." + +A scarlet blush overspread Wally's face; she could have sunk into the +ground for shame. Had she then so completely forgotten what she owed to +herself, that her lover must remind her of it? She was crimson to her +very eyes--it was as though a wave of blood were surging to her brain. +Drawing herself up to her full height, with one flaming glance she +measured herself with him. "Good," she said, "thou shalt have thy +will--thou also shalt learn to know the Vulture-maiden. Look to +thyself, whether now thou'lt get the kiss!" + +She was almost suffocated. She tore off her neckerchief and stood there +in her silver-clasped velvet bodice and white linen chemise, so that +Joseph's eyes rested in amazement on her beautiful bare neck. "Thou'rt +handsome--as handsome as thou'rt wicked," he muttered, and springing on +her, as a hunter springs on a wild animal to give the death-blow, +he threw his strong arms round her neck. But he did not know the +Vulture-maiden. With one powerful wrench she was free, and there was a +laugh of derision from all those with whom it had fared no better, that +maddened Joseph. He seized her round the waist with arms of iron, but +she struck him such a blow on the heart, that he cried out and +staggered backwards. Renewed laughter! With this blow, of which she +knew the value, she had always defended herself against her importunate +suitors, for none had held out after it. But Joseph smothered his pain, +and with redoubled fury threw himself again on the girl, seized her by +the arms with both hands, and so tried to approach her lips; but in an +instant she bent herself down on one side, and now ensued a breathless +struggle up and down, to and fro, an oppressive silence broken only by +an occasional oath from Joseph. The girl bowed and twisted herself +hither and thither like a snake in his arms, so that he could never +reach her mouth. It was no longer a strife for love--it was a struggle +for life and death. Three times he had got her down to the ground, +three times she sprang up again; he lifted her in his arms, but she +always twisted herself round, and he could not touch her lips. Her fine +linen hung in rags, her silver necklace was all broken to pieces. +Suddenly she freed herself, and flew to the doorway; he overtook her, +and like a stormwind tore her back into his arms. It was a fierce and +glowing embrace. His breath floated round her like hot steam; she lay +on his breast; she felt his heart beat against her own; her strength +left her, she fell on her knees before him, and said, as if fainting +with pain, and shame, and love, "Thou hast me!" + +"Ah!" a heavy sigh broke from Joseph. "You have all of you seen it?" he +asked aloud--he bent down and pressed his mouth upon her hot and +quivering lips. A loud hurrah filled the room. She got up and sank +almost senseless on his breast. + +"Stay!" he said in a hard voice, and stepped back a little, "ONE +kiss is enough--no need of more. Thou'st seen now that I can master +thee--and no further will I go." + +Wally stared at him, as if she could not understand his words. She was +of an ashy paleness. + +"Joseph," she stammered, "why then art thou come?" + +"Didst think I had come to woo thee?" he answered. "Lately at the +procession thou'st said before everyone that Afra was my sweetheart, +because she was so easy to be had,--and that Joseph the bear-slayer had +not the heart to try and win the Vulture-Wally. Didst truly think a lad +with any spirit in him would let such things be said of him and of an +honest girl? I only wished to show thee that I can master thee as I can +a bear, or a mad bull, and the kiss I have won from thee, that will I +take to Afra, as a kiss of atonement for the wrong that thou hast done +her. Now take heed to thyself another time when thy haughty temper +moves thee. Henceforth, perhaps, thou'll forego the pleasure of holding +up a poor and honest girl to scorn and derision--now that thou'st felt +what it is to be a laughing-stock thyself." + +A shout of laughter from all sides closed Joseph's speech, but he +turned with displeasure from the applause. "You have seen that +I've kept my word," he said, "and now I must go to Zwieselstein to +comfort Afra. The good soul wept to think that I should play the +peasant-mistress such a shabby trick. God keep you all." + +He went, but they all ran after him; it had been too good a +joke. Joseph was something like a man. He had shown the proud +peasant-mistress that she had a master. + +"It will do her good!" + +"It will serve her right!" + +"Joseph, that's the best day's work thou's ever done." + +"No one'll have anything to do with her, when this is known." + +Thus laughed the chorus of rejected suitors, as they crowded joyfully +round Joseph. + +The dancing-floor was deserted--only two persons remained with Wally, +Vincenz and Benedict. Wally stood still in the same place and did not +stir; it was as if she were lifeless. + +Vincenz watched her with folded arms. Benedict went up to her and took +her gently by the arm. "Wally, don't take it so to heart--we are here, +and we'll get satisfaction for thee. Wally--speak. What shall we do? we +are all ready, only say what thou'd have us to do." + +Then she turned round, her large eyes had a ghostly gleam in them, her +face was ghastly pale. She opened and closed her lips once or twice, +one word there was she struggled to utter, but it seemed as if the +breath to speak it failed her. At last she brought it out, as from the +very depths of her being,--more a cry than a word: "DEAD would I have +him!" + +Benedict drew back. "God forbid, Wally!" he said. + +But Vincenz stepped forward with flashing eyes. "Wally, art thou in +earnest?" + +"Ay, in bloody earnest!" She lifted her hand at the oath, her hand was +quite stiff and the nails blue, as in one dead. "He who lays him dead +at his Afra's feet--him will I marry, as truly as I am Wallburga +Stromminger." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + In the Night. + + +All through the night a strange and measured sound was audible +throughout the silent, sleeping farm-house. Now and then the maids +awoke and listened, without knowing what they heard, then turned to +sleep again. The boards cracked and the beams trembled, slightly but +unceasingly. + +It was Wally who paced backwards and forwards with heavy, unpausing +steps, her sinking heart engaged in a death-struggle with herself, with +Fate, with Providence. All around was shattered--her clothes flung +about the room, on the floor the carved St. Wallburga, the crucifix, +the holy images, all broken to fragments in impotent wrath. + +She had half-undressed, and her hair fell loose and disordered on her +bare shoulders. A red gleaming pine-torch flickered in its socket, and +in the trembling shadows the features of the broken figure of Christ +looking distorted and living. She stayed her steps, and looked down on +the fragments. + +"Ay, thou may grin," she said, "thou's always taken me for a fool. +You're of no good, none of you; idols you are of wood and paper, and no +help to any one. Neither prayer nor curse can you hear. And them for +whom you stand, hide themselves, God knows where, and would laugh if +they could see how we kneel down before a piece of wood." And she +pushed the fragments under the bed, that they might not be in her way +as she walked to and fro. + +A shot was heard in the distance. + +Wally stood still and listened; all was silent. She must have fancied +it. Why should the sound have taken her breath away? She was not even +sure that it was a shot. The thought flashed through her like +lightning, "Suppose Vincenz should have shot Joseph!" It was mere +folly, Joseph was safe at home--or perhaps at Zwieselstein with his +Afra! + +She beat her head against the wall in nameless agony at the thought, +and pictures rose before her that drove her frantic. If only he were +dead--dead so that she need never think of him again! She flung the +window open that she might breathe more freely. + +Hansl, who was asleep on a tree outside the window, woke up and +fluttered in half-stupid with sleep. "Ah, thou!" cried Wally, and +stretched out her arms to him; she clasped him to her breast, he was +all--all that was left to her in the world. + +Again--a second shot, and this time distinctly in the direction of +Zwieselstein; she let go of the vulture, and pressed her hand to her +heart, as though she herself had been struck. Why this terror? The +trifling incident had suddenly brought before her the whole terrible +deed which yesterday she had sworn to. She could not help thinking +again and again how it would be if the shot she had just heard had +shattered Joseph's head, and a wild and frenzied joy came upon her. Now +he belonged to her only, now none other could claim his kiss, and as +she thought upon it, it seemed to her as though it had really happened; +she saw him lying on the ground in his blood, she knelt down by him, +she took his head in her lap, she kissed the pale face--the beautiful +pale face--she saw it actually before her. And then suddenly pity +overwhelmed her for the poor, dead man, a burning, unutterable pity; +she called him by every loving name, she shook him, she chafed his +hands--in vain, he was no more. Unspeakable anguish filled her soul; +no, this must not be, he must not die--sooner would she part with her +own life! + +She felt as if an icy cramp had been grasping and crushing her heart, +so that no warm human blood could flow in her veins, and that now the +grip was at last relaxed and the hot flood streaming into her heart +again. She must go out, she must see whether Vincenz was at home, she +must speak to him at once, before daybreak, she must tell him that the +ghastly deed must not be done--she was in a fever, all her pulses +throbbed. She had desired the deed, commanded it, but already the idea +that it might have been done, extinguished her wrath--and she forgave. + +She threw a neckerchief on her shoulders, and hastened across the +courtyard and through the garden to Vincenz' house. What would he, what +would everyone think of her? It was all one--what did it matter now? + +She reached the house. There was a light in Vincenz' room on the +groundfloor; noiselessly she glided up, she could see through the +parted curtains--her heart stood still--the room was empty, the +pine-torch almost burnt away. She went round the house; the door was +unfastened, she opened it softly and went in. All was still as death, +the men and maids fast asleep; she crept through the whole house, +nothing stirred--Vincenz was away! The blood curdled in her veins; she +went into his bedroom, the bed was disturbed--he must have laid himself +down, then risen again; his Sunday clothes were hanging up, but his +work-day clothes were missing, nor was his hat in its place. She looked +into the sitting-room; the nail where his rifle usually hung was empty. + +Wally stood as if paralysed; she never knew how she got outside the +house again. At the door she dropped on to a bench; her feet would +carry her no further. She tried to reassure herself: most likely, +restless as he was, he had gone out after some night game--what could +he do to Joseph, quietly asleep somewhere--she shivered--on a soft +pillow? And by day when everyone was up and about, nobody could touch +or harm him. + +It was her evil conscience that pursued her with these terrors, and she +hid her face in her hands. "Wally, Wally, what art thou become?" +Shamed, scorned, degraded in the eyes of men, and a sinner in the eyes +of God. Where was water enough to purify her? Down below, there rushed +the torrent--that--yes, that would clear her from every stain; if she +threw herself into that cold flood, all would be washed away, her +sorrow and her guilt--the whole unblest existence created only to +horror and to strife at once done away with--annihilated. Yes, that +were redemption--why did she hesitate? Away with the useless shell +that held the soul in fetters of guilt and suffering! She started +up, but she could not move, she fell back upon the bench. Was this +down-trodden, deadened spirit still held to life then by some invisible +thread? + +There, God be praised! a footstep on the grass. There came Vincenz. Now +she could speak with him; all might yet be well. + +"Saints above us!" exclaimed Vincenz, as she went forward to meet him, +"is it thou?" He gazed at her as if she were a spirit. Wally saw in the +morning twilight that he was pale and disturbed. His gun was on his +shoulder. + +"Vincenz," she said in a low voice, "hast thou shot anything?" + +"Aye." + +"What?" She looked at his game-bag, it was empty. + +"Noble game," he whispered. + +Wally shivered. "Where is it?" + +"He lies in the Ache!" + +Wally seized him by the arm, in her eyes was a gleam of frenzy. "Who?" +she said. + +"Dost need to ask?" + +"Joseph!" she cried, and staggered back against the wall. + +"It was a hard job," said Vincenz, wiping his brow; "I never thought +he'd have come so soon within shot. The devil knows what brought him +out and about by night. I thought I'd get up early, so as to be down in +Sölden before he was stirring, and at the first step he walks right +into my hands. But it was still so dark that the first shot missed, and +the second only grazed him, but he must have turned giddy, for he +stumbled on the bridge, and held on by the railing. I made the best of +the chance,--I sprang behind him and pushed him over the rail." + +A groan like a death-rattle burst from Wally, and as a vulture swoops +upon his prey, she flew at Vincenz and seized his throat with both +hands. "Thou liest, Vincenz, thou liest--it is not true, it cannot +be--say it is not true, or I'll murder thee." + +"On my soul, it's true;--didst suppose Vincenz'd think twice when +there was ought to do for thee?" + +"Oh murder! most cruel and dastardly murder," sobbed Wally, trembling +from head to foot, "so underhand, so cowardly, so base--that I never +meant; in fair fight I meant that he should die. Cursed be thou in time +and in eternity!--outcast and accursed now and hereafter. What can I do +to thee? With tooth and nail thou ought to be torn in pieces." + +"So these are the thanks I get?" said Vincenz between his teeth. "Did +not thou bid me do it?" + +"And if I did--what then? Was that a reason?" cried Wally wildly, +"often one says in anger what afterwards one rues in bitterness. Could +thou not wait till I had come to myself again after the awful shock? +Joseph, Joseph!--wild and wicked I may be, but no murderess. Oh, why +could thou not wait, only a few hours? Thy own wickedness it was that +drove thee on, and thou could never rest till thou had worked it out." + +"That's right, lay it all on me," growled Vincenz; "and yet thou's thy +share in the mischief too." + +"Aye," said Wally, "I have--and with thee I'll atone for it. For us two +no mercy remains. Blood cries for blood--" She ground her teeth, and +seizing Vincenz by the collar, dragged him forward with her. + +"Wally, leave go of me!--what dost thou want? My God, are these the +thanks I get? Mercy--Wally, thou'rt choking me--where art thou dragging +me to?" + +"To where we two belong," was the gloomy answer, and on she went as +though borne by a whirlwind, up the ascent, on to the bridge where the +sheer precipice overhangs the torrent--where the deed was done. "Down," +was the one fearful word she thundered in his ear, "we two--together." + +"God above us!" shrieked Vincenz in terror, "thou swore that if I did +the deed thou'd be my wife, and now wilt thou murder me?" + +Wally laughed her fearful laugh of scorn. "Thou fool, when I fling +myself down yonder with thee, shall not we two be together to all +eternity? will thou try to save thy wolfish life?" And with the +strength of a giant she grasped him in her arms, and hurried him +forward to the low parapet that she might throw herself with him into +the twilight gloom of the abyss. + +"Help!" shrieked Vincenz involuntarily, and-- + +"Help!" sounded feebly, ghostly, like an echo from the depths. + +Wally stood as if turned to stone and let go her hold of Vincenz. What +was that? Some mocking goblin? "Did thou hear it?" she said to Vincenz. + +"It was the echo," he said, and his teeth chattered. + +"Hark--again!" + +"Help!" sounded once more like a passing breath from the abyss. + +"All good spirits be praised, it is he--he lives--he is clinging +somewhere--he calls for help! Yes--I am coming, Joseph, only wait, +Joseph--I am coming!" she shouted out with a voice like a trumpet into +the depths, and with a voice like a trumpet-call she hailed the +sleeping village as she flew along the street, knocking at every door. +"Help, help--a man is perishing, save him--help, for God's sake, +help--it's life or death!" And at the cry everyone sprang from his bed, +and threw open the windows. + +"What is it? what's the matter?" + +"It's Joseph Hagenbach--he's fallen into the ravine," cried Wally, +"ropes--bring ropes--only come quick--it may already be too late--it +may perhaps be too late by the time we get there." + +She flew like the wind, home to the farm, into the barn, collected all +the ropes that were there, and knotted them together with trembling +hands; but all she could tie together, ropes and lines and cords, were +still not enough to reach into the depths where he lay--God only knew +where. + +Meanwhile the men came running together half-incredulous, half-amazed +at the terrible news, and brought with them ropes, and hooks and +lanterns--for it seemed as if to-day it would never be light--and there +was questioning and advising and helpless bewilderment, for in the +memory of man no one had ever fallen over the cliff, and here on the +broad Plateau they were not provided with ready means of rescue as they +are in places where the dizzy precipices and yawning clefts and chasms +every year demand their victims. Thus they came at last to the spot, +and a chill terror seized even the most cold-blooded as they bent over +the railing, and looked down into the mysterious depths of the abyss in +which nothing could be seen but the surging mists that rose up from the +water. Vincenz had disappeared; all was solitary and silent as death +far and wide, above and below. Wally gave a halloo so shrill that the +air trembled; all listened with suspended breath--no answer. + +"Joseph--where art thou?" she cried once more with a voice in whose +tone the anguish of all suffering and desperate humanity seemed +concentrated. All was still. + +"He doesn't answer--he is dead!" sobbed Wally, and threw herself in +despair upon the earth. "Now all is over!" + +"Perhaps he's lost his senses, or is too weak to answer," said old +Klettenmaier consolingly, then whispered in her ear. "Mistress, think +of all the people." + +She raised herself and pushed her disordered hair off her forehead. +"Tie the ropes together; don't stand there doing nothing--what are you +waiting for?" The men looked at her doubtingly. "We must at least try +if he's not to be found," said Klettenmaier. + +The men shook their heads, but began to fasten the cords together. "Who +will let himself down by the rope?" they said. + +"Who?" said Wally. Her black eyes flashed out of her pale face. "I +will!" she said. + +"Thou, Wally--thou's out of thy senses--the rope will scarce bear one, +much less two." + +"It need bear only one," said Wally gloomily, and seized the rope that +it might be done quicker. + +"It's impossible, Wally--thou'll have to tie thyself and him to it to +come up again," said the men, dropping their arms helplessly; "the only +thing to do is to send into the villages, and collect more ropes--" + +"And meanwhile he'll fall to the bottom if he's lost his senses, and +all will be too late," cried Wally desperately. "I'll not wait till +more comes--give it me here--unwind the rope, and see how long it +is--go on--unwind!" She shook out the coils of rope, and tried its +length and strength; involuntarily the men took hold of it again, they +unwound the huge coil, the preparations began to take shape and order. +The men stepped out to make a chain. "It may reach far enough, but +it'll never bear two." + +"If it won't bear two, I'll send him up alone. Where he has room to +lie, I shall have room to stand. As soon as I've found a footing, I'll +untie myself, and tie the rope round him; then draw him up, and I can +wait till the rope comes down again--" + +"Nay--that won't do--if he's weak or senseless he can't be pulled up +alone; he'll be dashed and crushed against the cliff if there's no one +with him to hold him off." + +Wally stood as if thunderstruck--she had not thought of that. Again, +then, she was thwarted--she was not to reach him, except down yonder, +perhaps, in the cold bed of the Ache! The rope would not bear two, that +she herself could see. "In the name of God," she said at last, and in +spite of the fever that shook her, she stood there dignified and +commanding in her firm resolve. She tied the rope round her waist, and +took her Alpenstock in her hand. "Let me down, that I may at least seek +him. If I find him, I'll stay with him and support him till you've +brought another rope, and let it down to us. I'll wait patiently down +there, even if I've to wait for hours hanging between earth and heaven +till the other rope can come." + +Old Klettenmaier fell on his knees before her. "Wally, Wally, don't +thou do it, they all say the rope isn't safe. If it must be done, let +me go--what does my old life matter? If I can do no good, at least +thou'll see if the rope holds, and if it breaks, it'll only be me +that's killed--not thee." + +"Aye, Wally, hear him," said another, "he's in the right; don't thou +go. Only wait, bethink thyself a little till help comes from the +villages." + +Wally threw up her arms, so that they all fell back. "When I was but a +child, I did not wait to think before I took the vulture from its nest +down the precipice--and shall I wait now when I go to seek Joseph? +Speak no more to me--I will, I must go to him. Now--step back, unwind, +hold fast!" And even as she spoke, she had sprung over the railing, +whilst the men who formed the chain had to hold back with all their +might, so great was the strain upon the rope. + +"God Almighty help us," said Klettenmaier crossing himself, then ran +off, as if Wally's words had reminded him of something. All gazed after +her with horror as she slowly sank lower and lower into the sea of mist +till it had swallowed her up and closed over her, never perhaps to be +seen again. All stood speechless round the spot where she had +disappeared, as round a grave; the tightly-strained rope alone gave +intelligence of the movements of the death-defying diver in this sea of +clouds, and on it every eye was fixed--would it break?--would it bear? +And each time one of the hastily-tied knots was paid out, every heart +beat louder--"Would it hold?" + +The beads of sweat fell from the brows of the men who formed the chain, +and involuntarily each tried once more the knots on which a human life +depended. So passed minute after minute, heavy as lead,--as if time +also were bound to some rope that dark powers refused to let go. Still +the rope strained and swayed, still she must be hanging to it; she had +not yet found a footing. + +"It's coming to an end," cried the last man of the chain, "it's not +long enough." + +"God help us!" they all cried together, "not long enough!" + +Only a few yards remained, and still no sign from below that Wally's +end was attained. The men pressed together as close as they could to +the edge of the precipice, paying out as much of the rope as they +dared. If it were not long enough;--if all had been in vain;--if they +should be obliged to draw up the hapless Wally, to set forth once more +on the way of death! + +There--there, the rope is suddenly loosened--it is slack--a fearful +moment! Has it given way, or has its burden touched the ground? + +The women pray aloud, the children cry. The men begin slowly to pull +in, but only a little way--the rope is tight again. It is not broken, +Wally has found a footing, and now, listen! An echoing cry rises from +the depths, and a quivering response bursts from every throat. Again +the rope is slack, they wind it in, and again it is loosened once or +twice; it would seem that Wally is climbing up the precipice. Meanwhile +the day has broken, but a fine, cold rain is drizzling down and the +swirl of fog below is thicker than ever. Now the rope sharply jerked to +the right takes a slanting direction; the men follow it and pass from +the left to the right side of the bridge. Wally seems to mount higher +and higher; they continue to haul in. + +"God be praised!" said some, "he cannot have fallen so deep; if he lies +so far up, he may still live." "Perhaps she's only looking for him," +said others. Now another pull at the rope, and then a sudden +slackening, and a soul-piercing scream. + +"It's broken!" shrieked the people. + +No, it is taut again--perhaps it was a scream of joy--perhaps she has +found him. The women fall on their knees, even the men pray, for though +all hated the haughty "peasant-mistress"--still, for the devoted girl +who hangs down there in the chaos between life and death, every one +that has a human heart trembles. If only a ray of sunshine would pierce +the gloom for one single moment! All stand looking down, but they can +distinguish nothing; they must leave it to time that passes with such +slow reluctance, to reveal the event. + +The rope remains immovable, but not another sound reaches them from +below. Is it broken and caught on some point of rock, while Wally lies +dashed to pieces below? Why is there no signal, no call? And hours must +pass before they can get help from the villages round. + +No one dares to speak a word--all stand listening with suspended +breath. Suddenly old Klettenmaier comes running up, beckoning and +shouting. + +"See what I've got," he called out, showing a whole length of stout +rope thrown over his shoulders. "Thank God, when Wally spoke of the +vulture, it all at once struck me that old Luckard had had the rope +laid by that Stromminger let Wally down to the vulture's nest +with;--and there sure enough I found it, in the loft under a heap of +old lumber." + +"That is a find!" "Klettenmaier, that's a real godsend," cried the +people confusedly. "God grant it may yet be of use," said the patriarch +of the village, looking despondingly at the cord of deliverance, "she +gives no farther sign!" + +"The rope is pulled!" shouted the foremost man of the chain, and at the +same moment a cry came up, so close at hand, that when all was silent +they could catch the words: "Is there no more rope?" + +"Ay, ay, plenty!" resounded joyfully from every side. A grappling iron +was fastened for an anchor on to the end of the rope, a fresh chain of +men was formed, and it was cast into the impenetrably shrouded abyss. +The oldest of the peasants gave the word of command--for the ropes must +be paid out exactly together, so that Wally might be close to the +injured man and support him. Not half so far down as Wally had gone at +first, the rope was caught below, and held fast. + +"Let out!" said the leader, in order that Wally might have a few more +yards to fasten round Joseph. "Enough," he called out then, and like +soldiers at the word of command, the men stood awaiting the next order. +Again a few minutes' pause; she must make the loop securely and +carefully, so that the senseless man, now so nearly saved, might not +fall again into the abyss. + +"Tie it fast, Wally," panted Klettenmaier, half beside himself + +"Yes, for God's sake, let her make it fast," echoed the people. + +A thrice-repeated pull at both ropes at once. "Haul in!" commanded the +leader, and his voice trembled as he spoke. The men at both ropes set +their feet firmly in the ground, the veins swell in legs and arms and +brows, sinewy hands are stretched forward to pull, and the lifting of +the heavy loads begins. A fearful and responsible task!--if one fails, +all is lost. + +"Steady," warns the leader, "watch each other." + +It is a solemn moment. Even the children dare not stir; nothing is +audible far or near but the deep breath of the toiling men. + +Now!--now they appear through the mist, more and more +distinctly.--Wally emerges with one arm supporting the lifeless body +that hangs to the saving rope, whilst with the other she powerfully +bears off from the precipice with her Alpenstock, to keep herself and +him from being dashed against it. In this way, as if rowing, she +ascends upwards through the sea of clouds. And at last they are there, +close to the edge,--one pull more, and they can be lifted up. + +"Steady," says the leader--every breath is held--the last moment is the +worst--if the rope were to break now! + +But no, the foremost of the chain stoop and seize them with a firm +grasp, those behind hold fast to the rope. + +"Up!" cry the men in front. They are raised--they are there--they are +on firm ground, and a ringing shout of joy relieves the long-oppressed +hearts of the bystanders. Wally has sunk speechless on the inanimate +body of Joseph. She does not see, she does not hear, how all crowd +round her and praise her--she lies with her face upon his breast--her +strength is gone. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Back to her Father. + + +In Wally's room, on Wally's bed, lay Joseph, stretched out, insensible. +All was silent and still around him; she had sent every one away, she +knelt by the bed, she hid her face in her convulsively clasped hands, +and prayed. + +"Oh, Lord God!--my God! my God! have mercy and let him live; take from +me everything--everything--but let him live. I'll ask no more of him, +I'll shun him--I'll leave him to Afra even--only he must not die!" And +then she stood up again and made fresh bandages for his head where the +blood flowed from a gaping wound, and for his breast that had been torn +by the crag, and threw herself upon him as though with her body she +would close those portals through which his life was streaming away. + +"Oh, thou poor lad! thou poor lad! so stricken and brought down--oh, +the sin of it--the sin of it! Wally, Wally, what hast thou done? Should +thou not sooner have struck a knife into thine own heart--sooner have +stood by at Afra's wedding, then gone home quietly and died, than have +laid him there to see him perish like cattle that the butcher has +felled?" + +Thus she lamented out loud whilst she bound his wounds, turning against +herself with the same anger with which she had been used to revenge +herself on others. She would have torn her heart out with her own hands +if she could, in the wild and frenzied remorse that had seized her. +Just then the door opened softly. Wally looked round in astonishment, +for she had forbidden any one to disturb her. It was the curé of +Heiligkreuz. Wally stood before him as before her judge, pale, +trembling in her very soul. + +"God be praised!" cried the old man, "he is here then." He went up to +the bed, looked at Joseph, and felt him. "Poor fellow," he said, "you +have been roughly handled." + +Wally set her teeth to keep herself from crying out at these words. + +"How did they get him up again?" asked the priest, but Wally could not +answer. + +"Well, thank God, He has averted the worst in His mercy," continued the +curé. "Perhaps he will get well, and you will then at least have no +murder on your conscience, though before the eternal judge the +intention is as bad as the deed." + +Wally tried to speak. + +"I know everything," he said with severity; "Vincenz came to me when he +fled, and confessed all--your love and his jealousy. I refused him +absolution, and sent him to join the Papal army; there he may earn +God's forgiveness by good service to the Holy Father, or expiate his +crimes by death. But what shall I say to thee, Wally?" He looked at her +sadly and piercingly with his shrewd eyes. + +Wally clasped her hands before her face. "Oh!" she cried aloud, "none +can punish me with so bitter a punishment as I have brought on myself. +There he lies dying, whom I loved best in all the world, and I have to +tell myself that I did it. Can there be greater misery than that? Needs +there anything more?" + +The priest nodded his head. "This then is what you have done--you have +become a rough piece of wood, fit to slay men with! It has happened as +I told you; you have resisted the knife of God, and now the Lord casts +you on one side and leaves the hard wood to burn in the fire of +repentance." + +"Ay, your reverence, it is so, but I know of water that will quench +that fire. Into the Ache I will fling myself if Joseph dies--then all +will be at an end." + +"Alas, poor fool! do you think that is a flame that earthly water can +quench? Do you really think that, with your earthly body, you can drown +your immortal soul? That would burn in the tormenting flame of eternal +remorse, even if all the seas in the world were poured upon it." + +"What shall I do then?" said Wally gloomily; "what can I do but die?" + +"Live and suffer: that is nobler than death." + +Wally shook her head. Her dark eyes looked vaguely before her. "I +cannot--I feel it--I cannot live, the phantom maidens thrust me +down--all has happened as they threatened me in my dream: there lies +Joseph crushed and broken, and I must follow him; it is fated so, and +it must happen so, none can prevent it." + +"Wally, Wally!" cried the priest, clasping his hands in horror, "what +are you saying? The phantom maidens? What phantom maidens? In Heaven's +name! do we live in the dark heathen times when men believed that evil +spirits made sport of them? I will tell you who the phantom maidens +are:--your own passions. If you had learnt to tame your own wild +unbridled will, Joseph would never have fallen over the precipice. It +is easy to lay the blame of your own evil deeds to the influence of +hostile powers. For that it is that our Lord came to us, to teach us to +acknowledge that we bear the evil in ourselves, and must fight with it. +If we control ourselves, we control the mysterious powers which drove +even the giants of the past to destruction, because with all their +strength they had no moral power to withstand them. And with all your +strength, your hardness and your daring, you are but a pitiful, weak +creature, so long as you do not know what every homely, simple handmaid +of the Lord performs, who, every day in the strict discipline of her +cloister-life, lays on God's altar the dearest wish of her heart, and +esteems herself blessed in the sacrifice! If you had only one glimmer +of such greatness in your soul, you need have no more fear of the +'phantom maidens,' and your foolish dreams would no longer direct your +destiny, but your own clear and conscious will. Reflect for once +whether that were not nobler and happier." + +Wally leaned against the bed-post; she felt as if raised to a +newly-awakened and noble consciousness. "Yes," she said shortly and +decidedly, and crossed her arms on her heaving breast, "your reverence +is right--I understand, and I will try." + +"I will try!" repeated the old priest, "once before you said that to +me--but you did not keep your word." + +"This time, your reverence, I will keep it," said Wally, and the priest +silently admired the expression with which she spoke the simple words. + +"What security will you give me?" he said. + +Wally laid her hand on Joseph's wounded breast, and two large tears +sprang to her eyes; no spoken vow could have said more. The wise priest +was silent also, he knew no more was needed. + +The wounded man turned in his bed and muttered some unintelligible +words. Wally made him a fresh bandage for his head; he half-opened his +eyes, but closed them again and fell back in a death-like slumber. + +"If only the doctor would come!" said Wally, seating herself on a stool +by the bed. "What o'clock may it be?" + +The priest looked at his watch. "What time did you send for him?" he +said. + +"About five o'clock." + +"Then he cannot be here yet. It is only ten o'clock, and it is quite +three hours to Sölden." + +"Only ten o'clock," Wally repeated in a low voice, and the good priest +was filled with pity to see her sit there so quietly, her hands folded +in her lap, whilst her heart beat with anguish so that it could be +heard. + +He bent over the sick man, and felt his head and his hands, "I think +you may be easy, Wally," he said, "he does not appear to me like a +dying man." + +Wally sat motionless, gazing fixedly before her. "If the doctor comes +and says that he'll live, I care for nothing more in this world," she +said. + +"That is right, Wally, I am glad to hear you say that," said the +curé approvingly, "and now relate to me how it was that Joseph was +saved--that will help to shorten the time till the doctor comes." + +"There's not much to tell," answered Wally shortly. + +"Nay, it is a noble deed that does honour to the men of the +Sonnenplatte," said the priest, "were you not there?" + +"Oh yes!" + +"Well then, be less short in your answers. I spoke with no one on the +way, and have heard nothing about it. Who fetched him up from the +ravine?" + +"I!" + +"God be gracious! You, Wally? you yourself?" cried the old man, staring +at her with astonishment. + +"Yes--I!" + +"But how can you have done it?" + +"They let me down by a rope, and I found him fixed between a rock and +the trunk of a fir-tree; if the tree had not been there he must have +fallen into the torrent, and no one'd ever have seen him alive again." + +"Child," cried the old man, "that is a great thing to have done." + +"May be so," she answered quietly, almost hardly, "as I'd had him +thrown yonder, it was for me to fetch him up again." + +"You are right,--that was only fair," said the priest, controlling his +emotion with difficulty. "But it is not the less an act of atonement +that may take some part of the guilt from your hapless soul." + +"That is all nothing," said Wally, shaking her head. "If he dies, it's +I that have murdered him." + +"That is true, but you gave a life for a life. You risked your own to +save his; you have atoned as far as was in your power for the crime you +have committed--the issue is in God's hands." + +Wally heaved a deep sigh; she could not take in the comfort that lay in +the priest's words. "The issue is in God's hand," she repeated out of +the depths of her burdened heart. + +The eye of the priest rested on her with content; God would not reject +this soul, in spite of its great faults and imperfections. Never yet, +old as he was, had he met with her equal in power for good, as for +evil. He looked at the wounded man who unconsciously clenched his fist +in defiance. It almost angered him that he should despise the noblest +gift that earth can offer man--a devoted love; that through his +indifference he should have had it in his power to harden a heart so +noble in its nature and capable of such high-minded sacrifice. "You +stupid peasant-lout," he muttered between his teeth. + +Wally looked at him enquiringly: she had not understood. + +There was a knock at the door, and at the same moment the doctor +entered the room. Wally trembled so that she was obliged to hold by the +bedpost. Here was the man on whose lips hung redemption or +condemnation. A crowd of people pressed in after him to hear what he +would say, but he soon turned them all out again. "This is no place for +curiosity; the sick man must have the most perfect quiet," he said +decidedly, and shut the door. He was a man of few words. Only, when he +took the bandage from the sick man's head, "There has been foul play +again here," he muttered. + +Wally stood white and silent as a statue. The curé purposely avoided +looking at her; he feared to disturb her self-possession. The +examination began; anxious silence reigned in the little chamber. Wally +stood by the window with averted face while the surgeon examined the +wounds and used his probe. She had picked up something from the ground +which she held convulsively clasped between her hands, and pressed +again and again to her lips. It was the thorn-crowned head of the +Redeemer that she had broken in the night. "Forgive, forgive," she +prayed, pale and quivering in her deadly anguish. "Have mercy on me--I +deserve nothing--but let Thy mercy be greater than my sin." + +"None of the wounds are mortal," said the doctor in his dry way. "The +fellow must have joints like an elephant." + +Then Wally's strength went from her. The chord, too long and too highly +strung, gave way, and loudly sobbing she threw herself on her knees by +the bed, and buried her face in Joseph's pillows. "Oh, thank God! Thank +God!" + +"What is the matter with her?" asked the doctor. The priest answered +him by a sign that he understood. + +"Come, collect yourself," he said, "and help me to put on the +bandages." + +Wally sprang up at once, wiped the tears from her eyes, and lent a +helping hand. The priest observed with secret pleasure that she +assisted the doctor as carefully and skilfully as a sister of charity; +she did not tremble, she wept no more, she showed a steady and quiet +self-control--the true self-control of love. And withal there was a +glory on her brow, a glory in the midst of sorrow, so that the priest +hardly knew her. + +"She will do yet--she will do," he said joyfully to himself, like a +gardener who sees some treasured faded plant suddenly put forth new +shoots. + +When the bandages were all fixed and the doctor had given his further +orders, the priest went out with him, and Wally remained alone with +Joseph. She sat down on the stool by the bed and rested her arms on her +knees. He breathed softly and regularly now, his hand lay close to her +on the counterpane--she could have kissed it without moving from her +place. But she did not do it, she felt as if now she dared not touch +even one of his fingers. If he had lain there dying or dead, then she +would have covered him with kisses, as heretofore, when she believed +him lost; the dead would have belonged to her--on the living she had no +claim! He had died to her in the moment when the doctor had said he +would live, and she buried him with anguish as for the dead in her +heart, while the message of his resurrection came to her as the message +of redemption. So she sat long, motionless by the side of the bed with +her eyes fixed on Joseph's beautiful, pale face--suffering to the +utmost what a human soul can suffer--but suffering patiently. She +neither sighed nor lamented now, nor clenched her fist as formerly, in +anger at her own pain; she had in this hour learnt the hardest of all +lessons--she had learnt to endure. What sort of right had she, the +guilty one, to complain--what better did she deserve? How could she +dare still to wish for him, she who had almost been his murderess? How +could she dare even to raise her eyes to him? No, she would bewail +herself no more. "Thou dear God, let me expiate it as Thou will--no +punishment is too great for such as I am--" So she prayed, and bowed +her head humbly on her clasped hands. + +All at once the door was flung open, and with a cry of "Joseph, my own +Joseph!" a girl rushed in, past Wally, and threw herself weeping upon +Joseph; it was Afra. Wally had started up as if a snake had touched +her: for an instant the battle raged within, the last and hardest +fight. She grasped herself, as it were, with her own arms, as though to +keep herself back from falling upon the girl and tearing her away from +the bed--from Joseph. So she stood for a time, while Afra sobbed +violently on Joseph's breast; then her arms fell by her side as if +paralyzed, and beads of cold sweat stood on her brow. What would she +have? Afra was in her rights. + +"Afra," she said in a low voice, "if thou truly loves Joseph, be still +and cease these cries--the doctor says he must have perfect quiet." + +"Who can be still that has a heart, and sees the lad lie there like +that?" lamented Afra, "it's easy for thee to talk, thou doesn't love +him as I do. Joseph is all I have--if Joseph dies I am all alone in the +world! Oh Joseph, dear Joseph--wake up, look at me--only once--only one +word!" and she shook him in her arms. + +A low groan escaped from Joseph's lips and he murmured a few +unintelligible words. + +Then Wally stepped forward and took Afra gently but firmly by the arm; +not a muscle of her pale face moved. + +"I have this to say to thee, Afra: Joseph is here under my protection, +and I am responsible for all being done according to the doctor's +orders; and this is my house that thou'rt in, and if thou will not do +what I tell thee, and leave Joseph in peace, as the doctor wishes, I'll +use my right and put thee out at the door, till thou's come to thy +senses and art fit to take care of him again--then," her voice +trembled, "I'll leave him to thee." + +"Oh, thou wicked thing, thou--" cried Afra passionately, "thou'd turn +me out of the house because I weep for Joseph? Dost think everyone has +so hard a heart as thou, and can stand there looking on like a stone? +Let go my arm! I've a better right than thou to Joseph, and if thou +doesn't like to hear me cry, I'll take him up in my arms and carry him +home--there at least I can weep as much as I please. I'm only a poor +servant-maid, but if I'd to pay for it by serving all my days for +nothing, I'd sooner nurse him in my own little room than let myself be +shown the door by thee--thou haughty peasant-mistress!" + +Wally let go of Afra's arm; she stood before her with a white face, and +with marks of such deadly suffering round her closed lips, that Afra +cast down her eyes in shame, as if she divined how unjust she had been. + +"Afra," said Wally, "thou's no need to show such hatred, I don't +deserve it of thee; for it was for thee I fetched him out of the +abyss--not for me,--and it is for thee he will live, not for me! Look +here, Afra, only an hour ago I'd sooner have throttled thee than have +left thee by his bedside--but now all is broken, my spirit, and my +pride, and--my heart," she added low to herself "And so I'll make way +for thee willingly, for he loves thee, and with me he'll have nought to +do. Stay thou with him in peace--thou need not take away the poor sick +man. Sooner will I go myself. You two can stay at the farm so long as +you will--I will account for it with him to whom it belongs now. And I +will take care of you in everything, for you are both of you poor, and +cannot marry if you have nothing. And so perhaps some day Joseph will +bless the Vulture-maiden--" + +"Wally, Wally," cried Afra. "What art thou thinking of? I pray thee--oh +Joseph, Joseph--if only I might speak!" + +"Let it be," said Wally, "keep thyself quiet--for love of Joseph, keep +thyself quiet. And now let me go in peace; torment me no more, for go I +must. Only one thing I pray thee in return for what I've done for thee, +take good care of him. Promise me thou will, that I may go with an easy +mind." + +"Wally," said Afra entreatingly, "don't thou do that, don't go away! +What will Joseph say when he hears we've driven thee out of thy own +house?" + +"Spare all words, Afra," said Wally firmly, "when once I have said a +thing, it stands, come what may." + +She went to the chest, and took out a change of clothes, which she tied +together in a bundle and threw over her shoulder. Then from a box she +took a bundle of linen. "See, Afra," she said, "here is old and fine +linen that thou'll need for bandages, and here is coarser to make lint, +which the doctor will want when he comes this evening. Look, there are +scissors--thou must cut it into strips the length of my finger. Dost +understand? And every quarter of an hour, thou must put a fresh bandage +on his head to draw the heat out. Tell me, can I trust thee not to +forget? Think what it would be if, after I have fetched him out of the +ravine, I should find that thou--thou had been careless in nursing +him--here, at his bedside. And see, he must always lie with his head +high, that the blood may not go to it--and shake the pillows up often. +That is all, I think, now--I know of nought else. Ah, my God, thou'll +not be able to lift him and lay him down as I do--thou hasn't got the +strength. Get Klettenmaier to help thee; he is trustworthy. Now I leave +him in thy hands--" Her voice failed her, her knees trembled, she could +hardly hold the bundle that she carried. She threw a last glance at the +wounded man: "God keep thee!" she said, and left the room. + +Outside, the priest was talking with Klettenmaier. Wally went up to +them. + +"Klettenmaier," she shouted in the old man's ear, "Go in and help Afra +to mind Joseph; Afra is there now in my place. Joseph will stay at the +farm, and I am going away. You are all to treat Joseph as if he were +the master, and to obey him as if I were by, till I come back; and woe +to you, if he has to complain of ought. Let all the servants know!" + +Klettenmaier had understood, and shook his head, but he did not venture +to make any remark. "Good-bye, mistress," he said, "Come back again +soon." + +"Never!" said Wally softly. + +Klettenmaier went into the house; Wally stood before the priest, and +met his questioning glance. "Now nought is my own that my heart clings +to, but the vulture," she said sadly, as if exhausted. "But him I +cannot give up--he must come with me. Come, Hansl." She beckoned to the +bird, which sat puffed up and drowsy on a railing; he came flying +towards her with difficulty. + +"Thou must learn to fly again now, Hansl," she said, "we're going +away." + +"Wally," said the priest, much concerned, "what do you mean to do?" + +"Your reverence, I must go away--Afra is in there! Is it not plain that +I cannot stay? I will do anything, I will all my life go bare and +homeless, and wander through the country, and leave everything to +him--everything--but I cannot look on at his Afra's love--only that I +cannot--cannot bear!" She set her teeth to keep back the springing +tears. + +"And for his sake you will really give up house and home? Do you know +what you are doing, my child?" + +"The farm no longer belongs to me, your reverence. Since yesterday I've +known that it belongs to Vincenz, whenever he puts in his claim. But my +money, what I have besides, shall be for Joseph. If he is crippled by +my fault, and cannot earn his bread,--it is my accursed guilt, and I +must provide for him." + +"What, is it possible," cried the priest, "that your father +disinherited you of house and home?" + +"What do I care for house and home? The home I belong to is always +ready," said Wally. + +"Child," said the old man, much disturbed, "you would not do yourself +an injury?" + +"No, your reverence, never now. I see now how right you are in +everything, and that God Almighty will not be defied by us. Perhaps, +when He sees that I truly repent, He'll have pity on me and grant peace +to my weary soul." + +"Now blessed be the hour, hard though it may have been, that broke your +proud spirit! Now Wally, you are truly great! But where are you going, +my child? Will you go to some charitable refuge? Shall I take you to +the Carmelites?" + +"No, your reverence, that would never suit the Vulture-maiden. I cannot +be shut up in a cell between walls--under God's free sky, as I have +lived, will I die--I should feel as if God could not come through such +thick walls. I'll repent and pray as if I were in a church, but I must +have the rocks and the clouds about me, and the wind whistling in my +ears, or I couldn't get on at all--you understand, do you not?" + +"Yes, I understand, and it would be folly to try to dissuade you. But +where then are you going?" + +"I'm going back to my father Murzoll--there is now my only home." + +"Do as you will," said the priest. "Go in God's name, my child--I can +part from you in peace, for wherever you go now--it is back to your +Father!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Message of Grace. + + +High up on the lonely Ferner, near her stony father, once more sits the +outcast, solitary child of man--spell-bound, as it were, like a part of +the dizzy heights from which she looks down on the little world below, +in which no space could be found for the large and alien heart that had +matured in the wilderness among the glacier-storms. Men have hunted and +driven her forth, and that has been fulfilled that her dream foretold, +the mountain has adopted her as its child. She belongs to the mountain +now; stone and ice are her home--and yet she cannot turn to stone +herself, and the warm and hapless human heart is silently bleeding to +death up here between stone and ice. + +Twice had the moon's disk waxed and waned since the day when Wally +sought this, her last refuge. No familiar face from amongst the +dwellers in the valley had she seen. Only once the priest had dragged +his old and frail body up the mountain to tell her that Joseph was +recovering; further, that news had come from Italy that shortly after +enlisting Vincenz had been shot, and had left to her the whole of his +possessions. Then she had folded her hands on her knees, and said +quietly, "It is well for him--it is soon over," as if she envied him. + +"But what will you do with all this money?" the priest had asked her, +"who will manage your immense property? You must not let it all go to +ruin." + +"Gold and goods plentiful as straw--and no help in them," said Wally, +"they cannot buy for me one short hour of happiness. When time has gone +by, and I can think of things again, I'll go down to Imst and make it +all sure that my property becomes Joseph's. For myself I'll keep only +enough to have a little house built further on, under the mountain, for +the winter--but now I must have peace, I can care for nothing now. +Manage things for me, your reverence, and see that the servants get +their due, and give the poor what they need; there shall be no poor on +the Sonnenplatte from this day forward." + +Thus briefly had she settled her worldly affairs as though on the brink +of the next world: it remained to her only to await her hour--the hour +of deliverance. It seemed to her as if God had said by the mouth of the +priest, "Thou shalt not come to me, till I myself fetch thee." And now +she waited till He should fetch her--but how long, how terribly long +the time might be! She looked at her powerfully-built frame--it was not +planned for an early death, and yet death was her only hope. She knew +and understood that she must not end her days with violence, that her +atonement must be consecrated; but she thought--surely she might +_help_ the good God to set her free when it should please Him! And +so she did everything that might injure the strongest body. It was not +suicide to take only just enough nourishment to keep herself from +starving--fasting is ever a help to penitence--nor to expose herself +day and night to the storm and rain from which even the vulture took +shelter in a cleft of the rock, so that wet, frost, and privation began +gradually to undermine her healthy constitution. It was not self-murder +to climb the cliffs no mortal foot had trodden, it was only to give the +good God the opportunity to fling her down--if He would! And with a +sort of gloomy pleasure she watched her beautiful body waste away, she +felt her strength diminish, often she sank down with fatigue if she had +wandered far, and when she climbed, her knees trembled and her breath +grew short. Thus she sat one day weary on one of Murzoll's highest +peaks. Around her, piled one upon another, rose white pinnacles and +blocks of ice; it looked like a church-yard in winter where the +snow-covered grave-stones stand in rows side by side, no longer +veiled by clinging leaf or blossom. Immediately at her feet lay the +green-gleaming sea of ice with its frozen waves, that flowed onwards as +far as the pass leading over the mountain. Deepest silence as of the +tomb dwelt in this frozen, motionless upper world. The distance with +its endless perspective of mountains lay dreamily veiled in soft +noonday mists. On Similaun, close to the brown Riesenhorn, nestled a +small, bright cloud, that clung to it caressingly and was wafted up to +sink again, till at last, torn on the sharp edges of the frightful +precipices, it disappeared. + +Wally lay supported on her elbow, and her eye mechanically followed the +drift of the tiny cloud. The mid-day sun burned above her head, the +vulture sat not far off, lazily pruning himself and spreading his +wings. Suddenly he became uneasy, turned his head as if listening, +stretched his neck, and flew croaking a short way higher up. Wally +raised herself a little to see what had startled the bird. There, over +the slippery, fissured glacier came a human form straight towards the +rock where Wally sat. She recognized the dark eyes, the short, black +beard, she saw the friendly glance and greeting, she heard the "Jodel" +that he sent up to her--as once years ago, when from the Sonnenplatte +she had seen him pass through the gorge with the stranger--she, an +innocent, hopeful child in those days, not yet cast out and cursed by +her father--not yet an incendiary--not yet a murderess. As a whole +landscape bursts from the darkness with all its heights and depths +revealed, under a flash of lightning--so the whole destined chain of +events passed before her soul, and shuddering, she recognized the depth +to which she was fallen. + +What had she been then--and what was she now? And what did he seek who +had never sought her then, what did he seek now of her, the condemned +one--the dead-alive? + +She gazed downwards in unspeakable terror. "Oh God! he is coming," she +cried aloud, and clung to the rock in mortal anguish as if it were the +hand of her stony father. "Joseph--stay below--not up here--for God's +sake not up here--go--turn back--I cannot, will not see thee--;" but +Joseph, who had mounted the rock at a quick run, was coming towards +her. Wally hid her face against the stone, stretching out her hands, as +if to defend herself against him. "Can one be alone nowhere in this +world?" she cried, trembling from head to foot. "Dost thou not hear? +Leave me. With me thou'st nought to do--I am dead--as good as dead am +I--can I not even die in peace?" + +"Wally, Wally, art thou beside thyself?" cried Joseph, and he pulled +her from the rock with his powerful arms, as one might loosen some +close-growing moss. "Look at me, Wally--for God's sake--why will thou +not look at me? I am Joseph, Joseph whose life thou saved--that's not a +thing one does for those one cannot bear to look at." + +He held her in his arms, she had fallen on one knee, she could not +move, she could not defend herself; she was no longer the Wally of +former days, she was weak and powerless. Like a victim beneath the +sacrificial knife, she bowed her head as if to meet the last stroke. + +"Good Heavens, maiden! thou looks ready to die. Is this the haughty +Wallburga Stromminger? Wally, Wally--speak then--come to thyself. This +comes of living up here in the wilds where one might forget to speak +one's mother-tongue almost. Thou'rt quite fallen away; come, lean on me +and I'll lead thee down to thy hut. I'm no hero myself yet, but even so +I've somewhat more strength than thee. Come--one gets dizzy up here, +and I've much to say to thee, Wally--much to say." + +Almost without will of her own, Wally let herself be led step by step, +as, without speaking, he guided her uncertain footsteps over the +glacier and down to her hut. There however they found the herdsman, and +pausing therefore, Joseph let the girl glide from his support on to a +meadow of mountain grass. She sat silent and resigned with folded +hands; it was God's will to send her this trial also, and she prayed +only that she might remain steadfast. + +Joseph placed himself beside her, rested his chin on his hand, and +looked with glowing eyes into her grief-worn face. + +"I have much to account for to thee, Wally," he said earnestly, "and I +should have come long ago if the doctor and the curé would have let me; +but they said it might cost me my life if I went up the mountain too +soon, and I thought that were a pity--for--now I first rightly value my +life, Wally--" he took her hand, "since thou'st saved it--for when I +heard that, I knew how it stood with thee--and just so it stands with +me, Wally!" He stroked her hand gently. + +Wally snatched it from him in sheer terror; it almost took her breath +away. + +"Joseph, I know now what thou would say! Thou think'st that because I +saved thy life, thou must love me out of gratitude and leave Afra in +the lurch after all. Joseph, that thou need not think, for so sure as +there is a God in Heaven--wretched am I and bad--but not so bad as to +take a reward I don't deserve, nor to let a heart be given me like +wages--a heart too that I must steal from another. Nay, that the +Vulture-maiden will not do--whatever else she may have done! Thank God, +there's still some wickedness even I am not capable of," she added +softly to herself. And collecting all her strength, she stood up and +would have gone to the hut where the herdsman sat whistling a tune. But +Joseph held her fast in both arms. + +"Wally, hear me first," he said. + +"Nay, Joseph!" she said with white lips, but proudly erect, "not +another word. I thank thee for thy good intention--but thou dostn't +know me yet." + +"Wally, I tell thee thou must hear me for a moment--dost understand? +Thou _must_." He laid his hand on her shoulder and fixed his eyes on +her with an expression so imperious that she broke down and gave way. + +"Speak then," she said as if exhausted, and seated herself, far from +him, on a stone. + +"That is right--now I see thou can obey," he said, smiling +good-humouredly. + +He stretched his finely-formed limbs on the grass, laid the jacket he +had thrown off under his elbow and supported himself on it; his warm +breath floated towards Wally as he spoke. She sat motionless with +downcast eyes; the internal struggle gradually brought the hot colour +to her face, but outwardly she was calm, almost indifferent. + +"See, Wally,--I will tell thee exactly how it is," Joseph went on, "I +could never bear thee formerly, because I didn't know thee. I heard so +much of how wild and rough thou wert, and so I took a bad opinion of +thee and would never have to do with thee at all. That thou'rt a fine +and handsome maid I could see all the while--but I didn't want to see! +So I always kept out of thy way, till the quarrel happened between thee +and Afra--but that I could not let pass. For see, Wally--what is done +to Afra is done to me, and when Afra is hurt it cuts me to the heart, +for thou must know--well, it must come out, my mother in her grave will +forgive me--Afra is my sister." + +Wally started back, and stared at him as if in a dream. He was silent +for a moment, and wiped his forehead with his linen sleeve. "It's not +right for me to talk about it," he continued, "but thou must know, and +thou'll let it go no further. My mother told me on her deathbed that +before ever she knew my father, she had a child out there in +Vintschgau, and I solemnly promised her that I would care for the lass +as a sister, and it's for that I fetched her from across the mountains +and brought her to the Lamb so that she might be near me. But we two +promised each other that we'd keep it secret and not bring shame on our +mother in her grave. Now dost thou understand how I couldn't let an +injury to my sister pass unpunished, and stood up for her when she was +wronged?" + +Wally sat like a statue and struggled for breath. She felt as if the +mountains and the whole world were whirling round her. Now all was +clear--now too she understood what Afra had said by Joseph's bedside. +She held her head with both hands, as if she could not grasp the +meaning of it all. If it were indeed true, how gigantic was the wrong +she had done. It was not a heartless man who had scorned her for a +lowly maid-servant--it was a brother fulfilling his duty to a sister +that she would have killed--she would have bereft a poor orphan of her +last remaining stay for the sake of a blind movement of jealousy. "Good +God, if it had been so!" she said to herself. She felt giddy--she +buried her face in her hands, and a dull groan escaped her. Joseph, who +did not observe her agitation, went on. + +"So it came to pass that up at the Lamb I swore before them all that I +would take down thy pride, and do to thee as thou'd done to Afra, and +so we hatched the plot among us, in spite of Afra who'd not have had it +done. And all went well; but when we wrestled with one another, and +when that dear and beautiful bosom lay upon my heart, and when I kissed +thee, it was as if my veins were filled with fire. I'd say no word to +thee, because I'd been thy enemy so long,--but from hour to hour the +fire grew, and in the night I clasped my pillow to me and thought that +it was thou, and when I woke, I cried out loud for thee and sprang out +of bed for the ferment and fever I was in." + +"Stop, stop--thou'rt killing me," cried Wally, with cheeks and brow +aflame; but he went on passionately: "So I went out whilst it was still +night, and wandered up to the Sonnenplatte. I'll tell thee all,--I +meant to knock at thy window before break of day, and I was full of joy +to think how thou'd put out thy sleepy face, and how I'd hold thy head, +and make amends for all, and ask thy pardon a thousand, thousand times. +And then--then a shot whistled past my head, and directly after another +hit my shoulder, and as I stumbled some one sprang on me from behind +and hurled me down from the bridge. And I thought, now all is over with +love and everything else. But thou came, thou angel in maiden's form, +and took pity on me, and saved me, and cared for me--Oh, Wally!" He +threw himself at her feet, "Wally, I cannot thank thee as I ought--but +all the love of all the men in the world put together is not so great +as the love I have for thee." + +Then Wally's strength gave way altogether--with a heart-rending cry she +thrust Joseph from her, and flung herself in wild despair face +downwards on the earth. "Oh, so happy as I might have been--and now all +is over--all, all!" + +"Wally, for God's sake!--I believe thou'rt really mad! What is over? If +thee and me love each other, all is well!" + +"Oh Joseph, Joseph, thou doesn't know--nothing can ever be between us +two; oh, thou doesn't know, I am outcast and condemned--thy wife I can +never be--trample on me, strike me dead--me it was that had thee flung +down yonder." + +Joseph shrank back at the awful words--he was not yet sure that Wally +was not mad. He had sprung up, and was looking down at her in horror. + +"Joseph," whispered Wally, and clasped his knees, "I've loved thee ever +since I've known thee, and it was because of thee that my father sent +me up to the Hochjoch, because of thee that I set fire to his house, +because of thee that for three years I wandered lonely in the wilds, +and was hungry and frozen and would have died sooner than be married to +another man. And out of pure jealousy I treated Afra as I did, because +I thought she was thy love and would take thee from me. And thou came +at last after long, long years that I had waited for thee, and thou +asked me to the dance like a bridegroom--and I believed it, my heart +was bursting for joy, and I let thee kiss me as a bride, but thou--thou +mocked me before everyone--mocked me!--for all the true love with which +I had longed for thee--for all the sore trouble that I had borne for +thee--then all at once everything was changed, and I bade Vincenz kill +thee." + +Joseph covered his face with his hands. "That is horrible," he said in +an undertone. + +"Then in the night I repented," Wally went on, "and I went out, and +would have hindered it--but it was too late. And now thou'st come to +tell me that thou loves me, and all would be well if I could stand +before thee with a clear conscience. And I have brought it all on +myself with my blind rage and wickedness. I thought no wrong could be +so great as that thou did to me, and it is all nothing to what I have +done to myself--but it serves me right--it serves me quite right." + +There was a long silence. Wally had pressed her damp brow against +Joseph's knee, her whole body shook as in a death-agony. An agonizing +minute passed by. Then she felt a hand gently raise her face, and +Joseph's large eyes looked down on her with a wonderful expression. + +"Thou poor Wally!" he said softly. + +"Joseph, Joseph, thou mustn't be so good to me," cried Wally trembling, +"take thy gun and kill me dead--I'll hold still and never shrink, but +bless thee for the deed." + +He raised her from the ground, he took her in his arms, he laid her +head on his breast and smoothed her disordered hair, then kissed her +passionately. "And STILL I love thee!" he cried in a voice like a +shout, so that the words rang back exultingly from the desert walls of +ice. + +Wally stood there hardly conscious, motionless, almost sinking under +the flood of happiness that flowed over her. "Joseph, is it possible? +Can thou really forgive me--can the great God forgive me?" she +whispered breathlessly. + +"Wally! He who could listen to thy words and look in thy wasted face, +and could yet be hard to thee--that man would have a stone in the place +of a heart. I'm a hard fellow, but I could not do that." + +"Oh God!" said Wally, and the tears rushed to her eyes, "when I think +that I would have stilled _that_ heart for ever--!" She wrung her hands +in despair: "Oh thou good lad--the better and the dearer thou art to +me, so much the more terrible is my remorse. Oh, my peace is gone, for +ever gone, in earth and in Heaven. Thy servant will I be, not thy +wife--on thy door-step will I sleep, not at thy side--I'll serve thee, +and work for thee, and do all thy will before thou can speak the word. +And if thou strike me, I'll kiss thy hand, and if thou tread on me, +I'll clasp thy knee--and beg and pray till thou'rt good to me again. +And if thou grant me nought but the breath of thy lips, and a glance +and a word--still I'll be content--it'll still be more than I deserve." + +"And dost think that I should be content?" said Joseph hotly, "dost +think a glance and a breath are enough for me? Dost think I'd suffer +that thou should lie on the doorstep, and me inside? Dost think I would +not open the door and fetch thee in? Dost think perhaps that thou would +stay outside, when I called to thee to come?" + +Wally tried to free herself from his grasp; she hid her glowing face in +her clasped hands. + +"Be at peace, sweet soul," Joseph went on in his deep, harmonious +voice, and drew her towards him. "Be at peace, and take that which our +Lord God sends thee--thou mayst, for thou hast atoned nobly. Torment +thyself no more with self-reproach, for I also have sinned heavily +towards thee, and provoked thee cruelly and rewarded thy long love and +faith with mockery and scorn. No wonder that thy patience gave way at +last--what else could one expect?--thou'rt only the Vulture Wally! But +thou's quickly repented thee, and despised death itself to bring me +from the depths where no man would have had the heart to go, and had me +carried to thy room, and laid upon thy bed, and thyself hast tended me, +till that foolish Afra came and drove thee away, because thou thought +she was my love. And thou wished to give us all thy property that I +might be able to marry Afra--as thou thought! And then came away to +the wilderness with thy heavy sorrow! Oh, thou poor soul, nought but +heart-ache hast thou had for my sake since thou's known me, and shall I +not love thee now and shall we know no happiness together? Nay, Wally, +and if the whole world were hard to thee--it's all one to me, I take +thee in my arms, and none shall do thee an injury." + +"Is it really true that out of all my shame and misery thou'll take me +to thy heart, thy great and noble heart? Thou'll have no fear of the +wild Vulture-maiden that's done so many wicked things?" + +"I fear the Vulture-maiden--I, Joseph the Bear-slayer? No, thou dear +child, and were thou still wilder than thou art, I fear thee not, I'll +conquer thee, that I told thee once before in hatred--I tell it thee +now in love. And even if I could not tame thee, if I knew that within a +fortnight thou'd murder me, I would not leave thee--I could not leave +thee. A hundred times have I climbed after a chamois when I knew that +each step might cost me my life--and yet would never leave it, and +thou--art thou not worth far, more to me than any chamois? See +Wally--for a single hour of thee as thou art to-day, to see thee look +at me and cling to me as now, will I gladly die." He pressed her to him +in a breathless embrace. "A fortnight hence thou'll be my wife, and +have no thought of killing me--I know it, for now I know thy heart." + +Then Wally sprang up, and raised her arms towards heaven. "Oh, Thou +great and merciful God," she cried, "I will praise Thee and bless Thee +my whole life long, for it is more than earthly happiness that Thou +hast sent me--it is a message of Grace!" + +It was now evening; a mild countenance looked down on them as in +friendly greeting; the full moon stood above the mountain. On the +valleys lay the shades of evening--it was too late now to descend the +mountain-side. They went into the hut, kindled a fire and sat down on +the hearth. It was an hour of sweet confidence after long years of +silence. On the roof sat the Vulture and dreamed that he was building +himself a nest, the rush of the night-wind round the hut was like the +sound of harps, and through the little window shone a star. + +Next morning Wally and Joseph stood at the door of the hut ready to set +out homewards. + +"Farewell, God keep thee, Father Murzoll," said Wally, and the first +gleam of morning showed a tear glittering in her eye, "I shall never +come back to thee more. My happiness lies down yonder now, but yet I +thank thee for giving me a home so long, when I was homeless. And thou, +old hut, thou'll be empty now, but when I sit with my dearest husband +down there in a warm room, I'll still think of thee, and how long +nights through I've shivered and wept beneath thy roof, and will always +be humble and thankful." + +She turned and laid her hand on Joseph's arm. "Come, Joseph, that we +may be at the good priest's at Heiligkreuz before mid-day." + +"Aye, come--I'm taking thee home, my beautiful bride! You see, you +phantom maidens, I've won her, and she belongs to me--in spite of you +and all bad spirits." + +And he threw out a "Jodel" into the blue distance, that sounded like a +hymn of rejoicing on the day of resurrection. + +"Be quiet," said Wally, laying her hand on his mouth in alarm, "thou +mustn't defy them." But then she smiled with a serene look. "Ah no," +she said, "there's no more 'phantom maidens' and no more bad +spirits--there is only God." + +She looked back once more. The snowy peaks of the Ferner glowed around +in the morning light. "Still it is beautiful up here," she said with +lingering footsteps. + +"Art sorry to come down yonder with me?" asked Joseph. + +"If thou wast to lead me into the deepest pit under the earth where no +gleam of day ever shone, still I'd go with thee and never question nor +complain," she said, and her voice sounded so wonderfully soft that +Joseph's eyes were moist. + +There was a sudden rush down from the roof of the hut. "Oh, my +Hansl--I'd almost forgotten thee!" cried Wally. "And thou--?" she said +smiling at Joseph, "thou must make friends with him, for now you two +are brothers in fate. I fetched thee from the precipice as well as +him." + +So they went down the mountain side. It was a modest wedding +procession, no splendour but the golden crown that the morning sunshine +wove around the bride's head--no follower but the vulture that circled +high in the air above them--but in their hearts was hardly-won, +deeply-felt, unspeakable joy. + + * * * * * + +Up yonder on the giddy height of the Sonnenplatte where once "the wild +Highland maid looked dreaming down," where later on she let herself +into the depths of the gloomy abyss to rescue the beloved one, a simple +cross stands out against the blue sky. It was erected there by the +village community in memory of Wallburga the Vulture-maiden and Joseph +the Bear-hunter--the benefactors of the whole neighbourhood. + +Wally and Joseph died early, but their name lives and will be praised +so long and so far as the Ache flows. The traveller who passes through +the gorge late in the evening when the bell rings for vespers and the +silver crescent of the moon stands above the mountains, may see an aged +couple kneeling up yonder. They are Afra and Benedict Klotz, who often +come down from Rofen to pray by this cross. Wally herself it was who +brought their hearts together, and to-day on the brink of the grave +they still bless her memory. + +Below in the gorge, white, misty forms hover around the traveller and +remind him of the "phantom maidens." Down from the cross there is +wafted to him a lament as it were out of long-forgotten heroic legends, +a lament that the mighty as well as the feeble must fade and pass away. +Still this one thought may comfort him--the heroic may die, but it +cannot perish from off the earth. Under the splendid coat of mail +of the Nibelungen hero, beneath the coarse peasant frocks of a +Vulture-maiden and a Bear-hunter--still we meet with it again and +again. + + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Lamb.] + +[Footnote 2: In most foreign countries the law provides that a certain +portion of a man's estate is inalienable from his natural heirs.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + * * * * * + PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vulture Maiden, by Wilhelmine von Hillern + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 36827-8.txt or 36827-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/2/36827/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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F. Poynter"> +<meta name="Publisher" content="Bernhard Tauchnitz"> +<meta name="Date" content="1876"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +.center {margin: auto; text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + + + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + + +.poem0 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem1 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 2em; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem2 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 5em; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem3 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 30%; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + + + + + +figcenter {margin:auto; text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} +.t9 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:9em; margin-right:0px;} +.t10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10em; margin-right:0px;} +.t11 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:11em; margin-right:0px;} +.t12 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:12em; margin-right:0px;} +.t13 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:13em; margin-right:0px;} +.t14 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:14em; margin-right:0px;} +.t15 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:15em; margin-right:0px;} +.t16 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:16em; margin-right:0px;} + + +.quote {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} +.ctrquote {text-align: center; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} + +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-right:10%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%;} +span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black;} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:0em;} + + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Vulture Maiden, by Wilhelmine von Hillern + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vulture Maiden + [Die Geier-Wally.] + +Author: Wilhelmine von Hillern + +Translator: C. Bell + E. F. Poynter + +Release Date: July 23, 2011 [EBook #36827] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> +<br> +1. Page scan source:<br> +http://www.archive.org/details/vulturemaidendie00hilluoft.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>COLLECTION</h2> + +<h4>OF</h4> + +<h1>GERMAN AUTHORS.</h1> + +<h3>VOL. 29.</h3> +<br> +<hr class="W20"> +<br> +<h3><span class="sc">THE VULTURE MAIDEN BY W. von HILLERN.</span></h3> +<br> +<h4>IN ONE VOLUME.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>TAUCHNITZ EDITION.</h4> + +<h5>By the same Author,</h5> + +<p class="center" style="margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px"><b>THE HOUR WILL COME . . . . . 2 vols</b>.</p> +<hr class="W10"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE</h3> + +<h1>VULTURE MAIDEN</h1> + +<h3>[DIE GEIER-WALLY.]</h3> +<br> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>WILHELMINE von HILLERN.</h3> +<br> +<h4>FROM THE GERMAN</h4> + +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>C. BELL AND E. F. POYNTER.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<h4><i>Authorized Edition</i>,</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>LEIPZIG 1876</h3> + +<h3>BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ.</h3> + +<h4>LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON.<br> +CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.</h4> + +<h4>PARIS: C. REINWALD, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PÈRES; THE GALIGNANI<br> +LIBRARY, 224, RUE DE RIVOLI.</h4> +<br> +<h4><i>The Author reserves the Right of dramatizing this Tale</i>.</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>TO BERTHOLD AUERBACH, <span class="sc">Esq</span>.</h2> + + +<p class="normal">Permit me to offer you the fruit that I have gathered in a field +peculiarly your own. Under your powerful hand the difficult ground of +German peasant-life has yielded up its wealth of poetry; and if others, +with myself, now reap in the field tilled by you, it is our first duty +to think of you with gratitude, and to render to you the honour that is +rightly yours.</p> + +<p class="normal"><i>Freiburg in Brisgau</i>, April 1875.</p> + +<p class="right"><span class="sc">The Author</span>.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>CONTENTS.</h2> +<hr class="W10"> + +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%"> +<colgroup><col style="width:10%; text-align:center"> +<col style="width:10%; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td colspan="3" style="text-align:left">INTRODUCTION</td> +</tr><tr> +<td>CHAPTER</td> +<td>I.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">Joseph, the Bear-hunter</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>II.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02">Unbending</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>III.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">Outcast</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>IV.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">Munzoll's Child</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>V.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">Old Luckard</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>VI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">A Day at Home</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>VII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">"Hard Wood"</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>VIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">The Klotz Family of Rofen</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>IX.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">In the Wilderness</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>X.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>XI.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">At Last</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>XII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">In the Night</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>XIII.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">Back to her Father</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>--</td> +<td>XIV.</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">The Message of Grace</a></td> +</tr></table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>THE VULTURE-MAIDEN.</h1> + +<h3>A TALE OF THE TYROLESE ALPS.</h3> +<hr class="W10"> + +<p class="normal">Far down in the depths of the Oetz valley, a traveller was passing. On +the eagle heights of the giddy precipice above him, stood a maiden's +form, no bigger than an Alpine rose when seen from below, yet sharply +defined against the clear blue sky, the gleaming ice-peaks of the +Ferner. There she stood firm and tranquil, though the mountain gusts +tore and snatched at her, and looked without dizziness down into the +depths where the Ache rushed roaring through the ravine, and a sunbeam +slanting across its fine spray-mist painted glimmering rainbows on the +rocky wall. To her, also, the traveller and his guide appeared minutely +small as they crossed the narrow bridge, which thrown high over the +Ache, looked from above like a mere straw. She could not hear what the +two were saying, for out of those depths no sound could reach her but +the thundering roar of the waters. She could not see that the guide, a +trimly-attired chamois-hunter, raised his arm threateningly, and +pointing her out to the stranger said: "That is certainly the +Vulture-maiden standing up yonder; no other maid would trust herself on +that narrow point, so near the edge of the precipice. See, one would +think that the wind must blow her over, but she always does just the +contrary to what other reasonable Christian folk do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now they entered a pine-forest, dark, damp, and cold. Once more the +guide paused, and sent a falcon-glance upwards to where the girl stood, +and the little village spread itself out smilingly on the narrow +mountain plateau in the full glow of the morning sun, which as yet +could hardly steal a sidelong ray into the close, grave-like twilight +of the gorge. "Thou needn't look so defiant, there's a way up as well +as down," he muttered, and disappeared with the stranger. As though in +scorn of the threat, the girl sent up a halloo, so shrilly repeated +from every side, that a flying echo reached even the silent depth of +the fir-wood with a ghostly ring, like the challenging cry of the +chamois-hunter's enemy, the fairy of the Oetz valley.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, thou may'st scream; I'll soon give it back to thee," he threatened +again; and throwing himself stiffly back, and supporting his neck with +both hands, he pealed forth, clear and shrill as a post-horn, a cry of +mocking and defiance up the mountain-side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She hears that, maybe?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why do you call the girl up there the Vulture-maiden?" asked the +stranger down in the moist, dim, rustling forest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because, Sir, when she was only a child she look a vulture's nest, and +fought the old bird," said the Tyrolese. "She is the strongest and +handsomest girl in all the Tyrol, and terribly rich, and the lads let +her drive them off, so that it's a shame to see. There's not one of +them sharp enough to master her. She is as shy as a wild cat, and so +strong that the boys declare no one can conquer her: if one of them +comes too near, she knocks him down. Well, if ever I went up there +after her, I'd conquer her, or I'd tear the chamois-tuft and feather +from my hat with my own hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why have you not already tried your luck with her, if she is so rich +and so handsome?" asked the traveller.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you see, I don't care for girls like that--girls that are half +boys. It's true, she can't help herself. The old man--Stromminger is +his name--is a regular wicked old fellow. In his time he was the best +wrestler and fighter in the mountains, and it sticks to him still. He +has often beaten the girl cruelly and brought her up like a boy. +She has no mother, and never had one, for she was such a big strong +child that her mother could scarcely bring her into the world, +and died of it. That's how it is the girl has grown up so wild and +masterful."--This was what the Tyrolese down in the ravine related to +the stranger, and he had not deceived himself. The maiden who stood out +yonder above the precipice was Wallburga Stromminger, daughter of the +powerful "chief-peasant," also called the Vulture-maiden; and he had +spoken truly, she deserved this name. Her courage and strength were +boundless as though eagle's wings had borne her, her spirit rugged and +inaccessible as the jagged peaks where the eagles build their nests, +and where the clouds of heaven are rent asunder.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wherever anything dangerous was to be done, there from her childhood +upwards, was Wally to be found, putting the lads to shame. As a child +even she was wild and impetuous as her father's young bull, which she +had known how to subdue. When she was scarcely fourteen years old, a +peasant had descried on a rugged precipice a golden vulture's nest with +one young one, but no one in the village dared venture to seize it. +Then the head-peasant, scoffing at the valiant youth of the place, +declared he would make his Wallburga do it. And sure enough Wally was +ready for the deed, to the horror of the women and the vexation of the +lads. "It is a tempting of Providence," said the men. But Stromminger +must have his jest; all the world must learn by experience that the +race of Stromminger down to the children's children might seek its +match in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You shall see that a Stromminger girl is worth ten of you lads," he +said laughing to the peasants, who streamed together to witness the +incredible feat. Many grieved for the beautiful and stately young life +that might perhaps fall a sacrifice to the father's boasting; still, +everyone wished to see. As the precipice to which the nest clung was +almost perpendicular, and no human foot could tread it, a rope was +fastened round Wally's waist. Four men, foremost amongst whom was her +father, held it, but it was horrible to the lookers-on to see the +courageous child, armed only with a knife, walk boldly to the edge of +the plateau, and with a vigorous spring let herself down into the +abyss. If the knot of the rope should give way, if the vulture should +tear her in pieces, if in her descent she should dash out her brains +against some unnoticed crag? It was a God-forsaken act of Stromminger's +so to risk the life of his own child. Meanwhile Wally sailed fearlessly +through the air, till midway down the precipice she exultingly greeted +the young vulture, who ruffled his downy feathers, and piping, gnawed +with his shapeless beak at his strange visitor. Hardly pausing to +consider, she seized the bird which now raised a lamentable cry with +her left hand and tucked it under her arm. There was a rushing sound in +the air, and in the same instant a dark shadow came over her, a roaring +filled her ears, and a storm of blows fell like hail upon her head. Her +one thought was "The eyes--save the eyes," and pressing her face +closely against the rock, she hit blindly with the knife in her right +hand at the raging bird that threw itself upon her with its sharp beak, +its claws and wings. Meanwhile the men above hastily drew in the rope. +Still for a time during the ascent, the battle in the air continued; +then suddenly the vulture gave way, and plunged into the abyss--Wally's +knife must have wounded it. Wally however came up bleeding, her face +torn by the rocks, and holding in her arms the young bird, that at no +price would she have relinquished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Wally," cried the assembled people, "why didn't thou let the +young one go, then the vulture would have loosed its hold." "Oh," she +said simply, "the poor thing can't fly yet, and if I had let him go, +he'd have fallen down the precipice and been killed."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the first and only time in her whole life that her father gave +her a kiss; not because he was touched by Wally's noble compassion for +the helpless creature, but because she had performed an heroic action +that would reflect honour on the illustrious race of Stromminger.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such was the maiden who stood out now on the projecting rock, where the +foot could hardly find room to rest, and dreamily looked down into the +ravine over which she hung; for often, with all her impetuosity, a +strange stillness would come over her, and she would gaze sadly before +her, as though she saw something for which she longed, and which she +yet might not attain. It was an image that always remained the same, +whether she saw it in the grey morning twilight, or in the golden glow +of noon, in the evening red, or in the pale moonlight, and for a year +it had followed her wherever she went or stood, below in the valley, or +above on the mountain. And when, as now, she was out and alone, and her +large chamois-eyes, at once wild and shy, wandered across to the +white-gleaming glaciers, or down into the shadow-filled gorge where the +Ache thundered on its way, still she sought him whom the image +resembled; and when now and then a traveller, minutely small in the +distance, glided past below, she thought, "That may be he," and a +strange joy came to her in the fancy that she had seen him, even though +she could distinguish nothing but a human form, no bigger than a moving +image in a peep-show. And now as those two wayfarers passed along, of +whom the one enquired about her, and the other threatened her, she +thought again, "It may be he." Her bosom seemed too tight for her +beating heart, her lips parted, and like a lark set free, her joy +soared up in a pealing song. And as the hunter in the wood below heard +its dying echo, so an echo of his reply reached her, and she listened +with an intoxicated ear--it might be his voice! and a blushing +reflection of her warm rush of feeling spread itself over the wild, +defiant face. She could not hear that the song was a song of scorn and +defiance. Had she known it, she would have clenched her sinewy fist, +she would have tried the strength of her arm, and over her face dark +shadows would have passed, till it grew pale as the glaciers after +sunset. But now she sat down on the stone that supported her, and +swinging her feet as they hung over the abyss, she rested her graceful +head on her hands, and gave herself up to dreaming over again all the +strange things that had happened that first time that she ever saw him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">CHAPTER I.</a></h2> + +<h3>Joseph, the Bear-hunter.</h3> + +<p class="normal">It was at Whitsuntide, just a year before, that her father had taken +her to Sölden for the confirmation; thither the bishop came every other +year, because there is a high-road that leads to Sölden. She felt a +little ashamed, for she was already sixteen years old, and so tall. Her +father would not let her be confirmed before; he thought that with it +would come at once love-makings and suitors--and time enough for that! +Now she was afraid that the others would laugh at her. But no one took +any notice: the whole village when they arrived was in excitement, for +it was said that Joseph Hagenbach of Sölden had slain the bear that had +shown itself up in Vintschgau, and for which the young men in all the +country round had watched in vain. Then Joseph had set out across the +mountains, and by Friday last he had already got him. The messenger +from Schnalser had brought the news early, and Joseph himself was soon +to follow. The peasants of Sölden, who were waiting in front of the +Church, were full of pride that it should be a Söldener that had +performed the dangerous deed, and talked of nothing but Joseph, who was +indisputably the finest and strongest lad in all the mountains, and a +shot without a rival. The girls listened admiringly to the tales of +Joseph's heroic deeds, how no mountain was too steep for him, no road +too long, no gulf too wide, and no danger too great; and when a pale, +sickly-looking woman came towards them across the village-green, they +all rushed up to her and wished her joy of the son who had won such +glory.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's a good one, thy Joseph," said the men cordially; "he's one from +whom all may take example." "If only thy husband had lived to see this +day, how rejoiced he would have been," said the women.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, no one would ever believe," cried one quaintly, "that such a fine +fellow was thy son--not looking at thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman smiled, well-pleased. "Yes, he's a fine-grown lad, and a good +son, there can't be a better. And yet, if you'll believe it, I never +have an hour's peace for him; there's not a day that I don't expect to +see him brought home with his limbs all broken. It's a cross to bear!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The religious procession now appeared upon the place, and put an +end to the talk. The people thronged into the little church with the +white-robed, gaily-wreathed children, and the sacred office began.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the whole time Wally could think of nothing but Joseph, the +bear-slayer, and of all the wonderful things he must have done, and of +how splendid it was to be so strong and so courageous, and to be held +in such great respect by every one, so that no one could get the better +of him. If only he would come now, whilst she was in Sölden, so that +she also might see him; she was really quite burning to see him.</p> + +<p class="normal">At length the confirmation was over, and the children received the +final blessing. Suddenly, on the green outside in front of the church, +there was a sound of wild shouting and hurrahs. "He has him, he +has the bear!" Scarcely had the bishop spoken the last words of the +blessing when every one rushed out, and joyfully surrounded a young +chamois-hunter, who, accompanied by a troop of fine and handsome lads +from the Schnalser valley and from Vintschgau, was striding across the +green. But handsome as his comrades might be, there was not one of them +that came near him. He towered above them all, and was so beautiful--as +beautiful as a picture. It seemed almost as though he shone with light +from afar; he looked like the St. George in the church. Across his +shoulders, he carried the bear's fell, whose grim paws dangled over his +broad chest. He walked as grandly as the emperor, and never took but +one step when the others took two, and yet he was always ahead of them; +and they made as much ado about him as though he had been the emperor +indeed, dressed in a chamois-hunter's clothes. One carried his gun, +another his jacket; all was wild excitement, shouting and huzzaing--he +alone remained composed and tranquil.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went modestly up to the priest, who came towards him from the +church, and took off his garlanded hat. The bishop, who was a stranger, +made the sign of the cross over him and said, "The Lord was mighty in +thee, my son! With his help thou hast performed what none other could +accomplish. Men must thank thee--but thou, thank thou the Lord!"</p> + +<p class="normal">All the women wept with emotion, and even Wally had wet eyes. It was as +though the spirit of devotion that had failed her in church, first came +to her now, as she saw the stately hunter bow his proud head beneath +the priest's benedictory hand. Then the bishop withdrew, and now +Joseph's first enquiry was, "Where is my mother? Is she not here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," she cried, "here am I," and fell into her son's arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph clasped her tightly. "See, little mother," he said, "I should +have been sorry for thy sake not to come back again. Thou dear little +mother, thou'd never have known how to get on without me, and I too +should have been loth to die without giving thee one more kiss."</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, it was beautiful, the way he said it! Wally had quite a strange +feeling--a feeling as though she could envy the mother who rested so +contentedly in the loving embrace of the son, and clung so tenderly to +the powerful man. All eyes rested with delight on the pair, but an +unutterable sensation filled Wally's heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But tell us now, tell us how it all happened."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes, I'll tell you," he said laughing, and flung the bearskin on +to the ground, so that all might see it. They made a circle round him, +and the village landlord had a cask of his best ale brought out and +tapped on the green; for one must drink after church, and above all on +such an extra occasion as this, and the little inn-parlour could never +have held such an unusual concourse of people. The men and women +naturally pressed close round the speaker, and the newly-confirmed +children climbed on to benches, and up into trees, that they might see +over their heads. Wally was foremost of all in a fir-tree, where she +could look straight down upon Joseph; but the others wanted her place; +there was some noise and struggling because she would not give way, and +"Saint George" looked up at them. His sparkling eyes fell upon Wally's +face, and remained smilingly fixed on it for a moment. All Wally's +blood rushed to her head, and she could hear her heart beating in her +very ears with her intense fright. In all her life before she had never +been so frightened, and she had not an idea why! She heard only the +half of what Joseph was relating, there was such a singing in her ears; +all the while she was thinking, "Suppose he were to look up again?" And +she could not have told whether she wished it or dreaded it most. And +yet, when in the course of his story it did once happen again, she +turned away quickly and ashamed, as though she had been found out in +something wrong. Was it wrong to have looked at him so? It might be, +and yet she could not leave off, though she trembled so incessantly +that she was afraid he might notice it. But he noticed nothing; what +did he care for the child up there in the tree? He had looked up once +or twice as he might have looked at a squirrel--nothing further. She +said so to herself, and a strange sorrow stole over her. Never before +had she felt as she did to-day; she was only thankful that she had +drunk no wine on the road; she might have thought that it had got into +her head.</p> + +<p class="normal">In her confusion she began playing with her rosary. It was a beautiful +new one of red coral, with a chased cross of pure silver, that her +father had given her for her confirmation. All of a sudden as she +turned and twisted it, the string broke and, like drops of blood, the +red beads rolled down from the tree. "That is a bad sign," an inner +voice whispered to her, "old Luchard doesn't like it--that anything +should break when one is thinking of something!" Of something! Of what +then had she been thinking? She turned it over in her mind, but she +could not discover. Precisely she had been thinking of nothing in +particular. Why then should she be so troubled by the string breaking +just at that moment? She felt as though the sun had suddenly paled, and +a cold wind were blowing over her; but not a leaf was stirring, and the +icebound horizon glittered in the radiant sunlight. The shadow of a +cloud had passed--within her--or without her? How could she tell?</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph meanwhile had finished relating his adventure, and had shown +round the purse containing the forty florins paid by the Tyrolese +government as the reward for shooting a bear, and there was no end to +the handshakings and congratulations. Only Wally's father held sullenly +aloof. It angered him that any one should accomplish a great and heroic +deed; no one in the world had any right to be strong but himself and +his daughter. During thirty years he had been esteemed, without +dispute, the strongest man in the whole range of mountains, and he +could not bear now to find himself growing old, and obliged to make way +for a younger generation. When, however, someone said to Joseph that it +was no wonder he should be such a strong fellow--he had it from his +father who had been the best shot and the best wrestler in the whole +place--then the old man could contain himself no longer, but broke in +with a thundering "Oho! no need to bury a man before he's dead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Everyone fell back at the threatening voice. "It's Stromminger!" they +said, half-frightened.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, it is Stromminger, who's alive still, and who never knew till this +moment that Hagenbach had been the best wrestler in the place. With his +tongue, if you like, but with nothing else!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph turned round like a wounded wild cat, glaring at Stromminger +with flaming eyes. "Who says that my father was a boaster?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say it, the head-peasant of the Sonnenplatte, and I know what I'm +saying, for I've laid him flat a dozen times, like a sack."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is false," cried Joseph, "and no man shall blacken my father's +name."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph, be quiet," the people whispered about him, "it's the +head-peasant--thou mustn't make a quarrel with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Head-peasant here, head-peasant there! If God in Heaven were to come +down to blacken my father's name, I wouldn't put up with it. I know +very well, my father and Stromminger had many a wrestling-bout +together, because he was the only one who could stand up with +Stromminger. And he threw Stromminger just as often as Stromminger +threw him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not true!" shouted Stromminger, "thy father was a weak fool +compared to me. If any of you old fellows have a spark of honour, +you'll say so too--and thou, if thou doesn't believe it after that, +I'll knock it into thee!" At the word "fool" Joseph had sprung like a +madman, close up to Stromminger. "Take thy words back, or--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens above us!" shrieked the women. "Let be, Joseph," said his +mother soothingly, "he's an old man, thou mustn't lay hands on him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oho!" cried Stromminger, purple with rage, "you'd make me out an old +dotard, would you? Stromminger is none so old and weak yet but he can +fight it out with a half-fledged stripling. Only come on, I'll soon +show thee I've some marrow left in my bones. I'm not afraid of thee yet +awhile, not if thou'd shot ten bears."</p> + +<p class="normal">And like an enraged bull the strong old man threw himself on the +young hunter, who in spite of himself gave way under the sudden and +heavy spring. But he only staggered for a moment; his slender form +was so firmly knit, was so supple in yielding, so elastic in rising +again--like the lofty pines of his native soil, that grow with roots of +iron in the naked rock, buffeted by all the winds of heaven and bearing +up against their mountain-load of snow. As easily might Stromminger +have uprooted one of these trees, as have flung Joseph to the ground. +And in fact, after a short struggle, Joseph's arms closely clasped +Stromminger, tightening round and almost choking him, till a deep groan +came with his shortening breath, and he could not stir a hand. And now +the young giant began to shake the old man, bending first on one side, +then on the other, striving steadily, slowly but surely to force first +one foot and then the other from under him, and so loosen his foothold +by degrees. The bystanders hardly dared to breathe as they watched the +strange scene--almost as though they dared not look on at the felling +of so old a tree. Now--now Stromminger has lost his footing--now he +must fall--but no; Joseph held him up, bore him in his strong arms to +the nearest bench and set him down on it. Then he quietly took out his +handkerchief and dried the beads of sweat from Stromminger's brow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, Stromminger," he said, "I've got the better of thee, and I might +have thrown thee; but God forbid that I should bring an old man to +shame. And now we will be good friends again; we bear no malice, +Stromminger?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He held out his hand, smiling goodhumouredly, but Stromminger struck it +back with an angry scowl. "The devil pay thee out--thou scoundrel," he +cried. "And you, all you Söldeners who have amused yourselves with +seeing Stromminger made a laughing-stock for the children--you shall +learn by experience who Stromminger is. I'll have nothing more to do +with you, and grant no more time for payments--not if half Sölden were +to starve for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went up to the tree, where Wally still sat as in a nightmare, and +pulled her by the gown. "Come down," he said, "thou'll get no dinner +there. Not a Söldener shall ever see another kreuzer of mine." But +Wally, who had rather fallen than got down from the tree, stood as if +spell-bound with her eyes fixed almost beseechingly on Joseph. She +thought he must see how it pained her to go away; she felt as though he +must take her hand in his, and say, "Only stay with me: thou belong'st +to me, and I to thee, and to no other!" But he stood still in the midst +of a knot of men who were whispering together in dismay, for many in +the village owed money to Stromminger, whose wealth circulated in the +very veins of the whole neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well--wilt thou go on?" said Stromminger, giving the girl a push, and +she had to obey him whether for weal or woe; but her lips trembled, her +breast heaved painfully; she flung a glance of powerless anger at her +father; he drove her before him like a calf. So they went on for a few +steps; then they heard some one following them, and turning round, +there stood Joseph with a couple of peasants behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stromminger," he said, "don't be so headstrong. You can never go, you +and the girl, all that long way to the Sonnenplatte, without eating +anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood close to Wally; she felt his breath as he spoke, his eyes +rested on her, his hand lay compassionately on her shoulder; she knew +not how it happened--he was so good, so dear--and she felt as she did +when, taking the vulture's nest, the rushing sound of its wings +suddenly filled her ears, and sight and hearing went from her. Even so, +something overwhelming to her young heart, lay in his presence, in his +touch. She had not trembled when the mighty bird hovered above her, +darkening the sun with his broad pinions, she had known how to defend +herself calmly and bravely; but now she trembled from head to foot, and +stood bewildered and confused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get off!" cried Stromminger, and clenched his fist at Joseph, "I'll +hit thee in the face if thou doesn't let me be--I will, if it cost me +my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well--if you won't, you won't, and so let it be,--but you're a fool, +Stromminger," said Joseph calmly, and he turned round and went back +with the others.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now no one tried to detain them; they walked on unmolested, farther--at +each step farther away from Joseph. Wally looked round, and still for a +time she could see his head towering above the others, she could still +hear the confused sound of voices and of laughter on the green before +the church. She could not yet believe that she was really gone, that +she should not see Joseph again--perhaps never again. Now they turned a +corner of the rock and all was hidden, the village green with all the +people and Joseph--and every thing, every thing was gone. Then suddenly +there came upon her, as it were, a revelation of a great joy of which +she had had one glimpse, and which was lost to her for ever now. She +looked around as though imploring help in her soul's need, in this new, +this unknown anguish. And there was none to answer her and to say, "Be +patient, presently all will be well!" Dead and motionless were the +rocks and cliffs all around, dead and motionless the Ferner looked down +upon her. What did they care, they who had seen worlds come and worlds +pass away, for this poor little trembling woman's heart? Her father +walked on at her side, silent as though he were a moving rock. And he +it was that was guilty of all. He was a wicked, hard, cruel man; there +was not a creature in the world that took any interest in her. And +while she thought all this, struggling with herself, she walked on +mechanically farther and farther in advance of her father, up hill and +down hill, as though she wished to walk off her heart's pain. The +scorching sun glared on the blank wall of rock, she strove for breath, +her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth, all her veins throbbed; +suddenly her strength gave way, she threw herself on the ground and +broke into loud sobs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oho! what's all this about?" exclaimed Stromminger in the greatest +astonishment, for never since her earliest infancy had he seen his +daughter weep. "Art out of thy wits?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally made no reply; she gave herself up to the wild outbreak of her +soul's suffering.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak, will thee? open thy mouth or--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then from her throbbing, raging heart, like a mountain torrent from the +cleft rock, she poured forth the whole truth, overwhelming the old man +with the rush and ferment of her passion. She told him everything, for +truthful she had always been and unaccustomed to lying. She told him +that Joseph had pleased her, that she felt such a love for him as no +one in the world had ever felt before, that she had been rejoicing so +in the thought of talking to him, and that if Joseph had only heard how +strong she was and how she had already done all sorts of strong things, +he would certainly have danced with her and he would certainly have +fallen in love with her too; and now her father had deprived her of it +all, because he must needs fall upon Joseph like a madman; and now she +was a laughing-stock and a disgrace, so that Joseph to the last day of +his life would never look at her again. But that was always the way +with her father, he was always hard and mad with everyone, so that +everywhere he was called the wicked Stromminger--and now she must atone +for it all.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then suddenly Stromminger spoke. "I've had enough of this," he cried. +There was a whistling through the air, and such a blow from her +father's stick crashed down upon Wally that she thought her spine was +broken; she turned pale and bowed her head. It was as hail falling on +the scarce opened blossom of her soul. For a moment she was in such +pain that she could not stir; bitter tears forced themselves through +her closed eyes, like sap from a broken stem; otherwise she lay still +as death. Stromminger waited by her muttering curses, as a drover +stands by a heifer that, felled by a blow, can do no more.</p> + +<p class="normal">Around them all was still and lonely, no voice of bird, no rustling of +trees broke the silence. On the narrow rocky path where father and +daughter stood, no tree ever bore a leaf, no bird ever built its nest. +A thousand years ago the elements must have warred here in fearful +conflict, and far as the eye could reach nothing could be seen but the +giant wrecks of the wild tumult. But now the fires were burnt out that +had rent the ground, and the waters subsided that had swept away the +strong ones of the earth in their raging flood. There they lay hurled +one upon another, the motionless giants; the mighty powers that had +moved them lay slumbering now, and peace as of the grave lay over all +as over monuments of the dead, and pure and still as heavenward +aspirations the white glaciers rose high above them. Only man, +ever-restless man, carried on even here his never ending strife, and +with his suffering destroyed the sublime peace of nature.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last Wally opened her eyes and gathered her strength to go on; no +further lamentation passed her lips, she looked at her father +strangely, as though she had never seen him before; her tears were +dried up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou may guess now what'll come of it, if thou thinks any more of yon +scoundrel that made thy father a jest for children," said he, holding +her by the arm, "for thou may know this, that I'd sooner fling thee +down from the Sonnenplatte than let Joseph have thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is well," said Wally, with an expression that startled even +Stromminger; such unflinching defiance lay in the simple words, in the +tone in which they were spoken, in the glance of irreconcilable enmity +which she threw at her father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou's a wicked--wicked thing," muttered he between his teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not stolen anything," she answered in the same tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only wait awhile--I'll pay thee out," he snarled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," she answered, nodding her head, as if to say, "only try +it!" Then they said no more to each other the whole way back.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had reached home, and Wally had gone into her room to take +off her holiday finery, old Luckard who had lived with her mother and +her grandmother, and who had brought Wally up from her cradle, put her +head in at the door. "Wally, hast been weeping?" she whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why?" asked the girl with unwonted sharpness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There were tears on the cards--I laid out the pack of cards for thy +confirmation; thou fell between two knaves and I was frightened at it; +it was all as near as if it had happened to-day and close by."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like enough," said the girl indifferently, and laid away her mother's +beautiful gown in the big wooden chest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Does anything ail thee, child?" asked the old woman. "Thou looks so +ill and thou'st come home so early. Didn't thou dance?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dance!" The girl laughed, a hard shrill laugh, as though one should +strike a lute with a hammer till the strings ring back all jarred and +jangled out of tune. "What have I to do with dancing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Something's happened to thee, child--tell me--perhaps I can help +thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"None can help me," said Wally, and shut down the lid of the chest as +if she would bury in it all that was oppressing her. It was as though +she were closing down the coffin-lid over all her youthful hopes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go now," she said imperiously, as she had never spoken before, "I +shall rest awhile."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jesus, Maria!" shrieked Luckard, "there lies thy rosary all broken. +Where are the beads?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Lord! Lord! what ill luck! only the cross is left and the empty +string. To break thy rosary on thy confirmation day! and tears on the +cards besides! Our Father in Heaven! what will come of it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus lamenting, half pushed out by Wally, the old woman left the room, +and Wally bolted the door after her. She threw herself on the bed and +lay motionless, staring at the picture of the Holy Mother and at the +crucifix which hung on the wall opposite. Should she pour out her +sorrows to these? No! The Mother of God could bear her no good-will, +otherwise she would not have let just her confirmation day above +all others be so spoilt for her. Besides, she could not know what +love-sorrows were, for she had known suffering only through her Son, +and that was something quite different from what Wally felt. And the +Lord Jesus Christ!--He certainly did not trouble himself about +love-stories; no one might dare to approach Him with such matters as +these. All that He desired was that one should be always striving after +the kingdom of Heaven. Ah! And all her young, wildly-beating heart was +longing and yearning with every throb for the beloved, the best-beloved +one down here on earth; the kingdom of Heaven was so far away and so +strange, how could she strive after it in this moment when, for the +first time, all powerful nature was imperiously claiming in her its +right? With bitter defiance she gazed at the images of the Mother and +Son, whose pity was for quite other griefs than hers, who demanded of +her only what was impossible. She vouchsafed to them no further word, +she was angry with them as a child is angry with its parents when they +unjustly deny it some pleasure. Long she lay thus, her eyes fixed +reproachfully on the holy images; but soon she saw before her only the +dear and beautiful face of Joseph, and involuntarily she grasped her +shoulder with her hand where his hand had lain, as though to keep firm +hold of his momentary touch. And then she saw his mother again of whom +she had been so jealous, and she lay once more in Joseph's arms, and he +caressed her so fondly; and then Wally pushed the mother away and lay +herself instead on Joseph's heart; and he held her clasped there, and +she looked down into the depths of his black flaming eyes, and she +tried to imagine what he would say, but she could think of nothing but, +"Thou dear little one," as he had said, "Thou dear little mother." And +what could be sweeter or dearer than that? Ah! what could the kingdom +of Heaven, in which those Two up yonder wanted to have her, what could +it be in comparison with the blessedness that she felt in only thinking +of Joseph--and how much greater must the reality be!</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a tap at her window, and she started up as if from a dream. +It was the young vulture which she had taken two years before from the +nest, and which was as faithfully attached to her as a dog. She could +leave him quite free, he never hurt anyone, and flew after her with his +clipped wings as best he could. She opened the little window, he +slipped in and looked trustingly at her with his yellow eyes. She +scratched his neck gently and played with his strong wings, now +spreading them out, now folding them together again. A cool air blew in +through the open window. The sun had already sunk low behind the +mountains, the narrow casement framed the peaceful picture of the +mountain tops veiled in blue mist. In herself too all grew more +peaceful; the evening air revived her spirit. She took the bird on her +shoulder. "Come, Hans," she said, "we are doing nothing, as though +there were no work in the world." The faithful bird had brought her +wonderful comfort. She had taken it for her own from the steep cliff +where no one else would venture; she had fought its mother for life or +death, she had tamed it and it belonged wholly to her. "And he will +also one day be mine," said an inward voice, as she clasped the bird to +her bosom.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">CHAPTER II.</a></h2> + +<h3>Unbending.</h3> + +<p class="normal">This was the short story of love and sorrow, whose pain even now awoke +again in the young heart as she looked down into the valley, thinking +to see Joseph who so often passed along it, and never found the way up +to her. She wiped her forehead, for the sun was beginning to burn, and +she had already mowed the whole meadow-land from the house up to the +"Sonnenplatte;" so the point on which she stood was called, because +rising high above all around, it ever caught the earliest rays of the +morning sun. From it the village took its name.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, Wally," some one now called from behind her, "come to thy +father, he's something to say to thee," and old Luckard came towards +her from the house. Her father had sent for her? What could he want? +Never since their adventure in Sölden had he spoken with her excepting +of what concerned the day's work. Wavering between fear and reluctance +she rose and followed the old woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What does he want?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Great news," said Luckard, "look there!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked, and saw her father standing before the house, and with +him a young peasant of the place named Vincenz, with a big nosegay in +his button hole. He was a dark, robust fellow whom Wally had known from +her childhood as a reserved and stubborn man. He had never bestowed a +kindly word on anyone but Wally, to whom from her school-days upwards +he had shown a special goodwill. A few months previously both his +parents had died within a short time of each other; now he was +independent, and next to Stromminger the richest peasant in the country +side. The blood stood still in Wally's veins, for she already knew what +was coming.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vincenz wants to marry thee," said her father; "I've said 'yes,' and +next month we'll have the wedding." Having thus spoken he turned on his +heel and went into the house as if there were nothing more to be said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood silent for a moment as though thunderstruck; she must +collect herself, she must consider what was to be done. Vincenz +meanwhile confidently stepped up to her with the intention of putting +his arm round her waist. But she sprang back with a cry of terror, and +now she knew well enough what it was she had to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vincenz," she said, trembling with misery, "I beg of thee to go home. +I can never be thy wife--never. Thou wouldn't have my father force me +to it. I tell thee once for all I cannot love thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">A look brief as lightning flashed across Vincenz's face; he bit his +lips, and his black eyes were fixed with passionate eagerness on Wally. +"So thou doesn't love me? But I love thee, and I'll lay my life on it +that I'll have thee too. I've got thy father's consent and I'll never +give it back, and I've a notion thou'll come to change thy mind yet if +thy father wills it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vincenz," said Wally, "if thou'd been wise thou'd not have spoken like +that, for thou'd have known I'll never have thee now. What I will not +do, none can force me to do--that thou may know once for all. And now +go home, Vincenz; we've nothing more to say to each other," and she +turned short away from him and went into the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thou!" Vincenz called out after her in angry pain, clenching his +fist. Then he checked himself. "Well," he murmured between his teeth, +"I can wait--and I <i>will</i> wait."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally went straight to her father. He was sitting all bent together +over his accounts and turned round slowly as she entered. "What is it?" +he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">The sun shone through the low window and threw its full beams on Wally, +so that she stood as though wrapped in glory before her father. Even he +was amazed at the beauty of his child as she stood before him at that +moment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father," she began quietly, "I only wanted to tell you that I will not +marry Vincenz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed!" cried Stromminger, starting up. "Is that it? Thou won't marry +him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, father, I don't like him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed! and did I ask thee if thou liked him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I tell it you plainly, unasked."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I tell thee too unasked that in four weeks thou'll marry Vincenz +whether thou likes him or not. I've given him my word, and Stromminger +never takes his word back. Now get thee gone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, father," said the girl, "things can't be settled in that way. I'm +no head of cattle to let myself be sold or promised as the master +pleases. It seems to me I also have a word to say when it has to do +with my marriage."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, that thou hasn't, for a child belongs to her father as much as a +calf or a heifer, and must do what its father orders."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who says that, father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who says so? It's said in the Bible," and an ominous flush rose on +Stromminger's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It says in the Bible that we are to honour and love our parents, but +not that we are to marry a man when it goes against us merely because +our father orders it. See, father, if it could do you any good for me +to marry Vincenz, if it could save you from death or from misery--I'd +do it willingly, and even if I were to break my heart over it. But +you're a rich man that need ask nothing of anyone; it must be all one +to you whom I marry; and you give me to Vincenz out of pure spite, that +I may not marry Joseph, whom I love, and who would certainly have loved +me if he could have got to know me; and it's cruel of you, father, and +it says nowhere in the Bible that a child should put up with that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou--thou pert thing, I'll send thee to the priest; he'll teach thee +what the Bible says."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will be no good, father; and if you sent me to ten priests, and if +they all ten told me that I must obey you in this, I yet wouldn't do +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I tell thee thou <i>shall</i> do it so sure as my name is Stromminger. +Thou shall do it, or I'll drive thee out of house and home and +disinherit thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That you can do, father, I'm strong enough to earn my own bread. Yes, +father, give everything to Vincenz--only not me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Foolish nonsense," said Stromminger perplexed. "Shall people say of me +that Stromminger cannot even master his own child? Thou shall marry +Vincenz; if I have to thrash thee into church, thou shall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And even if you thrashed me into church I'd still say no, at the +altar. You may strike me dead, but you cannot thrash that 'Yes' out of +me; and even if you could, sooner would I fling myself down from the +cliff, than I'd go home with a man I've no love for."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now listen," cried Stromminger; his broad forehead was cleft as it +were, with a swelling blue vein that ran across it, his whole face was +suffused, his eyes bloodshot. "Now listen, thou'd better not drive me +mad. Thou's already had enough of my cudgel; now give in, or between us +things will come to a bad end!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Things came to a bad end between us a year ago, father. For when you +beat me so that time on my confirmation day, then I felt all was at an +end between us. And see, father, since then it's been all one to me +whether you are bad to me or good, whether you treat me well or strike +me dead--it's all one to me. I have no heart left for you. You're no +dearer to me than the Similaun-, or Vernagt-, or Murzoll-glacier."</p> + +<p class="normal">A stifled cry of rage broke from Stromminger. Half-stupified he had +listened to the girl's words, but now, incapable of speech, he sprang +upon her, seized her by the waist, swung her from the ground high over +his head, and shook her till his own breath failed; then flinging her +to the ground he set his heavy heel studded with nails upon her breast. +"Unsay what thou has said," he gasped, "or I'll crush thee like a +worm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do it," said the girl, her eyes fixed steadily on her father. She +breathed hard, for her father's foot weighed on her like lead, but she +did not stir; not so much as an eyelash trembled.</p> + +<p class="normal">Stromminger's power was broken. He had threatened what he could not +perform, for at the thought of crushing the fair and innocent breast of +his child his anger faded, he grew suddenly calm. He was conquered. +Almost staggering he drew back his foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, I'll not end my days in a prison," he said gloomily, and sank +exhausted into his chair.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally got up, she was pale as death, her eyes were tearless, +lustreless, like a stone. She waited passively for what might come +next. Stromminger sat for a minute in bitter reflection, then he spoke +in hoarse tones.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot kill thee, but since Similaun and Murzoll are dear to thee as +thy father, by Similaun and Murzoll thou may remain for the future, +thou may belong to them. Thou shall never more stretch thy feet under +my board. Thou shall go and mind the cattle up on the Hochjoch, till +thou's found out it's better to be in Vincenz's warm home, than in the +snow drift of the glacier. Tie up thy bundle, for I'll see no more of +thee. Go up early tomorrow, I'll let the Schnalser people know, and +send the cattle after thee next week by the boy. Take bread and cheese +enough to last till the beasts come; Klettenmaier will guide thee up +there. Now take thyself off. These are my last words and by <i>these</i> +I'll stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is well, father," said Wally softly; she bowed her head, and +quitted her father's room.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">CHAPTER III.</a></h2> + +<h3>Outcast.</h3> + +<p class="normal">"Up on the Hochjoch!" It was a fearful sentence. For in the +inhospitable regions of the Hochjoch there is none of the joyous life +of the lower pastures, where the sweet aromatic air resounds with +the tinkle of bells, with the calls of the herdsmen and mountain +girls--here are eternal winter, and the stillness of death. Sadly and +gently as a mother kisses the pale forehead of her dead child, so the +sun kisses these cold glaciers. Scanty meadows, the last clinging +vestiges of organic life penetrate, as though lost, the wintry desert, +till the last shoot perishes, the last drop of rising sap is frozen; it +is the slow extinction of nature. But the frugal peasant utilises even +these niggard remains; he sends his flocks up to graze on what they may +find there, and the straying sheep tempted to reach after a plant which +has wandered hither from a milder region, not unfrequently falls into +some crevice in the ice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here it was that the child of the proud chief peasant, whose +possessions extended for miles in every direction and reached up even +to the clouds, must spend her bloom in everlasting winter. While on the +lower earth May-breezes were blowing, the rising sap opening every bud, +the birds building their nests, and all things stirring in joyous +unison, she must take the herdsman's staff and quit the spring-meadows +for the desert of the glaciers above; and only when autumn winds should +be sighing and winter preparing to descend into the valley, might she +also return thither, as though she had been sold to winter, life and +limb.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one of the peasants of the neighbourhood would send his shepherds up +there, but they let out the meadows to the Schnalser people who lay +nearer to the ridge on the farther side, and they sent a few half-wild, +weather-beaten fellows, who clothed themselves in skins and lived miles +asunder in stone cabins like hermits; and now Stromminger, who hitherto +had always leased his pastures, condemned his own child to lead the +life of a Schnalser herdsman. But from Wally's lips came no complaint; +she prepared herself in silence for her mountain journey. Early in the +morning, long before sunrise, whilst her father, the men, and the maids +were still sleeping, Wally set out from her father's house for the +mountain. Only old Luckard, "who had known it all beforehand from the +cards" and who had passed the night with Wally helping her make up her +bundle, stuck a sprig of rue in her hat as a farewell-token, and went +part of the way with her. The old woman wept as if escorting the dead +to the grave. Klettenmaier came behind with the pack. He was a faithful +old servant, the only one that had grown grey in Stromminger's service, +because he was deaf and did not hear when his master stormed and swore. +This was the guide her father had selected for Wally. Luckard went with +her till the road began a steep ascent. Then she took leave of them and +turned back, for she had to be home in time to prepare the first meal.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally climbed the hill and looked down upon the road along which the +old woman went crying in her apron, and even her heart almost failed +her. Luckard had always been good to her; though she was old and +feeble, at least she had loved Wally. Presently the old woman turned +once more and pointed above her head. Wally's eyes followed the +direction of her finger, and behold! something floated towards the +mountain heights clumsily, uncertainly through the air, like a paper +kite when the wind fails, now flying on a little way, then falling, and +with difficulty rising again. The vulture with his clipped wings had +painfully fluttered the whole way after her; but now his strength +seemed to give way and he could only scramble along, flapping his +pinions.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hansl!--oh, my Hansl!--how could I forget thee!" cried Wally, +springing like a chamois from rock to rock the shortest way back to +fetch the faithful bird. Luckard stood still till Wally once more +reached the narrow path, then greeted her again as if after a long +separation. At last Hansl too was reached, and Wally took him in her +arms and pressed him to her heart like a child. Since last evening the +bird was so identified in all her thoughts with Joseph, that it seemed +almost as if it were a dumb medium between him and her; or as though +Joseph had changed into the vulture, and in holding Hansl she clasped +him in her arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">As an ardent faith creates its own visible symbols to bring near to +itself the unattainable and the remote and to seize the intangible, and +as to faith a wooden cross and a painted image become miraculous--so +ardent love creates its own symbols, to which it clings when the +beloved one is far off, unattainable. Even so Wally derived now a +wonderful consolation from her bird. "Come, Hansl," she said tenderly, +"thou shall go with me up to the Ferner; we two will never be parted +more."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, child," said old Luckard, "thou never can take the vulture up +there, he'd die of hunger. Thou's no meat for him up there, and +creatures like him eat nothing else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true," said Wally sadly, "but I can't part from the bird; I +must have something with me up there in the wilderness. And I can't +leave him alone at home either; who'd look after him and take care of +him when I'm away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! for that thou may be easy," cried Luckard, "I'll look after him +well enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, but he'll not follow thee," said Wally; "thou'rt not used to his +ways."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, let me have him," said Luckard. "All this long time I've taken +care of thee, surely I can take care of the bird. Give him me here, +I'll carry him home," and she pulled the vulture out of Wally's arms. +But it would not do; the noble bird set himself on the defensive, and +pecked so angrily at Luckard that she was frightened, and let go. It +was of no use for her to think of taking him home with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou sees," cried Wally joyfully, "he'll not leave me; I must keep +him, come what will. I was once called the Vulture-maiden and the +Vulture-maiden I must still remain. O, my Hansl, as long as we two are +together, we shall want for nothing. I'll tell thee what, Luckard, I'll +let his wings grow now, he'll not fly away from me, and then he can +find food for himself up yonder."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless thee, then, take him with thee. I'll send thee up some fresh +and salt meat by the boy, thou can give him that till he can fly +abroad." And so it was settled. Wally took the vulture under her arm +like a hen, and parted from Luckard who began to cry afresh. But Wally, +without further delay, went up the mountain again after the guide, who +had meanwhile gone on ahead.</p> + +<p class="normal">In two hours they reached Vent, the last village before entering the +realms of ice. Wally mounted the hill above Vent; here began the path +to the Hochjoch. Once more she paused, and leaning on her Alpenstock +looked down on the quiet, still half-dreaming village, and over the +lake beyond, and the last houses of the Oetz valley, to the farms +of Rofen which, lying almost at the foot of the ever-advancing, +ever-receding Hochvernagtferners, seemed defiantly to say to it, "Crush +us!"--even as Wally yesterday had defied her father. And like her +father the Hochvernagt each time withdrew its mighty foot, as though it +could not bear to destroy the home of its brave mountain children, "the +Klötze of Rofen."</p> + +<p class="normal">While she thus stood, looking down on the utmost dwellings of man +before mounting to the desert beyond the clouds, there rose from the +church-tower of Vent the sound of the bell for matins. Out of the door +of the little parsonage, where the buds of the mountain-pink tapped the +window in the morning breeze, came the priest and went with folded +hands to his pious duty in the church. Here and there the wooden houses +opened their sleepy eyes, and one figure after another coming out, +stretched itself and took its way slowly to the church. Carefully and +losing no tone by the way, the wind-winged angels bore the pious sound +up the slope, and it rang in Wally's ear like the voice of a child that +prays. And as a child arouses its mother by its sweet lisping, so the +peal from Vent seemed to have aroused the sun. He opened his mighty +eye, and the rays of his first glance shot over the mountains, an +immeasurable shaft of flame that crowned the eastern heights. The dim +grey of the twilight sky suddenly lighted up to a transparent blue, +each moment the beam grew broader in the heavens, and at length mounted +in full splendour over the cloud-veiled peaks, and turned his flaming +countenance lovingly to earth. The mountains threw off their misty +shrouds, and bathed their naked forms in streams of light. Deep down in +the ravines the clouds heaved and rolled, as though they had sunk down +thither from the pure heaven above. In the air was a rushing as of wild +hymns of joy, and the earth wept tears of blissful waking, like a bride +on her wedding morning; and like the tears on the eyelashes of the +bride, the dewdrops quivered joyfully on each blade and spray. Joy lay +everywhere,--above on the mountain tops where the dazzling rays were +mirrored in the farseeing eyes of the chamois,--below in the valley +where the lark soared, warbling, from amongst the springing corn.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally gazed intoxicated on the awakening world, with eyes that could +hardly take in the whole shining picture in its pure morning beauty. +The vulture on her shoulder lifted its wings as though longingly to +greet the sun. Below in Vent, meanwhile, all was awakening to new life. +From where Wally stood she could see everything distinctly in the clear +morning light. The lads kissed the maidens by the well. White smoke +curled upwards from the houses, vanishing without a trace in the serene +spring air, as a sorrowful thought loses itself in a happy soul. On +the green in front of the church the men assembled in white Sunday +shirt-sleeves, their silver-mounted pipes in their mouths. It was +Whit-Monday, when all make holiday and rejoice. Oh! holy Whitsuntide! +just such a day must it have been when the Spirit of the Lord fell on +the disciples and enlightened them with divine illumination, that they +might go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel of Love, preach +it to open hearts, touched by the happy spring--for, in the spring-tide +of the year appeared also the spring-tide of man--the religion of love. +For her only who stood up there on the mountain was there no +Whitsuntide, no revelation of love. In her no persuasive voice had +quickened the gospel into life. A meaningless letter it had remained to +her, a buried seed which needed the vivifying ray to make it spring up +in her heart. No dew of peace fell on her from the deep blue heavens; +the bird of prey on her shoulder was to her the only messenger of love.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last Wally broke away from her dreamy contemplation. She gave one +farewell glance to the merry, noisy villagers, then she turned to climb +the silent snow fields of the Hochjoch--in banishment.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">CHAPTER IV.</a></h2> + +<h3>Murzoll's Child.</h3> + +<p class="normal">For five hours did Wally continue to ascend; now over whole fields of +fragrant Alpine plants, now sinking ankle-deep in snow-fields, or +crossing broad moraines. Last night's sleeplessness lay heavily upon +her limbs, and she almost despaired of ever reaching the end of her +journey. Her hands and feet trembled, for to struggle for life during +five hours against so steep an ascent is hard work. Large drops stood +on Wally's brow, when suddenly as by a magic stroke she stood before a +dense wall of cloud. She had turned an angle of the rock which hid the +sun, and now thick mists enveloped her and an icy breath dried the +sweat from her forehead. Her foot slipped at every step, for the ground +was like glass; she stood upon ice, she had stepped upon the Murzoll +glacier, the highest ridge of the serrated Hochjoch. Nothing grew here +but starveling mountain-grass between clefts in the snow; around were +the blue gleaming ice-crevasses, the virgin snow-flats, untrodden this +year by foot of man or beast. Mid-winter! Wally shuddered at its icy +touch. This was the forecourt to Murzoll's ice-palace, of which so many +tales are told in the Oetz valley, where the "phantom maidens" dwell, +of whom old Luckard had related many a story to the little Wally in the +long winter evenings when the snowstorms howled round the house. The +air that blew on her now from those desolate walls of ice, those caves +and dungeons, came to her with a ghostly thrill like a shudder out of +her childhood, as though in very truth there dwelt the dark spirit of +the glacier, with whom Luckard had so often frightened her to bed when +she had been naughty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Silently she walked on. At last her deaf guide halted by a low cabin +built of stone, with a wide overhanging roof, a strong door of rough +wood, and little slits instead of windows. Within were a couple of +blackened stones for a hearth, and a bed of old rotten straw. This was +the hut of the Schnalser herdsman, who had formerly found shelter here, +and here Wally was now to dwell. She did not change countenance however +at the sight of the comfortless hut; it was neither more nor less than +a bad mountain cabin, there were many such, and she was used to hard +living. It was not such things as these that could quench her resolute +spirit; but she was exhausted to faintness; since yesterday she had +gone through more than even her unusual strength could bear. +Mechanically she helped the deaf man, whom Luckard had loaded with a +number of good things for Wally, to arrange a better bed, and to make +the desolate hut somewhat more habitable. Mechanically she eat with him +some of the food Luckard had sent. The man saw that she was pale, and +said compassionately, "There, now thou's eaten something, lie down a +while and sleep. Thou needs it. I'll fetch thee up some wood meanwhile +to last thee a few days, then I must go back, or I shall never be home +by daylight, and thy father strictly ordered me to get back to-day." He +shook up a good bed of straw that he had brought with him; she sank +down on it with half closed eyes and held out her hand gratefully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll not wake thee," he said. "In case thou'rt still asleep when I go, +I'll say goodbye to thee now. Take care of thyself and don't be +frightened. I'm sorry for thee all alone up here; but, why didn't thou +obey thy father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally heard the last words as in a dream. The deaf man left the cabin, +shaking his head compassionately; the girl was already sound asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">Her breast heaved painfully, for even in her sleep her past sorrow +weighed on her like a mountain. And she dreamed of her father; he was +dragging her into church by her hair, and she thought that if only she +had a knife so that she might cut off her hair she would be free. Then +suddenly Joseph stood by her, and with one stroke he cut through the +long plait, so that it remained in her father's hand; and while Joseph +was struggling with her father she ran out and climbed to the height of +the Sonnenplatte to throw herself into the torrent. But a terror came +over her, and she hesitated; then again she heard her father close +behind her, and urged by despair she made the leap. She fell and fell, +but could never reach the bottom, and suddenly she felt as if she were +met from below by a gust of wind that supported and carried her +upwards. So she floated, struggling always to keep the balance she +continually feared to lose, up to the very summit of Murzoll. But she +could gain no footing on the rock; a terrible whirlwind had seized her, +and she strove in vain to cling to the bare precipice, like a ship that +cannot reach the land. Black storm-clouds gathered together around her, +through which Murzoll's snowy summit rose in ghostly whiteness. Fiery +snakes shot through the black mass, the mountains quaked beneath a +crashing thunder-clap, and flung whirling backwards and forwards +between these mighty powers, a terror came over her that the tempest +might cast her head downwards into the abyss. She bowed and turned, +like a little ship on the swaying waves of the wind, striving only to +keep her head uppermost. But suddenly her feet were raised and she felt +that the weight of her head must carry her down, through the storm and +thunder and the black darkness of the clouds; she would have cried for +help, but could utter no sound--terror choked her voice. Then all at +once she felt herself supported, she was on firm ground, she lay in a +mountain cleft, as it seemed; but no, it was no cleft, they were giant +arms of stone that embraced her, and behold, out of the brightening +clouds a mighty face of stone bent over her: it was the hoary +countenance of Murzoll. His hair was of snow-covered fir trees, his +eyes were ice, his beard was of moss and his eyebrows of edelweiss; on +his brow was set as a diadem the crescent moon which shed its mild +radiance over the white face; and the icy eyes shone with a ghostly +light in its bluish rays. He gazed at the maiden with these cold eyes, +piercing but unfathomable, and beneath their glance the drops of agony +on her brow and the tears on her cheeks froze and fell down with a +faint ringing sound like crystal beads. He pressed his stony lips to +hers, and under the long kiss his mouth grew warm and dewy and +blossomed with Alpine roses, and when Wally looked up at him again +glacier streams flowed from the icy eyes down upon his mossy beard. The +black clouds had cleared away and the breath of spring stirred the +night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now Murzoll moved his lips, and his voice sounded like the dull roll of +a distant avalanche. "Thy father has banished thee," he said, "I will +receive thee as my child, for a heart of cold stone may more easily be +moved than the hardened heart of man. Thou pleasest me, thou art one of +mine; there is strength in thy nature as the rocks are strong. Wilt +thou be my child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will," said Wally, and clung to the stony heart of her new father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then stay with me and go no more among men; among them there is +strife, with me there is peace."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Joseph, whom I love," said Wally, "shall I never have him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him be," replied the mountain, "thou mayest not love him; he is a +chamois hunter, and to such as he my daughters have sworn destruction. +Come, I will take thee to them, that they may deaden thy heart, else +thou canst not live in our eternal peace." And he carried her through +wide halls and endless galleries of ice till they came to a vast hall +that was transparent as though of crystal; the rays of the sun shone +through and broke into millions of coloured sparks, and through the +walls heaven and earth gleamed in varied and mingled splendour. There +white maiden-forms, glistening like snow, with waving veils of mist, +were playing with a herd of chamois, and it was charming to see them +sporting with the swift-footed animals, catching them and chasing them +here and there. These were Murzoll's daughters, the "phantom maidens" +of the Oetz valley. They crowded inquisitively round Wally as Murzoll +set her down on the slippery glass of the floor. They were as beautiful +as angels, and had faces like milk and blood; but as Wally observed +them more closely, a slight shudder ran through her, for she saw that +they had all eyes of ice, like their father, and that the rosy hue of +their cheeks and lips was not that of blood, but the sap of the Alpine +rose, and they were as cold as frozen snow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you receive this maiden?" asked Murzoll. "I like her, she is +strong and firm as the rock, she shall be your sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is fair," said the maidens; "she has eyes like the chamois. But +she has warm blood, and she loves a hunter--we know!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lay your hands on her heart that she may be frozen with all her love, +and live in bliss with you," said Murzoll.</p> + +<p class="normal">The damsels hastened to her--it was like the breath of a snow +storm--and laid their cold white hands on her heart; already she felt +it shrink and throb more slowly. But she kept off the maidens with both +arms and cried, "No, no, leave me. I want none of your bliss, I want +only Joseph."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If thou goest back amongst men we will dash Joseph to pieces, and +throw thee and him into the abyss," threatened the phantom maidens; +"for no one may live among men who has seen us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Throw me into the abyss, but leave me my heart to love. All, anything +I will bear, but I will not part from my love," and with the strength +of despair Wally seized one of the damsels round the waist and wrestled +with her; and behold! the tender form was shattered in her arms, and +she held in her hand only dripping snow. The daylight was extinguished; +suddenly all was veiled in grey twilight. She stood on the bare rock; a +sharp wind drove needles of ice in her face, and instead of the +"phantom maidens" white mists whirled round her in a wild dance. High +above, Murzoll's pale countenance looked darkly down upon her through +the clouds, and his voice of thunder said,</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dost thou rebel against Men and Gods?--Heaven and earth will be thy +enemies. Woe is thee!" And all had vanished--Wally awoke. The chill +evening wind whistled through the window-slits on the girl. She rubbed +her eyes; her heart still trembled at the weird dream; she thought long +before she knew where she was, or could separate the images of her +dream from the reality; an inexplicable sense of horror remained in her +mind and mingled itself with all she saw. She rose from her bed and +involuntarily called loudly for the servant. She went out of the hut to +seek him; it was a clear and beautiful evening; the mists were +scattered, but the sun was low and the breeze blew keenly from the +heights. Wally hastened hither and thither in search of the deaf man; +she found only the pile of firewood that he had made for her. Then it +occurred to her that he had said he would go away while she was asleep. +It was so; he had not waited for her awakening. It was not right of him +to abandon her while she slept. To wake thus and find no one; it was +hard! All was so silent around her, so deserted and empty. It must be +six o'clock and milking time. The confiding cattle would look at the +stable door, where no mistress would come in with bread and salt for +them--she was sitting up here with her hands in her lap, and around her +far and wide stirred no living thing. Oh! the deathly stillness and +inaction--she knew not how she felt--alone, so terribly alone! She +climbed higher still, on to an overhanging point, that she might look +down upon the wide world. A vast unknown picture was spread before her +eyes in the purple of the setting sun. There lay before her to the very +verge of the horizon the great range of the Tyrol, in the distance +growing fainter and fainter, close at hand crushing and overpowering +her with their great silent sublimity; between them, like children in +their father's arms, slept the blooming valleys. A nameless longing +seized her for the beloved fields of home, that even now lay reposing +peacefully before her eyes in the evening shadows. The sun had set, and +on the horizon lay violet clouds shot with streaks of ruddy gold; +little by little, the pale full moon began to shine, contesting the +victory with the last flickering gleams of day. Down in the valleys it +was already night; here and there, scarcely visible in the distance, a +light glimmered from afar--a star of earth. Now they were going to +rest, her weary companions down yonder. With them all was well; a +friendly roof was above their heads; they rested securely in the bosom +of a sheltered home--perhaps, already half-asleep, they still listened +behind the coloured curtain of the little window to the beloved one's +song--only she was alone, thrust forth and banished, exposed +defenceless to every terror, her only shelter the inhospitable hut, +where the wind whistled through the empty window-slits. "Father, +father, how could thou have the heart to do it?" she cried aloud, but +near and far nothing answered but the rush of the night-wind. Higher +and higher rose the moon, the streaks of light in the west lost their +gold, and glimmered only a pale yellow in the darkness of the evening +sky. The outlines of the mountains seemed to shift and grow larger in +the twilight; threatening, overpowering, her nearest neighbour, the +mighty Similaun, looked down upon her. All the giant peaks around +seemed to stare at her frowningly, because she had dared to spy out +their nightly aspect. It was as though only since Wally's arrival, they +had all become so still and quiet--as a company that confers of private +affairs is suddenly dumb when a stranger enters. There she stood, the +helpless human form, so lonely in the midst of this silent, motionless +world of ice, so inaccessibly high above all living things, so strange +in the weird company of clouds and glaciers, in the terrible, +mysterious silence. "Now art thou all alone in the world!" cried an +inner voice, and an unspeakable anguish, the anguish of the forsaken +ones, swept over her. It seemed to her all at once as though she were +doomed to go on, for ever lost, through vast immeasurable space, and as +though seeking help she clung to the steep wall of rock, pressing her +wildly-beating heart against the cold stone.</p> + +<p class="normal">What passed within her in that hour, she herself did not know, but it +seemed as though the stone against which she pressed her young, warm, +trembling heart, had exercised some mysterious power over her, for that +hour left her hard and rough as if she had been in very truth Murzoll's +child.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">CHAPTER V.</a></h2> + +<h3>Old Luckard.</h3> + +<p class="normal">When about a week later the herdsman came up the mountain with the +flocks, Wally almost frightened him, she looked so wasted away; but +when he said to her, "Thy father bids me ask thee if thou'st had enough +of being up here, and if thou'll do thy duty?"--she set her teeth and +answered, "Tell my father, I'd sooner let myself be eaten piecemeal by +the vultures, than do anything to please them that drove me up here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was for the present the last message that passed between her and +her father.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Wally had her little flock around her, which consisted only of +sheep and goats, for larger animals could not find sufficient food on +these heights, then her old spirit revived and the mountain lost its +terrors for her. In the midst of her helpless charges she was no longer +alone, she had again some one to work for, something to care about. For +though the vulture had been a faithful companion, yet he could not do +away with the inactivity that had driven her almost to despair, and +allowed dark thoughts to gain the mastery over her.</p> + +<p class="normal">So little by little she became accustomed to the solitude, and it grew +dear and sweet to her. Life with its daily claims, small and great, +narrows and confines every great nature: up here Wally's untameable +spirit could expand without constraint; up here was freedom--no human +being to gainsay her, no alien will to oppose itself to hers--and +standing there, the only soul-gifted being far and wide, by degrees she +felt herself a queen on her solitary, lofty throne, a sovereign in the +unmeasurable, silent realm that lay beneath her eyes. And she looked +down at last from her heights with a mixture of pity and scorn on the +miserable race below, who, wrapped in earth-born clouds, spent their +lives in longing and grasping, in haggling and hoarding, and a secret +aversion took the place of her first home-sickness. There, far below, +were strife and anguish and crime. Murzoll had spoken truly in her +dream--up here among the pure elements of ice and snow, in the clear +atmosphere, free from all smoke, or pestilential taint of death--here +was peace, here was innocence; here among the mighty tranquil mountain +forms, which in the beginning had terrified her, the sentiment of the +sublime had flooded her soul and had raised it far above the common +measure of mankind. One only of all those low earthly inhabitants +remained to her dear and beautiful and great as before. It was Joseph +the bear-slayer, the Saint George of her dreams. But he, like herself, +dwelt more on the heights than in the valleys, he had climbed all the +sky-piercing peaks on which no other foot would venture, he brought +down the chamois from the steepest rocks, and for him nor height nor +depth had any terror; he was the strongest, the bravest of men, as she +was the strongest, the bravest of maidens. In all the Tyrol no maiden +was worthy of him but herself; in all the Tyrol no man was worthy of +her but he. They belonged to one another, they were the giants of the +mountains; with the puny race of the valleys they had nothing in +common.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, in her solitude, she lived for him only, and awaited the day when +this promise should be fulfilled to her. That day must come, and being +certain of this, she did not lose patience.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus the summer passed away, and winter fell upon the valleys, and soon +Wally must descend with its wild forerunners, the storm and the snow, +to her estranged home. She quailed at the thought. Rather would she +have crept up here into some deepest ice-cave with suspended existence +like the wild bear than go down again to the noise and smoke of the low +spinning-room, and be wedged, together with her morose father, her +detested suitor, and the malicious servants, within the narrow compass +of the house, imprisoned behind walls of snow a foot high, out of +which, often for weeks at a time, no escape was possible.</p> + +<p class="normal">The nearer the time came, the heavier her heart grew, the more +despondingly did she revolt against the thought of that imprisonment; +but time passed on, and no one came to fetch her; it seemed as though +down there she was entirely forgotten. Colder ever and more wintry grew +the weather, the days ever shorter, the nights ever longer; two sheep +perished in a snow-storm; soon the animals could find no more food, and +the time for fetching home the flocks was gone and past. "They mean to +leave us to die up here of hunger," said Wally to the vulture, as she +divided her last piece of cheese with him, and a secret horror swept +over her; the young healthy life rebelled within her against the +terrible thought. What should she do? Forsake the flock and find the +homeward track, leaving the innocent beasts to perish miserably? +Nay!--that Wally would not do--she would stand or fall like a brave +commander with his troops. Or should she set out together with the +flocks, all ignorant of the road as she was, and wander over the +snow-covered Ferner to see at last one animal after another sink amid +the ice and snow, or fall into the clefts of the rock? This also was +impossible; she could do nothing but wait.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, one misty autumn morning when she could not see her hand +before her face for the fog, when the little flock, trembling with +frost, were all huddled together in their fold, and Wally, stiff with +cold, sat over the fire on the hearth--then the boy appeared to conduct +her home. And though she had shrunk with horror from the thought of +slowly starving up here with her flock, yet now all her former dread of +the return home came upon her again, and she knew not which seemed the +greater evil--to sink here by the side of her harsh father Murzoll, or +to be obliged to go back to her real father.</p> + +<p class="normal">The herd-boy broke the silence: "Thy father bids me tell thee thou's +not to come into his sight unless thou'll do as he bids thee; but, if +thou'll not hear reason, then thou may stay with the cow-herd in the +stable--into the house thou shall not come; that he's sworn." "So much +the better," said Wally, drawing a deep breath, and the boy stared at +her in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now she could go down with a light heart; now she would be spared all +contact with those hated people, and could live for herself in barn and +stable; what her father had devised as a punishment, was to her an act +of kindness. Now she could indulge her thoughts undisturbed; and if she +was in need of encouragement there was old Luckard who was always so +good to her. Yes, in her solitude she had first learned to understand +what was the true worth of such a faithful heart, and that her father +could not take from her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She set to work almost cheerfully to prepare for her homeward journey; +for now that her dread of the hateful intercourse with her father was +removed, she could think with silent joy on the gladness of the old +woman at the return of her foster-child. There was still some one down +yonder who took pleasure in her, and that thought did her good.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, Hansl," she said when all was packed to the vulture, who, with +ruffled feathers, sat unwilling to move on the hearth, "now we are off +to see old Luckard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But Luckard's not at the farm any more," said the boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, where is she, then?" asked Wally startled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The master has turned her out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turned her out! old Luckard!" cried Wally. "Why, what's been the +matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She couldn't get on with Vincenz, and he's everything with the master +now," the boy explained in a tone of indifference, and, whistling, he +hoisted the bundle of Wally's things. Wally had turned quite pale. "And +where is she now?" she asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"With old Annemiedel in Winterstall."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long ago did it happen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, about three weeks ago. She cried ever so, and could hardly walk, +the fright went to her knees; Klettenmaier and the boy had to hold her +or she'd have tumbled down. All the village stood round and looked on +to see her go away."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally had listened motionless, her sunburnt face had turned quite pale, +and her breast heaved painfully. When the boy had ended, she seized her +staff from the wall, flung the vulture on to her shoulder, and stepped +out of the hut.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on first," she commanded in a hoarse voice. The little flock was +quickly assembled, the milking gear packed together, and the procession +set itself in motion. Wally spoke not a word; a fearful tension marked +her features, and with lips pressed together, a threatening line that +recalled her father's look between her thick brows, she led the flock +onwards with long strides, her firm step leaving deep tracks in the +snow. Faster and ever faster she walked, the farther down she got, till +the boy with the flock could scarcely keep up with her, and where the +way was steep she struck the iron point of her staff into the soil and +swung herself down with a mighty spring, so that only the vulture in +the air could follow her path over cliffs and crevasses. Often both +herdsman and flock vanished in the mist behind her; then she stood +still and waited a moment till they were in sight, and when the boy had +indicated the direction of the road, on she went again without rest or +pause, as if it were a matter of life and death.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the region of perpetual snow was passed, and at Wally's feet +lay Vent, as it had lain six months before when she had gone up the +mountain; only not now in the glow of the May sunshine, but forlorn, +autumnal, cold and dead. The boy announced that they must rest there +for a while. Wally refused, but the boy declared it would be as good as +killing both man and beast, not to rest for half an hour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As thou will," said Wally, "stay--. I am going on. If they ask where I +am when thou gets home, say only that I am gone to old Luckard." And +she strode on, the flapping wings of the faithful Hansl rustling over +her; he could fly now as he liked, for Wally no longer clipped his +wings.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now she had reached the spot where on her upward journey Luckard had +bid her farewell and turned homewards again. "Dear old Luckard!" Wally +fancied she could see her again quite plainly, crying in her apron as +she turned away, waving her one more farewell with her brown, bony +arms, her silver locks that always hung from below her cap fluttering +in the wind. She had grown grey in honour and fidelity in Stromminger's +house, and now shame had fallen on that white head! And Wally had +parted from her so lightly, and repressed her tears, and had torn +herself impatiently away when the old woman in her grief would not let +her go; and no foreboding had warned her of the fate to which she was +sending the unprotected old servant with that brief farewell, or that +Luckard for her sake would suffer hardship and disgrace. Wally ran and +ran as if she could overtake Luckard going down the road as she had +gone six months before; and in spite of the autumn frost, the sweat +stood on her brow, the sweat of a winged haste to pay her heavy debt of +gratitude; and hot tears gathered in her eyes as she seemed always to +see the old woman silently walking and walking on before her. She went +so slowly, poor old Luckard, and Wally so fast; and yet they remained +always as far apart, and Wally could not overtake her.</p> + +<p class="normal">For one instant must Wally pause for rest and breath. She wiped the +drops from her brow and the tears from her eyes; then she felt as if +driven inexorably onwards again. "Wait, Luckard, only wait, I'm coming +to thee," she murmured breathlessly to herself, as if for her own +comfort.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the church tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her, and from +thence a giddy path led high over the torrent to a solitary group of +houses on the farther side of the ravine. This was the little spot +called Winterstall, where Luckard was living. Wally passed behind the +houses of Heiligkreuz, and crossed the slight bridge beneath which the +wild waters of the Ache roared and foamed as though they would sprinkle +with their angry froth even the defiant girl who looked carelessly down +into the awful depths as though neither danger nor dizziness existed in +the world. The bridge was passed, still a steep bit of road remained, +and then at last it was reached, the goal for which she had striven +with a beating heart; she was in Winterstall, and there just to the +left of the path stood the hut of Luckard's cousin, old Annemiedel, +its tiny windows deep set beneath the overhanging thatch. Behind +them, no doubt, the old woman sat spinning, as was her custom in the +winter-season, and Wally drew a deep breath out of a lightened heart. +She had reached the cottage, and before entering she looked smiling +through the low window for Luckard. But there was no one in the room; +it looked empty and deserted with an unmade bed in one corner left +standing in a disorderly heap. Above it, a smoke-blackened wooden +Christ stretched his arms on a cross, on which were hung a piece of +crape and a dusty garland of rue. It was a dreary scene, and at the +sight of it all joy forsook Wally; she set down the vulture on a rail, +unlatched the door and stepped into the narrow passage. At one end an +open door led into the little kitchen, where a small fire of brushwood +smouldered on the hearth. Some one was there busily at work; it must +certainly be old Luckard, and with a beating heart Wally walked in. The +cousin stood on the hearth cutting up bread for her soup. No one else +was there.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, my God! Wally Stromminger!" cried the old woman, and let her knife +fall into the platter in her astonishment. "Oh, my God, what a pity, +what a pity!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where is Luckard?" said Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is dead! Oh, my God, if thou'd only come three days sooner--we +buried her yesterday." Wally leant silent and with closed eyes against +the door post; no sign betrayed what was passing in her soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a real pity!" continued the old woman loquaciously. "Luckard said +she felt as if she couldn't die without seeing thee once more, and thou +was always coming on the cards, and day and night she would listen to +hear if thou wasn't coming. And when she felt herself near death, +'After all, I must die,' she said, 'and I've never seen the child,' and +then she would have the cards once more, and she wanted to lay them out +for thee in the very death-struggle, but she couldn't do it, her hand +shook on the counterpane. 'I can see no more,' she said, and lay back, +and it was all over."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally clasped her hands over her face, but still no word passed her +lips.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come into the bedroom," said the old woman goodnaturedly. "I've hardly +borne to go in there since they carried Luckard out. I'm always so +alone, and I was so glad when my cousin came and said now she'd stay +with me. But I soon saw she couldn't live long after her disgrace. It +went to her stomach, she could hardly eat anything, and every night I +could hear her crying, and so she got always weaker and thinner--till +she died."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman had opened the door of the room into which Wally had +looked before, and they went in. A swarm of autumn flies buzzed up. In +the corner stood Luckard's old spinning wheel silent and still, and the +empty disordered bed confronted it sadly.</p> + +<p class="normal">From a panelled cupboard on which the black Virgin of Altenötting was +depicted, Annemiedel took a worn pack of German cards.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There, see; I laid the pack by for thee, I was sure thee would come. +It always stood so on the cards. They're true witches' cards these, and +a pack that has had the touch of a dead hand on it, that is doubly +good. I don't know what misfortune they're sending thee, but Luckard +always shook her head and read them with a fearful heart. She never +told me what she saw in them, but for sure it was no good."</p> + +<p class="normal">She gave Wally the cards; Wally took them in silence and put them in +her pocket. The cousin wondered that Luckard's death should not touch +her more nearly, that she should be so quiet and not even shed a tear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must go," the old woman said, "I've got my soup on the fire. Say, +thou'll dine with me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said Wally gloomily, "only go, cousin, and let me rest +awhile. I sprang almost straight down here from the Hochjoch."</p> + +<p class="normal">Annemiedel went away shaking her head. "If Luckard had only known what +a hard-hearted thing it is!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Scarcely was Wally alone when she bolted the door behind the old woman +and fell on her knees by the empty bed. She drew the cards from her +pocket, laid them before her, and folded her hands over them as over +some holy relic.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! Oh!" she cried aloud, in a sudden outburst of grief: "Thou'st had +to die, and I was not with thee; and in all my life long thou's always +been loving and good to me--and I--I did not pay it back. Luckard, dear +old Luckard, can thou not hear me? I am here now--and now it is too +late. They left me up there. There's no herdsman they'd have left so +long, and it was all malice, that I might just be frozen and then give +in! It had already cost me two of my flock--and now thee too, thou poor +good Luckard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly she sprang to her feet; her eyes red with crying flashed with +a feverish light, she clenched her brown fists. "Only wait down yonder, +you scoundrels--only wait till I come. I will teach you to drive +innocent and helpless folk out of house and home. As true as God is +above us, Luckard, thou shall hear even in thy grave how I will stand +up for thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her eyes fell on the crucifix over the dead woman's bed. "And Thou! +Thou let'st everything go as it will, and Thou helps no one that cannot +help himself," she murmured bitterly in her storm of grief to the +silent enduring image above, whose significance she never could +understand. She was terrible in her righteous anger. All that lay in +her of her father's inflexible nature had developed itself unfettered +up yonder in the wilds, and her great and noble heart that knew none +but the purest impulses drove without suspecting it ill-seething blood +through her veins.</p> + +<p class="normal">She gathered together her sacred relics, the cards, on which the dying +woman's clammy fingers had traced the last message of her love; then +she went out into the kitchen to Annemiedel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will now go on, cousin," she said calmly, "I only beg thee to tell +me how things fell out between Luckard and Stromminger--" she no longer +called him father. The old woman had just served the soup in a wooden +bowl and she insisted on Wally's sharing it with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou must know," she said, while Wally was eating, "Vincenz there, he +knows just how to come over thy father, and he's got the better of him +altogether. Ever since the summer, Stromminger's had a bad foot and +cannot walk. So Vincenz goes up to him every evening and passes the +time for him playing cards, and always lets him win--he thinks he'll +gain once for all when he wins thee. The old man can hardly live now +without Vincenz, and so little by little he's given him the oversight +of everything, because with his lame foot he can never get about +himself. So Vincenz thinks now the house and farm half belong to him +already, and bustles in and out just as he pleases. That was how the +quarrel began with Luckard, for Luckard, she would always see that +everything was right and fair, as she was used to do, and Vincenz took +everything out of her hands and she durst never say a word. Then when +he saw that Luckard was downright pining, he said to her that he'd let +her manage everything just as if she'd been mistress, and that he'd +take care to wink at anything she might like to do, if she'd only help +him to get thee--for he knew very well that she could do anything with +thee. And then Luckard grew angry; 'She'd never stolen in her life,' +she said, 'and wasn't going to begin now in her old age--she wanted +nothing but what she could earn honestly, and that as for the man who'd +look on at cheating and say nothing, she'd never recommend him to +Wally,' she said. And what does the villain do? goes straight to +Stromminger and accuses Luckard. He'd convinced himself now, he said, +that it was only Luckard that had set thee against him and thy father, +and it was all her doing, he said, that thou was so unruly, because she +was fain to hold everything under her own hand. That's how it all came +about. And it just broke her heart to think that such things were +believed of her, when not a word of it all was true. It grieved her +such injustice should be done. Is it not true, she never said to thee +that thou shouldn't obey thy father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never, never; on the contrary she was always humble and discreet, and +never talked about what she had nothing to do with," said Wally, and +again her burning eyes were wet. She turned away her face and rose to +go. "God keep thee, cousin," she said, "I'll soon come back again." She +took her staff and hat, called her bird, and set out hastily towards +home.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">CHAPTER VI.</a></h2> + +<h3>A Day at Home.</h3> + +<p class="normal">As Wally went back across the bridge, she turned giddy; she felt now +for the first time how the blood had mounted to her head. The milder +air down here that felt heavy and oppressive after the clear, icy +atmosphere of the Ferner, the bird that clung tightly to her shoulder +as her rapid movements made his hold insecure--all seemed painful, +almost unbearable. At last she came to the village where her home +stood, but to reach it she was obliged to go the whole length of the +street, to the very last house. All the villagers, who had just +finished their dinners, put their heads out of window and pointed at +her with their fingers. "See, there goes the Vulture-maiden. Hast +ventured down at last, then? And thou's brought the vulture back with +thee, thou and he were not frozen together, then? Thy father left thee +to shiver up there long enough!" "Let's see, now, how thou'rt looking? +As brown and lean as a Schnalser herdsman." "He! he! thou's grown tame +enough up yonder; yes, yes, that's the way to serve such as will not +obey their father!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A shower of spiteful comments such as these fell around Wally; she kept +her eyes bent on the ground, and the burning red of shame and +bitterness mounted to her brow. Insulted--scoffed at--thus the proud +daughter of the chief peasant returned to her home. And all--for what? +An implacable hatred rose up in her, sorer, bitterer than anger; for +anger may subside, but the deep hatred that grows in an embittered, +ill-treated heart strikes its roots through the whole being; it is the +silent, persistent outcome of helpless revenge.</p> + +<p class="normal">Silently Wally mounted the hill behind the hamlet whence Stromminger's +farm looked proudly down. No one noticed her arrival but the deaf +Klettenmaier, who was splitting wood for winter-use under the wooden +shed in the yard; all the others were in the field.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be praised," he said, and took off his cap to his master's child. +She set down her burden, the heavy vulture, on the ground, and gave her +hand to the old man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou's heard?" he said. "Old Luckard?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally nodded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay! ay!" he continued without interrupting his work. "If Vincenz once +takes a dislike to any one he never rests till he's driven them out. +He'd be glad enough to see me off the place, for he knows very well I +always held by Luckard, and he thinks that if no one was left at the +farm to help thee, thou dursn't be so wilful. And because there's +nothing else he can do to me, he leaves me always the hardest work; +I've a whole waggon load of wood to cut up every day, but I can't do it +for long. See, I'm nearly seventy-six years old, and this is the third +day. But that's just what he wants, to be able to tell Stromminger that +I'm no longer good for anything, or else for me to go away of myself +when I can hold out no more. But where could I go--an old man like me? +I <i>must</i> hold out."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally had listened with a gloomy countenance to the old man's speech. +Now she went quickly into the house to fetch bread and wine for him; +but the store-room was locked and so was the cellar. Wally went into +the kitchen. Her heart felt a pang--here had been Luckard's peculiar +domain, and she felt as if the old woman <i>must</i> come to meet her and +ask: "How is it with thee?--what does thou want?--what can I do to +serve thee?" But all that was over and gone. A strange and sturdy +servant girl sat on the hearth, peeling potatoes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are the keys?" asked Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What keys?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The keys of the store-room and the cellar!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl looked insolently at Wally. "Ho, ho! what next--and who may +thou be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That thou might guess well enough," said Wally proudly, "I am the +master's daughter."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha, ha," laughed the girl, "then thou may just take thyself out of the +kitchen. The master has forbidden that thou should come into the house. +Over there in the barn--that's thy place. Dost understand me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally grew pale as death. Thus, then--thus was she to be received in +her father's house. Wallburga, daughter of the Strommingers, must give +way to the lowest servant girl on the estate to which she was heir! Not +only was she to be forbidden her father's presence--it was intended to +break her spirit through degrading humiliations. She, Wally, the +Vulture-maiden, of whom her father had once proudly said that a girl +like her was worth ten boys!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me the keys!" she commanded in a firm voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ha! ha! that's better still. The master has ordered us to look on thee +as a stable girl--there's no question of keys there. I look after the +house, and I give out nothing but what the master allows."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The keys," cried Wally in an outburst of anger, "I command thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou's no call to command me--dost understand? I'm Stromminger's +servant, and none of thine. And I am master in the kitchen, dost +understand? It's Stromminger's orders. And if Stromminger holds his own +daughter lower than a servant--no doubt he knows the reason why!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stepped close up to the servant, her eyes flashed, her lips +quivered; the girl was frightened. But only for an instant did the +struggle last in Wally, then her pride conquered; with the miserable +serving maid she had nothing to do. She left the house. Her pulses beat +like hammers, her eyes swam, her bosom rose and fell in gasps; it was +too much--all that this day had brought her. She crossed the yard, took +the cleaver from the hand of the old man who was trembling with his +efforts, and led him to a bench that he might rest himself. He honestly +resisted, he dared not leave his task incomplete; but Wally made him +understand she would do his work for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God bless thee, thou hast a good heart," said the man, seating himself +wearily on the bench. Wally went into the shed and split the heavy logs +with mighty blows. So wrathfully did she swing the axe that at each +stroke she hit it through the wood deep into the block. The old man +watched with astonishment how the work went on better in her hands than +in a man's, and he took a pride in it--he had seen the child grow up +from her birth and loved her in his own way. But Wally saw afar the +hated form of Vincenz approaching, and involuntarily she discontinued +her work. Vincenz did not see her. He came up from behind Klettenmaier, +and suddenly stood close in front of the startled old man, whilst Wally +observed him from within the shed. He seized the man by the doublet and +pulled him up. "Hallo," he screamed in his ear, "dost call that +working? thou lazy dawdle, thou; as often as I come by thou's sitting +there doing nothing--now I've had enough of it--be off with thee," and +he gave him a push with his knee, so that the trembling old man was +flung to a distance on the stone pavement of the yard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help, master! help me up," cried the man imploringly, but Vincenz had +seized a cudgel and raised his arm. "Wait a bit--thou shall see how I +help up a lazy knave!" he said. At this moment such a blow fell on +Vincenz's head that he uttered a loud cry and staggered backwards. "God +in heaven, what is that?" he stammered and sank upon the bench.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is the Vulture-maiden," answered a voice trembling with rage, and +Wally, the hatchet in her hand, stood before him with white lips and +staring eyes, struggling for breath as if the wild pulses of her heart +were choking her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did thou feel that?" she panted out with breathless pauses. "Dost know +now how it feels to get a heavy blow? I'll teach thee to oppress my +faithful old servant. Thou'st already sent my Luckard underground, and +now thou'll do the same by this old man? Nay, before I'll suffer such a +deed, I'll set my whole inheritance in flames and smoke thee out of it +as I would a fox." Meanwhile she had helped up old Klettenmaier, and +led him out to the barn. "Go in, Klettenmaier," she said, "and recover +thyself, <i>I</i> order thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">Klettenmaier obeyed; he felt that at this moment she was master, but at +the door he freed himself from her support and said, shaking his head, +"Thou shouldn't have done it, Wally--go and look after Vincenz; I fear +thou'st given him a heavy blow."</p> + +<p class="normal">She left the old man and went out again. Vincenz lay quite still. Wally +looked at him with half-averted eyes; he had lost consciousness and lay +stretched out on the bench, and blood dripped from his head on to the +ground. With quick decision, Wally went into the kitchen and called to +the girl; "Come out here; bring some vinegar and a cloth and help me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, thou's more orders to give already," said the girl, laughing out +loud, without stirring from the spot where she sat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not for me," said Wally with a dark and evil glance, as she took +the vinegar flask from the shelf. "Vincenz is lying out there--I've +half killed him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heaven and earth!" shrieked the maid; and instead of hastening to help +Vincenz, she ran screaming about the house and yard. "Help, help," she +cried; "Wally has struck Vincenz dead!" And from every side the alarm +cry was echoed back till it reached even to the village, and every one +ran to the spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally had meanwhile called Klettenmaier to her assistance, and was +washing the face of the senseless man with vinegar and water. She could +not understand how it was the wound was so deep, for she had struck +with the back of the hatchet, and not with the sharp edge; but the blow +had been dealt with a force of which she herself was unconscious. Her +long restrained rage had concentrated itself in that one stroke, which +came crashing down as if she were still splitting the logs of wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's happened here?" roared a voice in Wally's ear, and her blood +stood still--her father had dragged himself out on his crutches. +"What's happened here?" repeated twenty or thirty voices, and the yard +was filled with people.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally was silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">A buzzing murmur arose all round her, every one pressed forward, +touching and examining the lifeless man. "Is he dead?" "Will he die?" +"How came it about?" "Did Wally do it?" was asked from one to another.</p> + +<p class="normal">She stood there as though she neither heard nor saw, and laid a bandage +on the wounded Vincenz. "Can thou not speak?" thundered her father. +"What hast thou done, Wally?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can see!" was the short reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She owns to it," they all shrieked together. "Gracious Heaven, what +insolence!" "Thou gallows-bird, thou!" cried Stromminger. "Is it so +thou comes down again to thy home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the word "home," Wally gave a short bitter laugh and fixed a +piercing glance on her father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Laugh away," cried Stromminger; "I thought thou'd learn better up +there, and now, scarce a quarter of an hour in the house, thou's +already at mischief again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He moves," cried one of the women, "he's still alive."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Carry him into the house and lay him on my bed," ordered Stromminger, +making way by the kitchen door against which he was leaning. Two men +raised Vincenz and carried him indoors.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If only the doctor were here," lamented the women, following the sick +man into the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If only we had old Luckard, we should need no doctor," said some of +them, "she knew what was good for everything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let her be fetched," cried Stromminger, "tell her to come this +instant."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again Wally laughed. "Yes, truly, old Luckard," she said. "Thou'd be +glad to have her back again now, Stromminger! Thou must seek her now in +the churchyard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The people looked at each other in consternation. "Is she dead?" asked +Stromminger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, three days ago she died--died heartbroken because of what you did +to her. See, Stromminger, it serves thee right, and if yon man dies +because there is no one by who knows how to cure him, it serves him +right too; so much as that he has well deserved of Luckard."</p> + +<p class="normal">Now there arose a tumult--this was too bad. "After such a deed to talk +like this, and say it served him right, instead of repenting it. Why, +no one's life was safe! and Stromminger to stand by and let her talk +like that and never say a word! there was a fine father for you!" So +they talked together, while Wally, with folded arms, stood defiantly in +the kitchen door looking at Stromminger, who, in spite of himself, was +hard hit by her reproaches. Now however his wrath returned with double +force, and raising himself on his crutch he cried to the crowd; "I'll +show you what manner of father I am! seize her and bind her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," cried the people confusedly, "bind her, such a one should +be under lock and bolt--before the justice she shall go, the +murderess."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally uttered a dull cry at the word "murderess," and drew back into +the kitchen. "Hold," cried Stromminger. "Before a justice my daughter +shall never go; do you think I'll live to see the chief peasant's child +taken off to prison? Do you know Stromminger no better than that? Do +<i>I</i> need a court of justice to punish a wilful girl? Stromminger +himself is man enough for that, and on my own ground and my own +territory I am my own judge and justice. I'll soon show you who +Stromminger is, though I am lame. Into the cellar she shall go, and +there remain under lock and key, till her proud spirit is broken and +she comes after me on her knees before you all. You have heard, all of +you, and if I don't keep my word you may set me down a rascal."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Merciful God, hast Thou forgotten judgment?" cried Wally. "No, father +no! for God's sake don't lock me up! Turn me out, send me up the +Murzoll to perish in the snow--I'll die of hunger--I'll die of +cold--but under the open heavens. If you lock me up, harm will come of +it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha, thou'd like to be off again wandering round like a vagabond--that +would please thee better? Not so; I've been too soft with thee. Thou'll +stop under lock and key till thou asks pardon on thy knees of me and of +Vincenz."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father, all that is no good with me; sooner than do that, I'd rot away +in the cellar--that you might know of yourself. Let me go, father, or, +I tell you once more, harm will come of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There--enough said. Well, you--what are you all standing there for? +Are you dreaming? Am I to run after her with my lame foot? Seize her, +but hold her fast--she has Stromminger blood in her that'll try your +teeth--hold on there!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The peasants, stung by this mockery, crowded into the kitchen. "We'll +soon get hold of her!" they said scoffingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">But with one spring Wally was at the hearth, and had snatched burning +brands from the fire. "The first that touches me, I'll singe him, hair +and skin!" she cried, and stood like the archangel with the flaming +sword.</p> + +<p class="normal">All fell back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shame upon you!" cried Stromminger. "All of you together might be a +match for a girl! Strike the brands from her hand with a stick," he +ordered, in a paroxysm of rage, for it was now a point of honour with +him to master his daughter before the eyes of the whole village. Some +of them ran and fetched sticks; it was like hunting a wild animal, and +a wild animal Wally had in truth become. Her eyes bloodshot, the sweat +of agony on her brow, her white teeth clenched, she defended herself +against this pack of hounds, fought like the wild beast of the forest, +without reflection, without calculation, for her freedom--her life's +element. Now they struck with the sticks at the brands in her grasp, +her only weapon, and she flung them into the midst of the crowd, so +that they fell back on one another, shrieking; then, snatching another +brand from the hearth, and yet another, she threw them like fiery shot +at the heads of her assailants. The uproar grew louder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Water here," cried Stromminger, "fetch water,--put out the fire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This would be an end to everything; the fire once out, Wally was lost. +One moment more, and the water would be brought--despair seized the +girl. All at once there came a thought--a terrible, desperate thought; +but there was no time for consideration; the thought was a deed before +she could reflect upon it, and waving a burning log in her hand, she +rushed swift as an arrow through her pursuers out into the courtyard, +and hurled the brand with a mighty fling on to the hay-loft, right into +the middle of the hay and straw.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a scream of terror and amazement. "Now put the fire out," +cried Wally, and flew across the courtyard through the gate, away and +away, whilst all in the farm hurried shouting and storming to +extinguish the flames that were already blazing upwards through the +roof.</p> + +<p class="normal">With the rising pillar of smoke, as if born of the roaring flame, a +dark object rose screeching from the roof, circled two or three times +high overhead in the air, and then took flight in the direction in +which Wally had fled.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally heard the rushing sound behind her; she thought it was her +pursuers, and ran blindly on. It was already night, but there was no +darkness, clear light quivered all around her, so that she might still +be seen from afar. She mounted a steep point of rock whence she could +look down the road, and now she saw that her pursuer was coming through +the air. She had attained her end, no one thought any more of following +her. To save the farm buildings was a more pressing need, and all hands +were engaged in the work. The vulture overtook her as she stood there, +and bounded against her with such force as nearly to throw her down +from the rock. She pressed the bird to her bosom and sank exhausted on +the ground. With dazed eyes she looked up at the glare of the fire that +shone afar, and lighted up the dark mountain tops around. With a +glowing and angry aspect her deed looked down on her--threatening, +wrathful, overpowering. From every church tower in the canton round +sounded the dismal peal of warning, and the bells rang out quite +distinctly, "Incendiary, incendiary." But the terrible song lulled her +senses to sleep--unconsciousness dropped a kindly veil over her hunted +spirit.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">CHAPTER VII.</a></h2> + +<h3>"Hard Wood."</h3> + +<p class="normal">Deep night surrounded Wally when she once more opened her eyes. The red +glow was extinguished, the bells were silent; far below her in the +ravine the Ache thundered its monotone, and over her head high in the +heavens, stood a star. She gazed at it as she lay motionless with +upturned face on the ground, and it seemed to beam down upon her with a +look of forgiveness. A wonderful sense of consolation breathed through +the night. The wind caressingly cooled her burning brow, she sat up and +began to collect her thoughts. It could not be late, the moon was not +yet up, and the fire must have been very quickly extinguished. It must +have been--for how could the conflagration spread when every one was +there, and ready that moment to lend a helping hand? She knew not how +it was, she searched herself to the very bottom of her soul, and she +could not feel herself guilty. She had done it only from necessity, to +keep off her pursuers whilst she gave them something else to do. She +knew quite well that she would now be called an "incendiary," but was +she one indeed? She raised her eyes to the stars over her head; it was +as if now, for the first time, she held communion with the great God, +and what He said to her was--forgiveness. The pure night-sky looked +peacefully down on her, that open sky, for the love of which she had +done the deed. Only under this high, vaulted dome of stars could she +find space to breathe; to lie imprisoned in the gloomy cellar without +light, without air, for weeks, for months--till, to escape, she went to +the home of her hated suitor, and made herself a mockery and disgrace +by open repentance on her knees before her father! It was worse than +death--it was an impossibility!</p> + +<p class="normal">The girl who in utter loneliness had for six long months been the guest +of the inhospitable wilderness of the Ferner, who had watched through +many nights with the storm, the hail, the rain for her wild associates; +whose brow the fire of heaven had kissed before it quivered to earth; +round whom the thunder had warred in all its terror, whilst its power +was as yet unspent by the winds; the girl who had almost daily staked +her life springing over some bottomless abyss to save a straying +goat--this girl could no longer bend herself to the ideas and the +tyranny of small minds, could not submit to bit and bridle like +an animal, must defend herself for life--unto death. Men had no +longer any right over her; she had renounced them and mated herself +with the elements. What wonder that she had called one of her wild +companions--Fire--to her aid when warring against man?</p> + +<p class="normal">She could not understand it all, she had never learnt to reflect about +her own consciousness; she knew not the "wherefore!" But she felt that +God would not call her to account, that He from His supreme throne +measured with a quite other standard than that of man; even to her, up +on her mountain heights, everything had appeared so small that down in +the valley she had thought so large--how much more to Him up there in +Heaven? God alone understood her; down below they might think her a +criminal--God acquitted her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised herself and shook the burden from her soul, and felt herself +as heretofore, vigorous and confident, strong and free.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Hansl, what shall we do next?" asked she of the vulture, to whom +in her solitude she had accustomed herself to talk aloud. Hansl was at +that moment watching some reptile of the night, then snatched at it, +and killed it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou'rt in the right," said Wally, "we must seek our bread. For thee, +it is well, thou can find it anywhere--but I?" Suddenly the bird became +uneasy, flew up and watched something in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then it occurred to Wally that as soon as the fire was out she would be +searched for, and that she must get farther away as quickly as might +be. But whither? Her first thought was Sölden. But the blood mounted to +her face--might not Joseph think that she was running after him? And +should he see her in disgrace and dishonour, poor, a runaway from +home--pointed at and decried as an "incendiary."</p> + +<p class="normal">No, he at least should never see her thus, rather would she run to the +very ends of the earth. And without any further consideration she took +the vulture on her shoulder--the only good or chattel that troubled +her--and set out in the direction whence she had come in the morning, +to Heiligkreuz.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had walked for two hours, her feet were sore, she was weary to +death, when the tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her in the +darkness, and, like a gleam from a lighthouse, the rising moon shone +through the open belfry and showed the way to the aimless wanderer.</p> + +<p class="normal">Stumbling with fatigue, she dragged herself through the sleeping +village up to the church. Now and then a dog barked, as with quiet +steps she passed along. Whoever observed her now would take her for a +thief; she trembled as though she really were one; to what had the +proud Wally Stromminger come!</p> + +<p class="normal">Behind the church was the parsonage; near the door was a wooden bench, +and from wooden boxes in the little windows bushes of withered +mountain-pinks hung down. Here she would remain till daylight; the +priest would at least protect her from ill-usage. She lay down on the +bench, the vulture perched on the railing at her head, and in a few +minutes nature asserted its rights and she was asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"May the Lord defend us! what foundling has He sent me here!" sounded +in Wally's ears, and she opened her eyes. It was broad daylight, and +there stood by her none other than the reverend curé himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Praised be Christ the Lord," stammered Wally in bewilderment, and put +her feet down from the bench.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For ever and ever. Amen. My child, how did you come here? who are you, +and what strange companion is that you have with you? it is almost +enough to frighten one!" said the priest with a friendly smile.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your reverence," said Wally simply, "I've something heavy on my +conscience, and I would be glad to confess to you. My name is +Wallburga, and I belong to Stromminger, the chief-peasant of the +Sonnenplatte. I've run away from home; you see--Vincenz Gellner wanted +to marry me, and I struck his head open with a blow, and then I set +fire to my father's barn--"</p> + +<p class="normal">The priest clasped his hands together. "God help us, what tales are +these! So young, and so wicked already!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your reverence, I am not really wicked, truly I am not--I wouldn't +hurt a fly--but they made me do it!" said Wally, and she looked up at +the priest with her large honest eyes, so that he was obliged to +believe her whether he would or not.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it--but leave that monster +outside;" he meant the vulture. Wally flung the bird upwards into the +air, so that it flew on to the roof; then she followed the priest into +the little house, and he made her come into his sitting-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">There all was still and peaceful. In the alcove stood a rough wooden +bedstead with two flaming hearts painted over it, which to the curé +signified the hearts of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary; over the bed +was a holy-water cup in porcelain, and a shelf full of books of +devotion; in the room there were more shelves with other books and an +old writing desk, a brown bench behind a large heavy table, some wooden +seats, a praying-stool beneath a great crucifix with a garland of +edelweiss, and a few gaily coloured lithographs of the Pope and of +various saints. From the ceiling hung a bird-cage with a crossbeak. An +antique commode with lions'-heads holding rings in their mouths as +handles to the heavy drawers, represented the luxury of the dwelling, +and on this commode were all sorts of beautiful things. A little shrine +with a carved saint, a glass box with a wax image of the infant Christ +in a red silk cradle, a glass spinning wheel, and a bunch of tarnished +artificial flowers, such as are made in convents, in a yellow vase +under a glass shade; a small box with many coloured shells, a tiny +model of a mine in a bottle, and, as a centre-piece, a little manger +made in moss and sparkling fragments of spar, with delicately carved +figures of men and beasts. A few pretty cups and mugs were not wanting +amid these holy surroundings, and two small crystal salt cellars to the +right and left of the nativity set off on either hand the central +piece.</p> + +<p class="normal">And all was as clean as if no such thing as dirt existed in the +world. This commode with the various objects upon it constituted the +child-like altar which the lonely priest, six thousand feet above the +sea and above modern culture, had raised to the God of beauty. Here he +had stood many a time when the snow was whirling outside and the storm +rocked the little wooden house, and gazed musingly at the tiny, +neatly-carved world within, shaking his head with a smile and saying, +"What will not men do next?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Much the same, thought Wally in passing by, as her glance fell on the +marvellous trifles. Rich as her father was, such things as these had +never found their way into his house; what indeed could the clumsy +peasant have done with them? In her whole life she had never seen such +things--she to whom, in comparison with her scythe and hay-fork, a +spinning-wheel seemed the height of elegance. She felt as if in this +little room she dare not move for fear of injuring something, as if +here she must be particularly well-behaved. She wished to leave +her iron-shod shoes at the door, so as not to spoil the smooth, +white-scoured boards; but the priest would not allow it, so she trod as +softly as she could and seated herself modestly at the farthest end of +the bench which the curé offered her. The priest let his clear friendly +eyes rest observingly upon her, and saw that she could not remove her +astonished gaze from the ornaments on the commode. The old man was a +student of humanity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You would like first to look at my pretty little things? Do so, my +child; besides, you are not just yet collected enough for the serious +matters we must speak of."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he led Wally to the mysterious commode, and explained everything to +her, and told her where each thing had come from.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally did not venture to speak, and looked and listened full of +reverence. When they had come to the manger, the last and the best, +"See," said the priest, "here at the back is Jerusalem, and there are +the three Wise Kings who travelled to see the Holy Child--see, there is +the star that is guiding them--and there lies the child in the manger, +and does not dream yet that he is born to suffer for the sins of the +whole world. For as yet He cannot think, and has brought no remembrance +with him of His Heavenly home; for the Son of God became in all things +a real child of man, like any other--else men might have said that +there was no miracle in being as good and patient as Jesus Christ was, +if He was the Son of God and had the power of God, and that it was no +use to strive to follow such an example, if one was only an ordinary +man. They say it often enough as it is, and go on in their sins."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at the pretty naked infant with his gold paper glory lying +there so patiently, and when she thought of the stern dark crucified +God as a poor helpless baby born to suffering, it touched her +compassion, and she was sorry that she had been "so rude" to the poor +crucified Being yesterday when standing by Luckard's bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But why did He let it all happen to Him?" she said involuntarily more +to herself than to the priest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because He wanted to show mankind that they should not repay evil for +evil, and should not revenge themselves; for God has said, 'Vengeance +is mine.'" Wally grew red, and cast down her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now come, my child," said the wise man, "and make your confession."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will soon be done, your reverence," said Wally. And honest as was +her nature, she related to him, in low and timid tones indeed but +without any attempts at palliation, how all had happened, and soon the +whole circumstances were made clear to the confessor. A mighty picture +of life lay unrolled before him, sketched in rude and rough outlines, +and he pitied the noble young blood that had grown wild between rugged +rocks and rugged men.</p> + +<p class="normal">Long after Wally had ended he sat silent, looking meditatively before +him. His gaze fixed itself on an old, much-read volume on a book-stand +by the wall; a stranger whom he had received hospitably had given it to +him; on the back stood printed in gold letters--Das Niebelungen-Lied.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your reverence," said Wally, who took the thoughtfulness on his +features for an expression of reproof; "it was too much, all coming +together. I was still full of anger about poor old Luckard, and then he +must needs strike the old man also. I couldn't look on and see the old +man beaten, that I could not, and if it were all to come over again, I +should do just the same. An incendiary I am not--not even though they +call me one. When a house is set fire to in broad daylight when +everyone is about, nothing much can be burnt, that is certain. I didn't +know how else to help myself, and I thought that if they had to put it +out, they couldn't come after me. And if that is a sin, then I don't +know what is to be done in this world where men are so wicked and do +one all the harm they can."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We must do as Christ did--suffer and endure!" said the priest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, your reverence," said Wally, "when Jesus Christ let men do as +they would with Him, He knew <i>why</i> He did it--He wanted to teach people +something. But I don't know why I should do it, for no one would learn +anything of me in all the Oetz valley. And if I had let myself be +locked up in the cellar ever so patiently, it would all have been for +nothing, for nobody would have taken example by me, and it would very +likely have cost me my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment the priest paused to reflect; then he fixed his kindly +observant eyes on Wally and shook his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wilful child, you. Even now you would like to begin some fresh +dispute with me. They have wickedly roused and irritated you, till you +imagine enmity and contradiction everywhere. Look round, recollect +yourself and see where you are--you are with a servant of God, and God +says 'I am Love.' And this shall be no empty word to you, I will show +you that it is true. I will tell you that when all men hate and condemn +you, still the good God loves you and forgives you. Such as you are, +hard men, stern mountains, and wild storms have made you; and that the +good God knows very well, for He can look into your heart and see that +it is good and upright, however much you have been in fault. And He +knows that no garden-flower can bloom in the desert, and that a rude +axe never carved a fine image. But now look farther. If our Lord and +Master finds a piece of rude carving in particularly good wood, so that +it seems to Him worth the trouble of making something better out of it, +then He Himself takes the knife and carves the bungling work of man, +that under His hand it may grow into beauty. Now listen, for I say take +heed not to let your heart grow harder, for when the Lord has cut once +or twice at the wood, if He finds it too hard He grudges the trouble, +and throws the work away. Take heed then, my child, that your heart be +soft and yielding under the shaping finger of God. If its hard pressure +seems to you unbearable, yield, and think you feel the hand of God that +is working on you. And if pain cuts sharply into your soul, think it is +the knife of God cutting away its ruggedness. Do you understand me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally nodded somewhat doubtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said the old man, "I will make it still clearer to you. Which +would you rather be, a rough stick with which men may perhaps fight and +kill each other, and which when it is rotten is broken up and burnt, or +a finely carved holy image like that one yonder that is set in a frame +and devoutly honoured?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This time Wally understood and nodded quickly. "Why, of course--rather +a holy image like that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, see now. Rude hands have made a rough block out of you, but +God's hand can carve you into a holy image if you will do just as He +bids you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at the speaker with wide, astonished eyes; she felt so +strangely--pleased and yet ready to weep. After a long silence, she +said timidly, "I don't know how it is. Sir, but with you everything is +quite different to what it is anywhere else. No one ever spoke so to me +before. The priest at Sölden always scolded and talked about the Devil +and our sins; and I never knew what he would have, for at that time I +had done nothing wrong. But you speak so that one can understand you--I +mean that if I might stay with you--that would be the best for me; I'd +work night and day and earn my bit of bread."</p> + +<p class="normal">The curé considered a long time; then he shook his head mournfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That cannot be, my poor child. Even if I myself wished it, it would +not do. Though I might grant it to you in God's name, before men I dare +not. For God sees the motive, men see only the deed. The priest in the +confessional is one thing--the priest in common life is another. In the +confessional he is the medium of Grace, in the world he is the medium +of Law. He must incite men, by word and example, to honour and keep the +law. Think what people would say if the priest took a notorious +incendiary into his house. Would they understand why I did so? +Never--they would only conclude that I had taken the sinner under my +protection, and thereupon sin the more. And if afterwards we lived to +see a really wicked incendiarism, I should have to reproach myself +bitterly that I had given encouragement to it by my indulgence to you. +Can you not understand this, and take it without murmuring as the +unavoidable result of your deeds?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Wally gloomily; and her eyes reddened with repressed tears. +Then she rose quickly and said shortly, "I thank your reverence very +much then, and wish you good morning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hey, hey," cried the priest, "so high-flown again already? Don't you +think it will be shorter to go through the wall than through the door? +In your place, I would sooner go straight through the wall!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood still ashamed, and looked down at the floor. The old +gentleman looked at her with a comical expression of wonder, "How much +will it not cost you to subdue that hasty blood? Is that the way you +mean to run off? Did I say I would leave you to your fate because I +cannot keep you with me in my house? First of all, you must have +breakfast with me, for man must eat, and God knows how long it is since +you eat last. Then we will talk farther." He went to a sliding panel +that opened into the kitchen, and called to the old maidservant to get +breakfast for three; then sitting down at his simple desk, he wrote +down for Wally the names of a few peasants whom he knew to be worthy +people.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, here is a whole list of honest men and women in the Oetz and +Gurgler valleys," said he to Wally. "Try to find a place with one of +them; over the mountain nothing will be yet known of your fault, and by +the time people hear of it you can have shown yourself to be an honest +girl, so that they will be willing to shut their eyes to it. You must +not appeal to me, but you are as tall and as strong as a man, and they +will gladly take you; you can work with a will and make yourself +useful, if you choose. But you must learn to obey--must give in to +custom and order, else you will do no good. I do not ask you to go back +to your father, and let yourself be locked up in the cellar; that would +be undue punishment, and do you more harm than good. Nor do I ask you +to marry Vincenz out of obedience to your father and make yourself +miserable for life. But I do ask of you that you should curb your wild +spirit in the service of worthy people, in reasonable and regular +activity, and so become again a useful member of human society. Will +you promise me this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will try," said Wally, in her unwavering honesty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all I ask of you in the first instance, for I know well that +you cannot with a good conscience promise more. But try to do it with +an honest will, and remember always that God throws away wood that is +too hard. I will go to-day to your father and speak to his conscience, +that he may forgive you and be reconciled to you, or at least not +pursue you any farther. Give me news soon of where you are, that I may +let you know how things stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianne brought the breakfast, and the pastor said the morning +prayers. Wally, too, devoutly folded her hands, and from her deepest +soul prayed God that he would help her to become good and useful; she +was in such holy earnest--she would so gladly have been good and +useful, if only she had known how.</p> + +<p class="normal">When prayers were over, all three sat down, she, and the pastor, and +Marianne to breakfast. But scarcely had they begun when a shout was +heard outside. "A vulture! See, up on the roof there, a vulture! shoot +him down, bring guns!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens! my Hansl," cried Wally springing up, and would have run out +at the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop," cried the priest, "what are you doing? Why risk yourself +needlessly? You cannot go out now, when at any moment your father's +people may come to take you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll not leave my Hansl in the lurch, come what may," cried Wally, and +with one spring she stood outside the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">The curé followed her, shaking his head. "The vulture is tame," she +cried to the people. "He belongs to me; leave him alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"One can't leave a creature like that to fly about as it will," said +the people, grumbling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Has he taken a sheep or a child?" asked Wally defiantly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, then, leave me and my bird unmolested!" said the girl; and she +stood there with an air so proud and threatening that the people looked +at her with astonishment. "Wally, Wally," gently warned the priest, +"think of the hard wood."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do think, your reverence!" she said, and beckoned with her hand to +the vulture. "Hansl, come back." The bird shot down from the roof, so +that the people all shrank back frightened. She took him on her +shoulder, and stepped up to the priest. "God keep your reverence," she +said gently, "and thank you for all your kindness."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you not come in and finish breakfast?" said the old man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I'll not leave the bird alone again, and besides I must go +on--what have I to stay for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"May God and all the Saints preserve thee, then!" said the pastor +troubled, while Marianne was furtively thrusting some food into the +pocket of her pleated gown.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment her foot lingered on the threshold that had grown dear to +her, then she silently stepped forward between the people, who made way +for her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who is she?" they asked each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a witch!" she heard them whisper behind her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is a stranger," said the priest, "who came to make her confession +to me."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">CHAPTER VIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>The Klotz Family of Rofen.</h3> + +<p class="normal">Day after day Wally wandered round the canton seeking a place, but no +one would take her with her vulture, and from him she would not part. +Even if she had abandoned him, he would have flown back to her again, +and as to killing the faithful bird, such a thought could not enter her +mind, let what might befal her. Now, in very truth, she was the +Vulture-maiden, for her destiny was inseparably linked to that of the +bird, and he had as much influence over it as a human being. Luckard's +old cousin, to whom she once paid a passing visit, would have taken her +in gladly, but she would have been too near home, and wholly in her +father's power. She must go farther--as far as her feet would carry +her. Every day the season grew more severe; it began to snow, and the +nights, which Wally was often forced to spend in an open barn, were +keenly cold. The clothes she wore grew old and shabby, she began to +look like a beggar and a vagabond, and she was every day more summarily +dismissed from the doors where she ventured to knock with her +companion. She looked so strange that no good housewife now would let +her work in the house for even a few hours, and eat at her table +afterwards. They gave her a piece of bread at the door for "God's +pity's sake;" and Wally, the haughty Wally, daughter of the +Strommingers, sat down on the threshold and eat it. For she would +not die! Life--tormented, baited, poor and naked--life was still +fair to her, so long as she could hope that sooner or later Joseph +might come to love her; for the sake of that hope she would bear +everything--hunger, cold, weariness. But her frame, hitherto so +powerful, began to fail under the constant consuming anxiety and +tension, her eyes were dim, her feet refused to serve her, and as soon +as she lay down quietly her thoughts whirled in her brain, and she fell +into a feverish dose. With overwhelming dread she met the feeling that +she might be going to fall ill. It was too much! If she were to lose +consciousness in some barn or shed, she might be taken back to her +father, she would find herself once more in his power. She had wandered +up into the Gurgler valley, and as she had there found nothing to do, +she had taken the weary road again over to the Oetz valley; she had +been as far as Vent, which lying in the domain of her father Murzoll, +seemed to her almost like a home. But there things had gone worse than +ever with her; the ruder the place, the ruder the inhabitants, and when +Wally arrived there, she found that the news of her deed had hastened +to precede her, and that wherever she showed herself she was met with +horror and aversion. She did not appeal to the curé of Heiligkreuz; he +had desired her not, and she perceived that he had been right to do so; +but for that reason she sought no more priests; not one of them would +dare to take any interest in her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The last door in Vent had just been closed upon her. Before her lay +nothing but the cloud-reaching wall of the Platteykogel, the Wildspitz, +and the Hochvernagtferner, which closed in the valley, and over which +no pathway led. Here on all sides the world was shut in like a +<i>cul-de-sac</i>, and she was at the end of it; she stood still and looked +up and around at the steep and towering walls. It was a grey morning; +thick snow had fallen during the night and lay all over the valley, +which looked like a prodigious trough of snow; every trace of a path +was obliterated. She sat down and thought, "If I go to sleep, and am +frozen, it is an easy death." But it was not yet cold enough for that; +the snow melted under her, and she was soon shivering from the wet. +Then she started up and dragged herself up the slope that leads up +behind Vent to the Hochjoch; from thence she could look over all the +surrounding country, and here she became aware of a sort of furrow in +the snow that led behind the village along by the Thalleitspitz into +the very heart of the Ferner. It might be a footpath--but whither did +it lead? She went up higher to get a wider view, and a bandage seemed +to fall from her eyes--that was the path that led from Vent to +Rofen--Rofen, the highest inhabited spot in the whole Tyrol, the last +in the Oetz valley where men, like eagles, can still dwell, and of them +only two families, the Klotz family and the Gestreins; Rofen that lies +silent and hidden at the foot of the terrible Vernagt-glacier, on the +shore of the lake of ice where no straying foot wanders from year's end +to year's end, which a venerable tradition wraps in a mysterious veil. +This was the place that Wally must strive to reach, this was the last +refuge where she might perhaps find help, or at least could die in +peace and unseen, like the wild animal of the desert. Thither would she +go--to the Klötze of Rofen; they were the most renowned guides in all +the Tyrol, they were at home on the mountains as the mountain-spirits +themselves; they would understand how Wally would sooner burn down a +house, would sooner die, than let herself be deprived of the breath of +freedom; and they could protect her against all the world, for the +farms of Rofen had right of sanctuary. Duke Frederick had granted it in +token of gratitude, because he once in sore distress had found refuge +there from his enemies. Joseph the Second had indeed withdrawn it at +the end of the last century, but the peasant clings to old usages, and +the villagers of the Oetz valley willingly continued to hold it in +honour. No one who sought and found asylum at Rofen could be touched; +for the Rofeners--the Klötze and the Gestreins--harboured no one who +did not deserve it, and were held in as great respect as their +forefathers. An assault on their home-right would have been simply a +sacrilege.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally lifted her arms to Heaven in passionate thankfulness to God who +had shown her this path. Her head swimming, her feet stumbling, she +strove for the last goal that her strength might yet avail to reach; +first, downwards to the path that led from Vent, then again steeply +upwards. For an endless hour she mounted the encumbered path; there +they lay before her as if sleeping in the snow, the peaceful, honoured +farms of Rofen, which she had so often seen from Murzoll looking like +eagles' nests clinging to the cliff. Her heart beat so that she could +hear it, her knees almost failed her; if she were to be turned away, +even here! A fresh storm of snow whirled silently around her, and +wrapped the whole scene in a white, shifting veil. It flitted and +glanced before her eyes, and the white veil waved coldly about her +head, but it melted on her fevered brow and flowed in drops down her +face and hair, and she trembled again with the chill. At last she stood +before the door of Nicodemus Klotz, and took hold of the iron knocker; +but as she put out her hand, a strange light flashed before her eyes, +she fell heavily against the door, then sank down in a heap on the +ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">On and on the white flakes drifted up the narrow valley and wrapped it +in a shrouding veil, and heaped themselves before the well-closed door +of Nicodemus Klotz over the stiffened body that lay there, till it was +a peaceful white hillock.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicodemus Klotz sat on his warm bench by the stove, smoked his pipe, +and looked comfortably out of window at the snow. So the peaceful +half-hours passed by, whilst his brother Leander, a fine-looking +hunter, read the weekly news out of a shabby paper. "It is coming down +finely," said Nicodemus, blowing out a cloud of smoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Leander, looking up at the snowflakes floating and swarming +before the little window. Suddenly in the midst of the white whirl a +dark wing struck on the panes, something fluttered and croaked, then +flew up to the roof.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There is something there," said Leander standing up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What matter?" growled the elder brother, "whatever it may have been, +thou can't go out in this storm."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" said Leander taking his rifle from the wall; the wing-stroke +of the passing bird had roused his hunter's instincts; he must see what +it was. He went to the door and opened it cautiously, so as not to +disturb the bird by any noise. A mass of snow fell inwards, and he +perceived the heap that had piled itself up on the threshold. He could +not get out; he must fetch a spade to clear away the wall, and +impatiently putting aside his gun, he began to shovel.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens! what is this?" he cried out suddenly, "Nicodemus, +come--quick--here is some one buried under the snow--help me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">His brother hastened forward; in a moment the heap was dug into, and a +beautiful rounded arm appeared, and then from beneath the light +covering, they drew forth a lifeless body.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good God! a maiden--and what a maiden!" whispered Leander as the +beautiful head and the finely-moulded form revealed themselves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can she have wandered up here?" said Nicodemus, shaking his head +as he lifted, not without effort, the heavy body out of the snow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is she dead?" asked Leander touching her, while his eyes rested with +mingled alarm and pleasure on the pale, sunburnt face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She must instantly be rubbed," ordered Nicodemus, "inside, in the +bedroom there."</p> + +<p class="normal">They carried the weighty burthen into the house and laid it on +Nicodemus' bed. "She must have lain a good half-hour out there; it must +be about that time since I heard a heavy blow against the door, but I +thought it was a lump of snow fallen from the roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Leander fetched a tub full of snow, and officiously tried to help in +pulling off the girl's garments. "Let be," said the older and more +discreet man, "that will not do--a youngster like thee; the girl'd be +ashamed if she knew it. Do thou go out and see if thou can bring down +one of the Gestreins, Kathrine or Marianne. Go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Leander could not take his eyes from the lifeless form. "Such a +beautiful maid!" he muttered compassionately as he went out.</p> + +<p class="normal">With gentle care the experienced man now undressed the girl, and rubbed +her hard with the snow till warmth revived in her skin, and the blood +began to circulate again. Then he dried her well, covered her up +carefully, and poured a few drops of a strong cordial extracted from +herbs down her throat. At last she recovered consciousness, turned and +stretched herself, and looked once round the room; but her eyes were +glazed and vacant, and muttering a few unintelligible words, she closed +them again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She is ill," said Nicodemus to Leander, who at this moment reappeared, +whilst a sturdy peasant woman who stopped at the door to shake off the +snow followed him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marianne," said Nicodemus--she was his married sister, "thou must help +us here. Two men like Leander and me can't look after the girl. There +is Leander making eyes at her already."</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw a dissatisfied glance at the young man, who was again standing +by the head of the bed and seemed to devour with his eyes the face of +the sick girl; but he turned away hastily and blushed at being found +out.</p> + +<p class="normal">Marianne went up to the bed, and her first question was: "Who can she +be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God only knows! Some vagabond," said Nicodemus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What should make thee say that?" growled Leander, "one can see plainly +enough she's no vagabond."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, because she's a handsome girl and pleases thee," said Marianne; +"there's many a fair face covers a blackened soul--good looks prove +nothing; a decent girl doesn't wander round the country at this time of +year, all alone in the snow till she falls in a heap. Likely enough +she's in some scrape, and God knows what sort she may be to harbour in +the house."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it's all one now," said Nicodemus good-naturedly, "we can't turn +a sick girl out in the cold and snow, be she what she may."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you will," said the woman, "I'll come over here and welcome, to +take care of her for you; but I won't take her into my house, and that +you may know once for all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one asked thee; we will keep her ourselves," said Leander +irritated, and as Wally again muttered some words to herself, he leaned +tenderly over her and asked, "What is it? What dost thou want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The elder brother and sister exchanged glances. "As for thee," said +Nicodemus, "I have something to say to thee. Thou's willing enough and +ready to open house and home before we know who this woman is. There +stands the door;--now walk out and come in here no more unless thou'd +like to see me turn out the girl, ill as she is. Dost understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, one mayn't even look at a girl now," grumbled Leander, "I see no +reason why thee should come in before me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou'st nought to do but to go out; I'll allow none of this so long as +I am master of the house and eldest brother to thee." So saying +Nicodemus took him by the arm and pushed him out, and remained himself +alone with his sister by the sick girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally did not recover consciousness, she lay in a fever; her throat +was swelled, her limbs stiff and aching. The brother and sister +soon saw that the stranger must have suffered terribly from cold and +over-fatigue, and they tended her to the best of their powers. Leander +meanwhile wandered idly and restlessly through the house, and as often +as one of them came out of the sick room he was in the way to enquire +how things were going on. He was full of grief and vexation; he also +would so willingly have tended the beautiful girl. Towards evening it +ceased snowing, and he took his rifle and went out. But he had scarcely +been away a minute when he came back again and called Nicodemus from +the sick room. "Look here," he said, much excited, "there is a vulture +on the roof, a splendid golden vulture, and he looks at me quite +quietly and confidingly, as though he belonged there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" said Nicodemus, "that is singular."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only come and see," said Leander, and drew his brother out, in front +of the house. "There--there he sits and never moves. A state prize, and +I can't shoot him! The devil take it all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why can't thou shoot him?" asked Nicodemus.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How can I fire now, with the sick girl lying indoors?" said Leander, +stamping his foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Drive him away," advised Nicodemus, "and then thou can follow him and +shoot him further off where she cannot hear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tsch, tsch," said Leander, throwing up balls of snow to scare off the +bird. The vulture ruffled his feathers, screamed, and at last rose. But +he did not fly away, he floated for a minute high in the air, and then +quietly let himself down on to the roof again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is strange, he won't go away; it's just as if he were tame."</p> + +<p class="normal">Once, twice more they tried to drive it off--always with the same +result.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's bewitched," said Leander, making the sign of the cross; but it +did not seem to trouble the bird--so it was certain the devil could +have nothing to do with it!</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems to me that he's been shot already, and cannot fly," said +Nicodemus, "any way let him be in peace till he comes down of himself, +if thou doesn't wish to frighten the girl with the crack of the rifle."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's half down already; I believe I might take him with my hand," said +Leander. He fetched a ladder, laid it against the wall and cautiously +ascended. The bird quietly let him approach; he drew his handkerchief +from his pocket, and would have thrown it over the vulture's head, but +the bird struck and pecked at him so violently, that he was obliged to +beat a hasty retreat.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicodemus laughed. "There, he's shown thee how to catch a vulture with +the hand. I could have told thee as much as that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never saw such a bird in my life," said Leander grumbling, and +shaking his head, "Wait a bit," he added, threatening his foe above, +"only wait till I find thee somewhere else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou can hunt him to-morrow if he's not perished in the night. If he +can fly, he'll go farther away, and hardly come so far as this again."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was getting dark now, and Marianne came out to say she must go home +and cook her husband's supper. The brothers went in, and Nicodemus also +went to prepare supper, by fetching bread and cheese from the store +room. While he was gone, Leander softly opened the door that led from +the living room into the bedroom and peeped through the crack at Wally. +She lay still now, and slept soundly. It was so long since she had lain +in any bed, that it could be seen even in her sleep how comfortable she +found it; she lay reclining so softly, so easily amongst the pillows. +"God help thee, thou poor soul, God help thee!" whispered Leander to +her through the opening, then hastily closed the door again, for he +heard Nicodemus coming. He was sitting quite innocently on the bench by +the stove when his brother came in with the food.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To-night," said Nicodemus, "we shall do well enough; as Benedict is +not here, I can sleep upstairs in his bed, but to-morrow night, when +he's back again, we three must divide the two beds between us."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, I need no bed," said Leander hastily. "For the sake of her in +there, I'd as soon sleep on the bench here, or in the hay-loft; it is +all one to me. If any of us is to be put out for her, it shall be me, +and no one else."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, if it pleases thee, thou can have it so. But in the hay-loft, +not on the bench; that is too near the sick-room--dost understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, I understand well enough," muttered Leander, and bit into his +cheese as if it were a sour apple.</p> + +<p class="normal">The bedroom of the two younger brothers was exactly opposite that of +Nicodemus, who took the bed of the absent Benedict. Two or three times +in the night he got up, and went to listen at Wally's door; she talked +and wandered a good deal, and once Nicodemus could clearly understand +that she was speaking of a vulture. "Ah," thought he, "she too will +have seen the vulture when she came up, and the fright comes back to +her in her dreams."</p> + +<p class="normal">Early in the morning, before breakfast even, the restless Leander was +up and out; he did not come home till nearly mid-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, how is she getting on?" he asked as he came in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just the same; she doesn't come to herself at all, and she's always in +dread of people who, she thinks, want to take her away."</p> + +<p class="normal">Leander scratched his head behind his ear. "Then I can't shoot yet. +Only think now--there's the vulture outside still sitting on the roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, when I went out this morning, I couldn't see him anywhere; then I +thought, he's flown away, and I went after him for nearly three hours. +Then when I get home, there he is, sitting quietly on the roof again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Nicodemus, "that's a thing that might make one really +uneasy, if one happened to be superstitious."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, indeed. One might almost think of the phantom maidens of Murzoll, +and that they meant to play me a rogue's trick."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be praised!" said a rough deep voice, and Benedict the second +brother, who had been away on a journey, now walked in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, God be praised thou'rt back again," cried his brothers together. +"What's the news? What's thou been doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, nothing much; they've only sent me from Herod to Pilate again down +in the Court-house, and crammed me with half-promises. I only know that +all Oetzthal, man and beast of all three genders, may break neck and +limb over the road here before we get the path." The speaker threw off +his knapsack discontentedly and seated himself on the bench by the +stove. "Is there anything to eat?" he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Directly," said Nicodemus, who did the cooking himself, and he fetched +in the soup.</p> + +<p class="normal">He also brought a bowl of milk, and took it in to the sick girl; +Leander's eye followed him enviously. Benedict was hungry and fell to +on the soup without observing what his brother had done: Nicodemus soon +returned, and silently, like all peasants, who seem to fear when +performing the solemn act of eating that they will get out of time if +they speak, the three spooned up the soup in a measured rhythmical +movement, so that neither of them should get more nor less than his +share.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had eaten, the weary Benedict lighted his pipe and stretched +himself comfortably on the bench.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the news in the world? Tell us all about it," said Leander, who +knew his brother's habit of silence. Benedict had stuck his pipe aslant +in his mouth and yawned. "I know of nought," he said. After a time, +however, he went on: "Rich Stromminger of Sonnenplatte, his daughter, +the Vulture-maiden, you know--she set her father's place on fire, and +is running now about the country begging."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, when did that happen?" asked the brothers astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She must be a real bad girl that," continued Benedict. "Her father had +sent her up to the Hochjoch before this, because she wouldn't do his +bidding, and when she comes down, the first thing is that she half +kills Gellner, and sets her father's house on fire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jesu Maria!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"After that she naturally ran away, and is now wandering about the +neighbourhood. Yesterday she was in Vent, and trying to get a place, +but who would have such a girl in the house? To add to it all, she +drags the big vulture about with her that she took from the nest, and +expects folk to take that in too. Naturally every one refuses."</p> + +<p class="normal">Nicodemus looked at Leander, and Leander grew crimson.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well!--" said Nicodemus, "now I know who's lying in there!--The +vulture that won't leave the roof--and all night she was raving about a +vulture--that's not so bad--we've the Vulture-maiden in the house!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict sprang up. "What!" he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't cry out so loud," said Leander, "dost want the poor sick girl to +hear it all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Nicodemus related how Leander had found her half dead in the snow, +and how they could not do otherwise than keep her in the house, at +least till she was able to walk. But Benedict was a rough man, and +thought the illness was only a pretence--that his brothers had been too +soft and should have sent her away. He would soon have got the better +of her. "For incendiaries he had no sanctuary," he cried, and his +piercing eyes glanced wrathfully under his bushy brows.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If thou'd seen the maid, thou'd have taken her in too," said Leander, +"It'd have been less than human to turn the poor thing out in the wind +and weather."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed? And in that way we should get at last every robber and +murderer in the neighbourhood in asylum here, till it is said that +Rofen is a hiding-place for all the rabble--that'd be a fine thing for +the justices to get hold of. If you two can be taken in by a cunning +chit, I at least must maintain order and decency in Rofen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He approached the door. Nicodemus stood before it and said quietly, but +firmly, "Benedict, I am the eldest, and I'm master in Rofen as much as +thou, and I know as well as thou what is our duty as Rofeners. I give +thee my word I will keep the girl no longer in the house than I must +for human and Christian duty; but now she is sick, and I will not +suffer thee to ill-use her. So long as I live at Rofen I'll have no +injustice done under my roof."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Leander broke in. "Look here," he said confidently and with +flashing eyes; "only let him go in--when he sees her, he'll never send +her away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe thou'rt right, thou simpleton," said Nicodemus smiling, and +he softly opened the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict hastily and noisily entered; this time Leander ventured to +slip in also, and Nicodemus had nothing to say against it; he might +help to watch over the harsh Benedict and keep him from being too +rough. Marianne was sitting by the bed making new stockings for the +sick girl, for she had become so ragged that she would have had none to +wear when she could get up again. At Benedict's noisy entrance she made +a sign that he should be quiet; but scarcely had he perceived the sick +girl, when of himself he hushed his footsteps, and went slowly up to +the bed. Wallburga was fast asleep. She lay on her back, and had thrown +one beautiful rounded arm over her head; her abundant dark-brown hair +fell loosely over the snow-white neck that no sunshine could tan +through her thick peasant's bodice, and which her loose linen chemise +now left partly uncovered; her mouth was half-open as though smiling, +and two rows of pearly teeth shone between the arched lips; on the +sleeping brow lay an unspoken expression of nobility and purity that no +words can describe. Benedict had grown quite still. He gazed long at +the touching and yet innocent picture as if astonished, and his brown +face began gradually to redden--like Leander's, which seemed dyed in a +crimson glow. Then he ground his teeth together and turned round. "Aye, +she is certainly ill," he said in a voice which implied, "There is +nothing to be done," and he went out of the room on tiptoe.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">CHAPTER IX.</a></h2> + +<h3>In the Wilderness.</h3> + +<p class="normal">Once again spring-breezes blew across the land. The melting snows +flowed down in rushing mountain-torrents; timidly, half-suspiciously +the first Alpine plants peeped out, as though to ask the sunshine if it +were indeed in earnest, and they might venture forth a little further. +Here and there isolated patches of snow still lay like forgotten linen +sheets. In the evergreen pine and fir-woods, the birds lifted their +wings, held twittering consultations, and attuned their little throats +to the universal song of rejoicing.</p> + +<p class="normal">From the Ferner mountains avalanches came thundering down into the +valleys, and beneath the terrible, moving masses, walls and rafters, +trees and bushes, crashed together. There was a thronging and +wrestling, a thundering and rustling--there were threats and +allurements, fears and hopes, in the heights and in the valleys, and +man also, ever-venturesome, ever-inquisitive man, arose from his long +winter's rest, stretched forth his feelers, and began to grope about +the mountains with his alpenstock for some foothold in the loose and +shifting snow.</p> + +<p class="normal">Only Rofen yet lay in the shadow of its narrow, heaven-high walls, +hidden like a late sleeper beneath its white coverlet. Before the door +of the Rofen farm stood Leander, feeding Hansl with a big mouse that he +had caught for him. Hansl had been Leander's pet from the hour when it +came out that he belonged to Wally, and the bird was well cared for +among the Rofeners.</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict came towards the house with his mountain pole. He had been +reconnoitring the path to Murzoll, and had more than once hovered +between life and death. His glance was unsteady, his whole appearance +agitated and gloomy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well?" asked Leander in anxious suspense.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The road is passable at need. If I guide her, she can risk it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, Benedict, don't thee do that, don't let her go up there--I pray +thee, don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What she will--she will," said Benedict gloomily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell her the mountain's not safe, then she'll remain of herself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where's the good of lying? She'll not change her mind however long she +stays here, and thou hast nothing to hope, I've told thee that often +enough. An unfledged stripling like thee is not for a maid like Wally! +Now keep thyself quiet." He went into the house, and the tears sprang +into Leander's eyes with anger and pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally came with the hayfork out of the stable towards Benedict.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," he said, "if it must be so, I'll lead thee up there, I've +found out the way; but it is still dangerous."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank thee kindly, Benedict," said Wally, "tomorrow, then, we will +go." She hung up the hayfork, and went into the kitchen. Benedict +stamped with his foot, and set his alpenstock in the corner. For a +while he stood reflecting, then he could keep quiet no longer--he +followed her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally had tucked up her gown and was preparing to wash the kitchen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, leave all that, I want to talk with thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I cannot, Benedict, I must scour the kitchen. If I go away to-morrow, +I must have the whole house clean. I'll leave no dirt or disorder +behind me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou's always worked more by us than thou hast eaten or drunken. Let +be now, the house is clean enough, and if thou goes away--all is one." +He chewed at a piece of wood, then spit out the bitten splinter. Wally +saw the terrible state of excitement he was in, and left off her work +that she might listen to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," he said, "consider once more whether thou'll not have one of +us. See now, thou'st no need to be so proud. There's such a cry against +thee, that it's through great love only, that one can take thee at +all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally nodded her head in perfect agreement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now see, we Rofeners, we are people who may knock at every door, and +there's not a girl but would be glad to get one of us. Thou hast the +choice between two of us brothers, and refusest such a piece of luck. +See, Wally, thou may some day repent of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Benedict, thou means well, and I care for thee and Leander as one can +care for only one person, but not enough to marry you. And I'll marry +no one that I can't love as a husband, and that thou may know that I +mean it, I once saw one that I can never forget, and till I do forget +him, I'll take no other."</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict grew pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, I tell thee that thou may be at peace, and no longer torment +thyself with the thought of me. Only believe, Benedict, I know well +what thou hast done, thou and all of you for me. You saved me from +death, you protected me when my father'd have taken me away by force, +and it was really fine how thou defended me and thy rights. I'd be a +happy girl if I could love thee and forget that other. I'm right +thankful to thee, and if it could help thee, I'd give thee my life--but +tell thyself, what would thee do with a wife who loves some one else? +That were truly a bad return to a man like thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," said Benedict hoarsely, and wiped his forehead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And thou sees now, that I must go away, that things can't go on as +they are?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," he said again, and left the kitchen.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked after him as, full of emotion, he strode away, the brave +and proud man who had offered her all, all that--as he himself had said +in his uncouth fashion--would have made the happiness of any other +girl. And she herself could not understand how it was that she could +not care more for this man, who had done so much for her, than for the +stranger who had never once given her a thought. And yet so it was! +There was not one who could be compared with Joseph for power and +excellence; she saw him always before her as when he had flung the +bloody bear's skin from his shoulder and related how he had wrestled +with the monster, whilst all stood around and admired him, the mighty, +the beautiful, the only one! And then how he had conquered her father, +the strong man who had always appeared to her hitherto so unconquerable +and terrible! And with what goodness and kindness he had spoken to him +afterwards, in spite of her father's hostility! No, there was not one +that could rise up and stand comparison with Joseph.</p> + +<p class="normal">She went back to her work. "If only Joseph knew all that I am giving up +for his sake," she thought as she looked out, and saw how in front of +the window Benedict with a red face was talking to Leander, and how +Leander wept.</p> + +<p class="normal">Old Stromminger had at first stormed against and cursed his unruly +child, and not even the good pastor of Heiligkreuz had succeeded in +pacifying him. When it was at length rumoured that Wally kept herself +hidden at Rofen, he sent people to fetch her away. But on their own +ground and territory it was easy for no one to move the "Klötze of +Rofen," and they defended like knights the sacred rights and freedom of +the Rofeners. When Wally however perceived that a passion for her had +taken possession of the brothers, then she made a confidant of the +quiet and prudent Nicodemus, and he understood what was needful to be +done. He went to Stromminger, and his wise eloquence was so far +successful that the old man at last gave up the idea of imprisoning +Wally, and contented himself with banishing her for ever from his +sight. In the summer she should tend the flocks again upon Murzoll, +"because that is the only way in which one can make any use of her." In +the winter she might seek service wherever she liked--only she was not +to venture to come back to her home.</p> + +<p class="normal">When Nicodemus returned with this answer, Wally insisted upon going +that moment to await the flocks upon the Ferner, and only Nicodemus' +firm decision prevailed upon her to wait at least till Benedict should +have examined whether the mountain road were passable.</p> + +<p class="normal">So the hour came when Wally must once more fly before the winds of +spring on to the mountains, into the desert. It was hard to part with +the brothers, and with good Marianne. They had become dear to her, +these worthy people, who had come so readily to her help.</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict went up the mountain with her; he would not let himself be +deprived of that. "Thou'st been entrusted to us, we will at least hand +thee back again with a whole skin. Whatever may happen to thee then, we +can, alas! do nought to hinder."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a fearful road up which they had to make their way in the midst +of the wild confusion wrought by the spring, and Benedict, acknowledged +far and wide to be the best and surest of guides, said himself he had +never seen so bad a mountain-path. They spoke little, for they were +engaged in a constant, breathless struggle for life, and could look +neither to the right nor to the left. It was hard work. At length, +after fighting half the day with snow and ice and crevasses, they found +themselves on the summit. The old hut still stood there, somewhat more +ruinous than before, and a heavy weight of snow lay on the roof and all +around it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There thou means to house thyself--there! Sooner than become +an honoured wife and lead with us down yonder a respected and +home-sheltered life as a peasant of Rofen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can do no other, Benedict," said Wally gently, and looked with sad +eyes at the snow-covered inhospitable hut. "I believe the mountain +spirits have thrown a spell upon me, so that I must needs come back to +them, and never more feel myself at home in the valleys."</p> + +<p class="normal">"One might almost believe it! There's something strange about thee. +Thou's quite different from other maids, so that one loves thee in +quite a different way--much, much more dearly, and yet as if thou +didn't belong to us, as if an evil spirit drove thee round."</p> + +<p class="normal">He threw down the bundle of provisions that he had brought up with him +for Wally, and began removing the snow from the door of the hut that +she might be able to get into it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Benedict," said Wally softly, as though she could be overheard, "dost +thou believe in the phantom maidens?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict looked down meditatively and shrugged his shoulders. "What can +one say? I've never seen any myself--but there are people who'd hold to +it to their last breath."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'd never believed in them--but when I came up here last year, I +had a dream so lifelike, I could almost believe it was no dream, and +since then, whatever happens to me, I can't help thinking of the +phantom-maidens.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What sort of a dream?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou must know that him whom I love is a chamois-hunter, and it was +because of him my father sent me up last year, and the first hour I was +here I dreamt that the phantom-maidens and Murzoll threatened me that +if I wouldn't leave off thinking of the lad, they'd fling me down into +the abyss!" And she related her whole dream in detail to Benedict. He +shook his head, and became quite melancholy. "Wally, in thy place, I +should be afraid."</p> + +<p class="normal">She threw her head back. "Ah well. Thou goes on shooting the chamois, +in spite of the phantom-maidens. One has only got not to be afraid. +I've sprung over many a chasm since then, and I've felt well enough +that there was somewhat that wished to pull me down, but I held myself +firm, and kept the upper hand."</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised her strong brown arm defiantly. "So long as I've got two +arms, I've no need to fear whatever it may be."</p> + +<p class="normal">This did not please Benedict. In his solitary wanderings over the +terrible Similaun and the wild glacier peaks, he had acquired a taste +for subtle meditations and reflected more deeply on many things than +other people. "Take care, Wally! He who sets himself too high thrusts +his head up easily enough, but that's what those up yonder won't +endure, and they thrust him down again."</p> + +<p class="normal">She was silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's too early for thee to be up here--" he began again, "no one could +stand it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it was worse still when I was up here last autumn," said Wally, as +she went into the hut.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who won't be advised, can't be helped. But if <i>he</i> doesn't some time +recompense thee for all thou'rt going through for him, he deserves to +be dragged round by the collar."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If he knew of it, for sure he'd recompense me," said Wally reddening +and looking down.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He doesn't know of it?" asked Benedict astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, he scarcely knows me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now may God forgive thee that thou should so set thy heart on a +strange man, and them, them who love thee, and have cherished thee and +tended thee, them thou pushes from thee. That is no love--that is mere +obstinacy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally was silent, and Benedict also said no more. He did now as old +Klettenmaier had done the year before. He set the hut in order as well +as he could for Wally, and brought her a store of wood. Then he held +out his hand to her in farewell. "May God guard thee up here! And if I +might say one more word to thee, it would be this: Watch over thyself, +and pray that no evil powers may get the better of thee!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally's heart contracted as his eyes full of deep sadness rested on +her. It seemed to her as though in truth she felt the evil powers +hovering round her, and almost unconsciously she held the hand of her +protector who had watched over her so faithfully, and accompanied him +part of the way back, as though she feared to remain alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then--here the path becomes bad; I thank thee for coming so far," +said Benedict, and parted from her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, and a safe journey home," cried Wally after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He looked round no more. She turned back to the hut, and was once more +alone with her vulture and her mountain spirits. But the spirits seemed +appeased. Murzoll smiled kindly in the glow of the spring sunshine upon +the returned child, and Wally no longer felt herself a stranger in the +midst of her mighty and sublime surroundings. Each fold on Murzoll's +brow was familiar to her now; she knew his smile and his frown, and it +no longer frightened her when sullen clouds beset his brow, or when he +rolled down avalanches into the abyss. She felt herself secure on his +harsh breast, and the breath of his storms blew away from her heart the +weight that she had brought up with her again from the valley. For a +healing power lies in the storm; it cools the blood, it bears the soul +on its rushing wings far away over the stones and thorns amongst which +it would flutter, painfully entangled. As when a child has hurt itself +and cries, we breathe on the place, saying, "It will soon be well," and +the child smiles back to us again, so Father Murzoll blew away from the +heart of his returned child the dull pain that oppressed it, and she +looked with shining eyes and an uplifted heart out into the wide +world--and hoped and waited.</p> + +<p class="normal">So weeks and months passed by. The July sun shone with such power that +the mountain was already completely "ausgeapert"; that is to say, the +lighter winter snow was all melted away to the limits of the eternal +snows where Wally dwelt. Now and then one of the Rofener brothers came +up to enquire whether she had not yet changed her mind. But they came +but seldom, and interrupted Wally's solitude by a few short half-hours +only.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day the sun's rays "pricked" with such sharp, unusual heat, that +Wally felt as though she were passing between glowing needles. When the +sun "pricks," it draws the clouds together, and soon, somewhere about +midday, it had gathered about itself a thick tent of clouds behind +which it disappeared, and a leaden twilight was spread heavily over the +earth. A strange disquietude seized the little flock; now and then a +quivering brightness shuddered through the grey cloud-chaos, as a +sleeper's eyelashes quiver in dreams, and gigantic black mourning +clouds waved about Murzoll's head. Now and again they were rent +asunder, affording faint glimpses into the clear distance, but +instantly across these thin places new veils were woven till all was +closed, and no empty space, as it seemed, left between earth and +Heaven.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally well knew what all this foreboded; she had already experienced +plenty of bad weather up here on the mountains, and she drove the flock +together under a projecting rock, where she had herself arranged a fold +in case of need. But a young goat had wandered out of sight, and she +was obliged to go and seek it. No storm had ever yet come on with such +rapidity. Already hollow mutterings could be heard amongst the +mountains, whilst the gusts of wind swept roaring onwards, flinging +down isolated hailstones. Now it was a question of minutes only, and +the kid was nowhere to be seen. Wally extinguished her hearth fire and +stepped out into the conflict of the elements, like an heroic queen +amongst the hosts of her rebellious subjects. And queen-like indeed she +looked, without knowing or caring anything about it. She had set a +little copper milk-can upside down upon her head as a helmet to protect +her from the hailstones, and a thick horse-cloth hung down like a +mantle from her shoulders. Thus equipped, and a shepherd's staff with +its iron hook in her hand in the place of a lance, she threw herself +out into the storm, and fought her way through it till she reached a +point of rock from whence she could look out after the lost animal. But +It was impossible through the mists to distinguish anything. Wally +ascended higher and higher, till she had reached the path that leads +over the Hochjoch into the Schnalser valley; and there, deep below in +the ravine, the kid was clinging to the side of the steep precipice, +trembling with fear and crouching beneath the blows of the heavy +hailstones. The helpless animal moved her to pity--she must have +compassion on it. The hail rattled down thicker and thicker around her, +the wind and rain struck her like whips across the face, there was a +heaving and swelling on every side like the thundering waves of an +approaching deluge, but she paid no heed to it; the mute supplications +of the distressed animal rose above the raging of the storm, and +without a moment's hesitation she let herself down into the misty +depths. With infinite trouble she got far enough down the slippery path +to lay hold of the animal with her crook and draw it towards her, then +throwing it over her shoulder, she climbed upwards again with hands and +feet. Then, all at once, a stream of fire seemed to shoot from the +zenith down into the gulf, a shivered fir-tree crashed beneath her in +the depths, and in one universal roar of heaven and earth together +there came a crackling from above, a rushing, a thundering of hurling +streams and masses below, till to the solitary pilgrim clinging to the +quaking rock it seemed as though the whole world were whirling round +her in wild dissolution. Half-stunned, she swung herself up at last on +to the firm edge of the pathway, then stood a moment to recover breath +and wipe the moisture from her eyes, for she could hardly see, and +the kid too struggled on her shoulder, so that she was obliged to bind +it before carrying it any further. Meanwhile, thunder-clap after +thunder-clap crashed above her, beneath her, and as though heaven had +been a leaking cask filled with fire, the lightning struck downwards in +fiery streams. Hark!--what was that?--a human voice! A cry for help +sounded clearly above the rushing and roaring. Wally who had not +trembled at the fury of the thunder and the hurricane, trembled now. A +human voice--now!--up here with her in this fearful tumult of nature, +in this chaos! It terrified her more than the raging of the elements. +She listened with suspended breath to hear whence the voice came, and +whether she had not deceived herself. Again she heard the cry, and +close behind her. "Hi, thou yonder--help me, then!" And out of the +mists and rain emerged a figure that seemed to drag along a second +form. Wally stood as though suddenly stiffened--what face was that? The +burning eyes, the black moustache, the finely aquiline nose, she looked +and looked and could not stir a limb for the sweet terror that had come +upon her--it was indeed St. George, it was Joseph the bear-hunter.</p> + +<p class="normal">He himself was scarcely less startled than Wally when she turned round, +but from another cause. "Jesu Maria--it's a girl," he said almost +timidly, and looked at Wally with astonishment. Seeing her from behind, +he had thought from her height that she was a shepherd--now he saw a +maiden before him. And as she stood there, her long mantle falling +around her in stiff folds, her head protected by its warlike helmet +against the hail, her dark hair, loosened and dripping, hanging about +her face, the crook in her hand and the kid on her broad shoulders, her +great eyes flaming and fastened upon him, he had a weird feeling for a +moment, as though something supernatural stood before him. In his whole +life before he had never seen so powerful a woman, and he had to pause +for a minute before he could clearly make her out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah," he said, "thou'rt only old Stromminger's Vulture-Wally?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that am I," answered the girl breathlessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So--well, precisely then with thee I have nothing to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why not?" asked Wally, turning pale, and a flash of lightning quivered +just over her, so that her copper helmet flashed red in the glare.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph was obliged to pause, so crashing was the thunder-clap that +followed, and with new fury a shower of hail came rattling down. Joseph +looked at the girl in perplexity as she stood there immovable, whilst +lumps of ice struck against the slight metal can on her head. Then he +bent down over the lifeless form that he was carrying.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See here, ever since that affair in Sölden I've been in disgrace with +thy father, and people say that thou also art not one to have dealings +with. But this poor maid can go no further; a flash of lightning struck +close by her and threw her down, and she's quite out of her senses. Go, +lead us to thy hut, that the girl may rest till the storm is over--then +we'll leave again at once; and for certain, such a thing shall never +happen again."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked strangely at him during this speech--half in defiance, +half in pain. Her lips trembled as though she would have made some +vehement answer, but she controlled herself, and after a short and +silent struggle, "Come," she said, and strode onwards before him. +Presently she paused and asked, "Who is the maid?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"She's a poor girl out of Vintschgau on her way to the Lamb in +Zwieselstein. My mother is dead, and I've had to go over to Vintschgau, +where her home was, to look after the inheritance, and as our roads lay +together, I've brought the girl across the mountains with me," answered +Joseph evasively.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thy mother is dead? Oh, thou poor Joseph--" cried Wally full of +sympathy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--it was a hard blow," said Joseph in deep sadness, "the good +little mother."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally saw that it pained him to speak of her, and was silent. They said +no more till they reached the hut.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's a horrible hole," said Joseph stooping and yet knocking his +head as he entered. "It's not for nothing that a man sends his child +off to live in a dog-kennel like this. Well, certainly thou'st done +enough to deserve it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!--thou's sure of that?" said Wally, breaking out bitterly now as +she untied the kid and set it down in a corner. Then she shook up her +bed and helped Joseph to lay the stranger on it. Her hands trembled as +she did so.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," said Joseph indifferently, "everyone knows how wild thou's been +with thy father, and how thou nearly killed Vincenz Gellner dead, and +set fire to thy father's barn in a rage. It seems to me, that with such +a beginning thou may go still further."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dost know why I struck Vincenz, and fired the barn?" asked Wally with +a trembling voice, "Dost know <i>why</i> I am up here in this dog-kennel as +thou calls it? Dost know?" And with her two hands she broke a strong +branch in pieces across her knee, so that the wood cracked and +splintered, and Joseph involuntarily admired her strength.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No," he said, "how should I know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, if thou doesn't know, thou needn't speak of it," she said +low and angrily as she made up the fire that she might warm some milk +for the sick girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tell me, then, if thou thinks I'm doing thee a wrong."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally broke out again suddenly into the shrill, bitter laugh peculiar +to her when her heart was secretly bleeding. "Thee I'm to tell--thee?" +she cried, "Yes, truly; thou'rt a fitting person for me to tell!" And +she rinsed out a kettle with feverish haste, poured the milk into it, +and hung it up over the crackling fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph did not discover the pain that lay hidden in this scorn--he only +felt the scorn, and turned away from her offended: "With thee there's +nothing to be said; people are right enough there," he answered, and +thenceforward occupied himself only with the sick girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally also was silent, and only now and then as she moved about her +work cast a stolen glance to where Joseph, with the red light of the +fire upon him, sat on a stool not far from the bed. His eyes glowed +like two coals in the reflection of the flames, which shining now +brightly, now faintly, lighted up the strong and handsome face of the +hunter with strange changes, so that it appeared sometimes friendly, +sometimes full of gloom.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once Wally remembered her dream on the first night of her +arrival on the Hochjoch. "If the phantom-maidens could see him now, +they would melt away before him like snow before the fire." Something +of this she thought, and it seemed to her as if only with tears of +blood--as it is said of a heart that it bleeds--could she tear her +glance away from him. Two scalding drops did in truth fall from her +eyes, and though they were not drops of blood, they gave her no less +pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger now recovered consciousness. "What has happened?" she +asked in astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou must keep thyself quiet, Afra," said Joseph, "the lightning +nearly struck thee dead, and so Wally Stromminger has brought us to her +hut."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jesu Maria, are we with the Vulture-Wally?" said the girl terrified.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep thyself still," said Joseph, comforting her, "as soon as thou's +recovered, we'll go on our way again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So over in Vintschgau even thou's heard talk of me? There, take +something to drink against the fright," said Wally quietly and with a +touch of good-humoured sarcasm, as she reached her the warm milk mixed +with some brandy. Joseph had stood up to allow Wally to come to the bed +with the drink. Afra tried to sit up but she could not manage it, and +Wally coming quickly to her aid raised her and held her in her arms +like a child, whilst she gave her the milk with the other hand. Afra +took a thirsty draught out of the wooden bowl, but she was so weak that +her head sank upon Wally's shoulder when she had done drinking, and +Wally, beckoning to Joseph to take the bowl from her hand, remained +sitting patiently so as not to disturb the sick girl.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph looked at her meditatively, as she sat there on the edge of the +bed with the girl in her arms. "Thou'rt a handsome maid," he said +honestly, "it's a pity only thou should be so bad."</p> + +<p class="normal">A slight colour passed over Wally's face at these words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How thy heart beats all at once!" said Afra. "I can feel it on thy +shoulder." And a little stronger now, she raised her head and gazed at +the beautiful tanned face, and the large eyes. Wally also now studied +the girl more attentively. She saw that she had charming features, blue +eyes full of expression, fair hair that looked like floss silk, and a +strange, uneasy feeling of aversion stole over her. She looked at +Joseph, stood up, and began to bustle round again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that really the Vulture-Wally?" asked Afra of her guide, as though +she could not understand how the decried Vulture-maiden could be so +kind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One wouldn't suppose it, but she says herself that it's she," answered +Joseph half-aloud.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I'll soon prove to thee that I am," cried Wally proudly, and +opening the door, she cried "Hansl--Hansl, where art thou?" A shrill +scream answered her, and forthwith Hansl came rushing down from the +roof, and in at the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Heavens, what is that?" screamed Afra, crossing herself; but Joseph +placed himself before her, as a protector.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is the vulture that I took as a child out of its nest--away +yonder on the Burgsteinwand. It is from him I got my name--the +Vulture-maiden!" and her eyes rested proudly on the bird, as a +soldier's eyes rest on the conquered colours. "See, I've tamed him so +that I can let him fly where he likes now--he never flies away from +me." She set him on her shoulder and unfolded his wings, so that Joseph +might see they were not cut.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That fellow's a state-prize," said Joseph, his eyes resting with both +longing and hostility on the splendid booty which no hunter will yield +to another, least of all to a girl! There must have been something in +the look that irritated the vulture, for he uttered a peculiar whistle, +bristled up his feathers, and bent his neck forward towards Joseph. +Wally felt the unwonted agitation on her shoulder and tried to quiet +the bird with caresses. "Nay, Hansl, what's come to thee? Thou wert +never so before."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aha!--thou knows the hunter, my fine fellow," said Joseph with a +challenging laugh and snatching violently at the vulture as though to +tear him from Wally's shoulder. Suddenly the irritated bird put forth +all its might, spread out its wings, rose to the ceiling, and thence +swooped with its whole strength down upon the enemy below. A shriek of +terror rang from Wally's lips, Afra saved herself in a corner, the +narrow hut was almost filled with the rushing monster who no longer +heard his mistress's voice, but dashed again and again at Joseph with +his terrible beak striving to strike his talons into the man's side. It +was one wild confusion of fighting fists and wings, in which feathers +flew about, and the walls grew red where Joseph's bleeding hands +touched them. "My knife, if I could only get at my knife," he cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally tore the door open. "Out, Joseph, out into the open air; in this +narrow hole thou can do nothing with him."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Joseph the bear-slayer had no idea of running away from a vulture. +"The devil take me if I stir from the spot," he said with a groan. For +one moment longer the battle wavered. Then Joseph, his face pressed +against the wall, managed with his iron fists to seize the vulture by +the claws, and with giant strength forced down the struggling animal as +in a trap whilst it hacked at his hands and arms with its beak. "Now my +knife, draw out my knife--I have no hand free," he cried to Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Wally used the moment otherwise; she sprang by, and threw a thick +cloth over the vulture's head. It was easy for her now to tie its feet +together with a cord, so as to render it helpless, and Joseph flung it +on the ground. Trembling and without strength the proud animal +exhausted itself in struggles in the cloth on the floor, and Joseph +taking up his gun, began to load it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What art thou doing there?" asked Wally astonished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Loading my gun," he said, setting his teeth with the pain of his torn +hands. When it was loaded, he took the captive bird up from the floor, +and flung it out of the hut into the open air. Then placing himself at +a little distance, he took aim, and said low and imperiously to Wally, +"Now let him loose."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>What</i> am I to do?" said Wally, who could not believe she had heard +aright.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let him fly!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That I may shoot him. Doesn't thee know that no true hunter shoots his +game excepting on the spring or on the wing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"For God's sake," cried Wally, "thou wouldn't shoot me my Hansl?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph, in his turn, looked at her wonderingly. "Thou'd have me let the +rabid brute live, perhaps?" he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph," said Wally, stepping resolutely up to him, "leave me my +Hansl untouched. I fought with the old one for the bird at the risk +of my life, I've brought him up from the nest, no one loves me as he +does--he's my only one, all that I have in the world--thou shall do +nothing to my Hansl."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed," said Joseph sharply and bitterly, "the devil nearly tore out +my eyes, and I shall do nothing to him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He didn't know thee. How can a bird help it that he has no more sense? +Thou'll never revenge thyself on a beast without understanding?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph stamped his foot. "Unbind him that he may fly," he said, "or +I'll shoot him in a heap, as he is." He took aim again with his rifle.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the hot blood flew to Wally's head, and she forgot everything but +her favourite. "That we will see," she cried in flaming anger, "whether +thou'll dare to lay hands on my property. Put down the gun. The bird is +mine! Dost hear? <i>Mine</i>. And none shall hurt or harm him when I am by, +come what will. Away with the gun, or thou shall learn to know who <i>I</i> +am!" And she struck the gun out of his hand with a swift blow, so that +the charge went off, rattling against the wall of rock.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something in her demeanour that subdued the strong young +fellow, the mighty bear-hunter, for he picked up his gun with apparent +composure, saying with bitter scorn, "Please thyself for all I care; +I'll not touch thy hook-beaked sweetheart; he's like enough the only +one thou'll ever have in thy life! Thou--thou's nothing but the +Vulture-Wally."</p> + +<p class="normal">And without deigning even to look at her again he tore his +pocket-handkerchief into strips, and tried to bind up his torn hands +with it. Wally sprung forward and would have helped him; now for the +first time she saw how severe the wounds were, and it was as if her own +heart were bleeding at the sight. "O Heavens, lad, what hands thou'st +got!" she cried out. "Come, and I'll wash them and dress them for +thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Joseph shoved her aside. "Let be--Afra can do it," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">He went into the hut. An anguish as of death came over Wally; she +suddenly understood that she had made Joseph her enemy, perhaps for +ever, and she felt as if she must die at the thought. As though +suddenly crushed, she followed him in, and her eye watched the stranger +as she bound up Joseph's hands, with jealous hatred.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph," said she in a stifled voice, "thee mustn't think that I don't +care for thy wounds, because I wouldn't let thee shoot my Hansl. If it +could have made thy hands whole, thou might have shot Hansl first, and +me after him; but it would have done thee no good."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's no matter, there's no need to excuse thyself," said Joseph, +turning away. "Afra," he continued to the girl, "can thou go on now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes," she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make thyself ready then, we'll go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally turned pale. "Joseph, thou must rest thyself a little longer. +I've given thee nothing yet to eat; I will cook thee something at once, +or would thou sooner have a draught of milk?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank thee kindly; but we must go so as to be home before nightfall. +It no longer rains, and Afra can walk again now." And with these words +he helped the girl to get ready, slung his gun over his shoulder, and +took his alpenstock in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally picked up one of the feathers which had fallen from Hansl in the +struggle, and stuck it in Joseph's hat. "Thou must wear the feather, +Joseph. Thou ought to wear it, for thou conquered the vulture, and he'd +have been thy booty if thou'd not given him to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Joseph took the feather out of his hat. "Thou may mean well," he +said, "but the feather I'll not wear. I'm not accustomed to share my +booty with girls."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then take the vulture altogether, I'll give him to thee; only I pray +thee, let him live," urged Wally breathlessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph looked at her in wonder. "What has come to thee?" he said, "I'll +take nothing from thee on which thy heart is so set; one day perhaps I +may take a live bear, and if so I'll bring it up to thee that the party +may be complete. But till then, thou'll see no more of me; I might +happen to shoot the bird yet if I came across him anywhere, so I'd +better keep away from his haunts! God be with thee, and thanks for the +shelter thou's given us." So saying he walked proudly and quietly out +of the hut.</p> + +<p class="normal">Afra stooped down and picked up the feather that Joseph had thrown +away. "Give me the feather," she said; "I'll lay it in my prayer-book, +and so often as I see it I will say a Pater Noster for thee."'</p> + +<p class="normal">"As thou will," said Wally gloomily; she had scarcely heard what Afra +had said. Her bosom heaved and throbbed, and in her ears there was a +rushing noise as though the tempest was still raging round her. She +followed the departing guests out of the hut. The storm had passed +away; the veil of black clouds hung raggedly down, and through the +rents sparkled the wet, far-gleaming distance. But for the sullen +mutterings of the Thunder-god as he withdrew, and the roar of the +waters as they rushed down the gullies into the depths, all around was +tranquil and silent, and a white shroud of snow and hail stones had +spread itself upon the mountains.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood motionless, her hands pressed upon her bosom. "He never +thinks how poor one must be to set one's heart so upon a bird," said +she to herself. Then she stooped down and freed the half-numbed animal +that climbed, staggering, on to her arm and looked at her with +intelligence, as if to ask her forgiveness. "Aye, thou may look at me," +she sobbed; "oh, Hansl, Hansl, what hast thou done for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat down on the door-step of her little hut, and wept from the very +bottom of her heart till she was weary of the sound of her own sobbing. +She looked up to where a high wall of snow rose perpendicularly behind +her, down to where on the right hand and on the left death had prepared +his cold nest in the snowy hollows,--away into the grey distance, where +long streaks of rain cloud hung down from heaven to earth, and suddenly +she felt again as she had felt on the first day, that she was alone in +the wilderness--and must stay there.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">CHAPTER X.</a></h2> + +<h3>The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte.</h3> + +<p class="normal">Again a year had gone by, a hard year for Wally; for when her lonely +summer in the wilds was ended and Stromminger had sent to fetch the +flocks home, she had gone down into the Schnalser valley on the other +side of the Ferner where she was quite a stranger, and there had sought +service. To the Rofeners she would not return, as she must again have +rejected their suit. But it was just as hard to find employment with +the vulture here as it had been in the Oetz valley, and at last she +gave up all thought of remuneration, only to be taken in with Hansl. +Naturally her lot was a forlorn one--for on account of this folly, as +they called it, she was often turned away or scornfully treated by the +women; and often she had to defend herself stoutly against the rude +importunities of the men, who, here as everywhere, admired the +beautiful girl. Nevertheless she bore it all steadfastly, for she was +too proud to lament and complain of a burden she had laid on herself of +her own free will. But she grew hard under it, hard and ever harder, +just as the good pastor had forewarned her. The ghosts of all the +murdered joys of her young life haunted her and cried out for revenge; +in the short spring time of life three lost years count for much. Other +young girls weep and lament over a lost dance. Wally did not weep for +all the lost dances, for all the thousand pleasures of her youth, she +grieved only for her wasted love; and her spirit, on which no ray of +happiness had shone, waxed sour and hard like a fruit that has matured +in the shade.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again the spring time came, and again Wally ascended the Ferner. It was +a bitter spring and a stormy summer; rain, snow, and hail succeeded +each other in turns, so that her clothes often did not dry the whole +day through, and for weeks together she breathed the damp atmosphere of +an impenetrable chaos of drizzling clouds, through which, as before the +first day of Creation, no ray of light would dawn. And, in her soul, +the vast outer chaos reproduced itself in little, gloom reflected +gloom. The whole world as yet was but a dark and troubled dream like +the cloud drifts around her--and God came not, who alone could say, +"Let there be Light."</p> + +<p class="normal">One day, however, after endless weeks of darkness, He spoke again the +mighty word of creation, and a gleam of sunshine shot through the +clouds and parted them, and gradually there emerged from the chaos a +fair and well-ordered world, with mountains and valleys, pastures and +lakes and forests; it was spread out suddenly complete before her eyes, +and she felt as if she also were now first suddenly roused to life--as +was once the mother of mankind--that she might rejoice in this world +that God had made so beautiful, not for Himself alone, but for those +beings whom He had created to take delight in it with Him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Was it possible there should be no happiness in so fair a world? And +wherefore had God set her, this hapless Eve, up here in the desert, +where he for whom she had been born could never find her? "Oh! yonder, +down yonder--enough of these lonely heights!" a voice cried suddenly +within her, and all at once the wild yearning for life, for love, for +happiness broke forth, so that she longingly stretched out her arms +towards the smiling, sunny world that lay below at her feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, thou must come down at once. Thy father's dead." The shepherd +boy stood before her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stared at him as if dreaming. Was it a vision called up by her +own heart, that even now had cried out so rebelliously for happiness? +She grasped the lad by the shoulder as though to assure herself that he +was indeed there, and it was no trick of the imagination. He repeated +the message. "The place in his foot got worse and worse, then it +mortified, and he died this morning. Now thou's mistress at the farm, +and Klettenmaier sends thee greeting."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then it was true, really true! the messenger of release, of peace, of +liberty stood before her in the flesh. For this it was that God had +shown her the earth so fair, as though He would say to her beforehand, +"See, this is now thine own, come down and take that which I have given +thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">She went silently into the hut and closed the door. Then she knelt down +and thanked God, and prayed--prayed again, for the first time in many +weeks, ardently, from the depth of her soul; and hot tears for the +father who was now for ever gone--whom living she could not and dared +not love as a child--welled up from her released and reconciled heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she went down to the home, that now at last was again a home to +her, where her foot once more trod her own soil, her own hearth. Old +Klettenmaier stood at the gate and joyfully waved his cap when she +arrived; the servant-girl who, two years before, had been so rude to +her, came weeping and submissive to give her the keys, and at the +sitting-room door she was received by Vincenz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," he began, "thou'st used me very badly, but--"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally interrupted him quietly but severely. "Vincenz, if I've done thee +any wrong, may God punish me as it shall please Him. I cannot regret it +nor make it good to thee, nor do I ask thee for forgiveness. Now thou +know'st my mind, and all I pray thee is, leave me to myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">And without vouchsafing him another glance, she went in to where the +body of her father lay, and locked the door. She stood by it, tearless. +She had been able to weep for the transfigured father, freed from the +"tenement of clay;" but standing by that form of clay itself, which +with a heavy fist had marred her and her life, which had struck her +down and trodden on her--she could shed no tears, she was as if made of +stone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Quietly she said a Pater Noster, but she did not kneel to say it. As +she had stood motionless, self-possessed before her living father, so +now she stood before him dead; only without resentment, reconciled by +death.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she went into the kitchen to prepare a supper by the time the +neighbours should come for the night to pray and to watch the dead. It +kept all hands busy, and by midnight the room was so full of watchers +that she could hardly provide enough to eat and to drink. For the +richer a peasant is, the more neighbours come to the watching and +praying by the corpse.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked on with silent aversion. Here lay a dead man--and so they +ate and drank like so many flies! The dull hum and bustle were so +strange to her after the sublime stillness of her mountain home, and +struck her as so small and pitiful, that involuntarily she wished +herself back again on the silent heights. Speechless and indifferent +she passed to and fro between the noisy eating and drinking groups, and +people said how much she resembled her dead father. On the third day +was the funeral. From far and near people of the neighbouring hamlets +came to it, partly to pay the last respect to the important and +dreaded chief-peasant, partly to "make all straight" with the wicked +Vulture-maiden, who now was mistress of all the great possessions of +the Strommingers. Hitherto, indeed, she had been only an "incendiary" +and a "ne'er do weel;" but now she was the wealthiest owner in all the +mountain range, and that made all the difference.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally felt the change keenly, and she knew too whence it came. When she +saw now after the funeral the same people stand before her with bent +backs and obsequious grins, who, but one year before, had turned her +from their doors with scorn and flouting when, starving with cold and +hunger, she had asked them for work--then she turned away with +loathing--then, and from that hour she despised mankind.</p> + +<p class="normal">The curé of Heiligkreuz came too, and the Klötze from Rofen. Now was +the moment for making at least an outward return for all their goodness +to her when she had been poor and abandoned, and she distinguished them +from all the others and kept with them only. When the funeral feast was +over and the guests had at last dispersed, the priest of Heiligkreuz +remained with her yet a little while, and spoke many good words to her. +"Now you are mistress over many servants," he said, "but remember that +he who does not know how to govern himself will not know how to govern +others. It is an old saying, that 'he who cannot obey, cannot command'; +learn to obey, my child, that you may be able to command."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, your reverence, whom am I to obey? There's no one here now that +has any orders to give me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally was silent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See here," said the curé, taking something from the pocket of his +wide-skirted coat. "I have long meant this for you, ever since the time +you were with me, but you could not have taken it with you in your +wanderings." He took out of a box a small neatly-carved image of a +saint with a little pedestal of wood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, this is your patron saint, the holy Wallburga. Do you remember +what I said to you about hard and soft wood, and about the good God who +can carve a saint out of a knotty stick?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you see, in order that you may not forget it, I have had a +little image brought for me from Sölden. Hang it up over your bed, and +pray before it diligently--that will do you good."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thank your reverence very much," said Wally, evidently delighted, as +she took the fragile object carefully in her hard hands. "I will be +sure always to remember when I look at it, how well you explained the +meaning of it all to me. And this is how the holy Wallburga looked! Oh, +she must indeed have been a sweet and lovely woman; but who could be so +good and so pious as that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And as Klettenmaier came towards her across the courtyard, she held the +figure out to him and cried, "See, Klettenmaier, what I have had given +me; it is the holy Wallburga, my patron saint. We will send his +reverence the first fine lamb that is dropped, as a present."</p> + +<p class="normal">The good priest put in a sincere protest against this kind of return, +but Wally, in her pleasure, paid no heed.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the curé was gone, she went into her room and nailed the carved +figure with the sacred images over her bed, and all round, like a +wreath, she placed the pack of cards that had been old Luckard's. Then +she went to see what there was to do in the farm or in the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hansl," she cried as she passed the vulture who was perched on the +wood-shed, "<i>we</i> are the masters now!" And the sense of mastery after +her long servitude pervaded her whole being, as intoxicating wine drunk +in deep draughts fills the veins of an exhausted man.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the courtyard the servants hired by Vincenz were all assembled, and +Vincenz himself was amongst them. He had grown haggard, his face was of +a yellow paleness, and on the back of his head in the midst of his +thick black hair he had a bald place like a tonsure; his glaring eyes +lay deep in their sockets, like the eyes of a wolf lurking in a crevice +for his prey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it?" asked Wally, standing still. The upper servant, erewhile +so rude, approached with timid subserviency.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We only wished to ask thee if thou's meaning to send us away because +we treated thee so badly while the master was alive? Thou knows we +could only do what he would have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You did only your duty," said Wally quietly. "I send none away unless +I find him dishonest or a bad servant. And if you left off bowing and +bending before me, you'd please me better. Go to your work that I may +see what you can do, that's better worth than fooleries."</p> + +<p class="normal">The people separated; Vincenz remained, his eyes fixed glowingly on +Wally; she turned and stretched out her hand against him. "One only I +banish from my hearth and home--thee, Vincenz," she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally!" cried Vincenz, "this--this in return for all I did for thy +father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What thou did for my father as his steward, so long as he was lame, +that thou shall get a return for. I give thee the meadows that adjoin +thy farm and round off thy land; that I think will repay thee thy +time and trouble, and if not, say so--I'll be beholden to thee for +nothing--ask what thou will but get thee from before my eyes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want nought--I'll have nought but thee, Wally. All is one to me +without thee. Thou'st well nigh murdered me, thou'st ill used me every +time I've ever seen thee--and--the devil's in it--I cannot give thee +up. Look here--I did it all for thee. For thee I'd commit a murder--for +thee I'd sell my soul's salvation--and thou thinks to put me off with a +few meadows? Thou thinks to be free of me so? Thou may offer me all +thou hast--all thy land and the Oetzthal into the bargain--I'd fling it +back to thee if thou didn't give me thyself. Look at me--my very marrow +is wasting away--I don't know how it is, but for one single kiss from +thee, I'd give thee all my lands and goods and starve for the rest of +my days. Now send a clerk to reckon once again with how many pounds and +acres thou'll be rid of me!" And with a glance of the wildest and +bitterest defiance at the astonished Wally he left the farmyard.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was awed by him--she had never before seen him thus; she had had a +glimpse into the depths of an unfathomable passion, and she wavered +between horror and pity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is there in me," she thought, "that the lads are all such fools +about me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ah, and only one came not; the only one that she would have +had--despised her. And if--if meantime he were already married? The +thought took away her breath. She thought again of the stranger that he +had brought with him across the Hochjoch--but no--she was only a +servant maid!</p> + +<p class="normal">And yet something must happen soon! She was rich and important now, she +might venture to take a step towards him! But all her maidenly pride +stood in arms at the thought, and "Wait--wait," was still all that was +left to her.</p> + +<p class="normal">She felt driven restlessly through house and fields; soon it was +apparent that she was spoilt for the village life; week followed week, +and she could not accustom herself to it. She was and she remained the +child of Murzoll--the wild Wally. She scorned pitilessly all that +seemed to her petty or foolish, she could bind herself to no +regularity, no customs, no habits. She feared no one--she had forgotten +what fear was, up there on the Ferner, and she met the smaller life +below with the same iron front that had defied the terrors of the +elements. Mighty and strong of body and soul she stood among the +villagers like a being of another world. She had become a stranger in +the boorish herd who stared at her with distrust and dislike--as boors +always stare at that which is unfamiliar--but who nevertheless dared +not approach too near to the great proprietress. But the girl was +sensible of their hostility, as of the mean cowardice which, while it +spoke her fair to her face, betrayed its hatred behind her back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ask leave of no one," was her haughty motto, and so she did whatever +her wild spirit prompted. When she was in the humour, she would work +all day like a labourer to incite the lazy servants, and if one of them +was not up to the mark in his work, she would impatiently snatch it +from his hand and do it herself. At other times she would spend the +whole day in melancholy dreaming, or she would wander about the +mountains so that people began to think her mind was unsettled. The men +and maids meanwhile did as they pleased, and the neighbours maliciously +whispered to each other that in this fashion she would let everything +go to ruin.</p> + +<p class="normal">While she thus set herself against all rule and order, she was on the +other hand stern even to hardness in matters which the other peasants +passed over much less strictly. If she detected a servant in dishonesty +or false dealing she at once gave information to the justices. If any +one ill-used a beast, she would seize him by the collar and shake him, +beside herself with rage. If one of her people came home drunk in the +evening, she would have him ignominiously locked out to pass the night +out-of-doors, whether in rain or snow. If she discovered any +immorality, the culprit that same hour was turned out of the house. For +her spirit was chaste and pure as the glaciers with whom she had so +long dwelt in solitude, and all the lovemaking and whispering, the +meetings and serenadings that went on around her, filled her with +horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">All this gained her a reputation for unsparing hardness, and made her +to be feared as her father had been before her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nevertheless she seemed to have bewitched all the young men. Not only +her possessions;--no, she--she herself with all her strangeness was +what the lads desired to win. When she stood before them, tall, as +though standing on higher ground, slim and yet so strongly and +proudly built that her close-laced bodice could hardly contain her +nobly-moulded form, when she raised her arm, strong and nervous as a +youth's, against them threateningly, whilst a lightning flash of scorn +flamed like a challenge from her large black eyes--then a wild fire of +love and strife seized the lads, and they would wrestle with her as if +for life or death only to win a single kiss. But then woe to them, for +they had not the strength to conquer this woman, and must go their way +with scorn and derision. He was yet to come who alone could cope with +her--would he ever come? Enough, she awaited him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He that can say of me I ever gave him a kiss, him will I marry, but he +that's not strong enough to win that kiss by force--Wallburga +Stromminger was not born for him!" she said haughtily one day, and soon +the saying was reported in all the surrounding neighbourhood, and the +young men came from far and near to try their luck and take her at her +word. It became indeed a point of honour to be a suitor of the wild +Wallburga, as any rash adventure is thought honourable by a man of +strength and courage.</p> + +<p class="normal">Soon there was not a man of marriageable age in all the three valleys +who had not striven to conquer Wally and to wrest the kiss from her, +but not one had succeeded. And she triumphed in the wild game and in +her mighty strength, for she knew that she was talked of far and near, +and that Joseph would often hear of her; and she thought that now he +must at last think it worth the trouble to come and carry off the +prize, if it were only to prove his strength--as that day when he had +gone to slay the bear. If only he were here, she thought, why should he +not fall in love with her like all the others,--above all, if she +showed to him how sweet and friendly she could be?</p> + +<p class="normal">But he never came. Instead, there came one day to the "Stag" which +adjoined Wally's kitchen-garden, the messenger from Vent. Wally, who +was at that moment weeding, heard Joseph's name spoken and listened +behind the hedge to the messenger's narration.</p> + +<p class="normal">Since his mother's death Joseph Hagenbach goes oftener to the "Lamb" at +Zwieselstein--was the man's story--and a love affair is talked about +between him and the pretty Afra, the barmaid at the "Lamb." Only +yesterday he was up there, and dined alone with Afra at the guest's +table while the hostess stayed in the kitchen. Suddenly the bull broke +loose, and ran through the village like a whirlwind; a hornet had stung +him in the ear. All fled to their houses and shut to the doors, and the +innkeeper of the "Lamb" is about to do the same, when he sees his +youngest child, a girl of five, lying in the road. She couldn't get up, +for the children had been playing coaches, and the little one was +harnessed to a heavy wheel-barrow when the cry was raised that the bull +was loose; the other children ran off, but little Liese with the heavy +barrow could not so quickly get away; she fell and entangled herself in +the rope, and there she lies right in the middle of the road, and the +brute is snorting quite close to her with his horns lowered. There is +no time to untie the child or to carry it off, barrow and all; the bull +is there; the father and Afra scream so that they can be heard all +through the village,--but all at once Joseph is on the spot, and +thrusts a hay-fork into the side of the beast. The bull bellows +and turns upon Joseph, and out of the windows, every one cries for +help--but no one comes to help him. He seizes the bull by the horns, +and with the strength of a giant forces him back a step or two whilst +the bull struggles with him. Meanwhile the father has had time to fetch +the child, and now the question is what will become of Joseph, whom all +have left in the lurch? Afra wrings her hands and screams for help, the +bull has forced Joseph with his horns to the ground and is about to +trample on him, when from below Joseph strikes him in the neck with his +knife, so that the blood spurts out all over him. The bull now begins +to kick, lifting Joseph who holds tight on to his horns, then rushes +furiously forward a little way, dragging Joseph with him, half in the +air, and half on the ground: Joseph meanwhile, who wants to bring him +to a stand-still again, never losing his hold. By this time the bull is +bleeding from five wounds, and gradually getting weaker; once or twice +Joseph finds his feet again, but each time the brute regains the +mastery, and with desperate leaps hurries him on. The peasants have +recovered themselves now and come out, the host of the "Lamb" at their +head, to help Joseph with hay-forks and knives. But the bull hears the +uproar behind him, and once more lowering his horns flings himself, +with Joseph, against a closed barn door, so that every one thought +Joseph must be crushed; but the door gives way under the blow and +flies open, the bull rushes into the shed, and there wallows in his +death-struggle among ladders, carts, and ploughs, so that all fall in +confusion one over another. Joseph however swings himself up to a beam +and throws the door to, so that the raging animal shall not get out +again; the people outside hear him barricade the door; he is shut up in +that narrow space alone with the brute, and those outside can do +nothing. They hear the stamping and storming, the bellowing and uproar +within, and shudder at the sound. At last all is still. After an +anxious interval, the door is opened, and Joseph comes staggering +forward bathed in blood and sweat. They suppose the bull is dead, but +Joseph says it were a pity to kill so fine a beast, that his wounds +could be healed and were none of them in a vital part.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the barn all is in confusion, everything upset, trampled, and +crushed, but the bull lies with all four legs tied and fastened to the +floor; he lies motionless on his side, snorting and gasping, like a +calf in a butcher's cart. Joseph has subdued the bull and bound him, +alive--all by himself. There is no one like him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they came back with Joseph to the "Lamb," Afra fell on his neck +before all the people, crying and sobbing, and the hostess brought +Liese to him in her arms, and would have treated him to the best in the +house--but Joseph was in no mood for any more merry-making. He drank +one draught in his raging thirst, and then went home. The whole village +was full of him, and that evening there was a great drinking-bout in +his honour, that lasted far into the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the news the messenger brought from Vent, and again there was +much talking about Joseph Hagenbach, and all the folks wondered that he +should never come up here after Wally. The mistress of the Sonnenplatte +had so many suitors--only Joseph seemed to wish to have nothing to do +with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally left her place by the hedge: the words brought a hot blush of +shame to her brow. Thus it was then that people spoke of her,--that +Joseph would have nothing to say to her? And it was Afra that he was +following? That was the same girl that he had brought with him over the +Ferner the year before, and had been so careful of even then.</p> + +<p class="normal">She sat down on a stone and covered her face with both hands. A storm +raged within her, a storm of love, admiration, jealousy. Her heart was +as though torn in pieces. She loved him--loved him as she had never +done before, as though the panting breath with which she had followed +the narration of his deed had fanned the glimmering spark into a +glowing flame. Again, then--again he had done what no other could +accomplish, but she had no part in it--for Afra's master it had been +done, for love of Afra! Was it possible? must she give way to a +maid-servant--she, the daughter of the Strommingers? Was not she the +richest, and as all the young men told her, the most beautiful maid in +all the land? Far and wide, was there one that could compare with her +for strength and power? Was not she, and she alone, his equal, and +should they two not come together? There was but the one Joseph in the +world, and should he not belong to her? Should he throw himself away on +Afra, on a miserable beggar girl? No, it could not be, it was +impossible. Why, after all, should he not go to the Lamb, without its +being for Afra's sake? He wandered about so much in the course of +hunting, and the Lamb was at Zwieselstein, exactly where all the cross +roads met. "O Joseph, Joseph, come to me," she moaned aloud, and threw +herself with her face upon the ground, as if to cool its burning heat +in the little dewy leaves. Then all at once she remembered how the +messenger had said that Afra had thrown herself on Joseph's neck when +he came back to the inn. She shuddered at the thought. And suddenly she +pictured to herself how it would be if she were Joseph's wife, and if, +when after such a struggle he came home weary, wounded, and bleeding, +she had the right to receive him in her arms, to refresh him, to +comfort him. How she would wash his hot brow and bind his wounds and +lay him to rest on her heart till he fell asleep under her caresses! +She had never thought of such things before, but now, as they crowded +on her, she was thrilled by a hitherto unknown sense--as an opening +flower trembles when it bursts the encasing bud.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this moment she ripened into a woman, but, wild and ungovernable as +all her feelings were, that which made her womanly stirred up all the +hidden and sleeping powers of evil in her soul, and a fearful tempest +raged within her.</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening breeze swept coldly over her, she felt it not; night came +on, and the ever-peaceful stars looked down with wondering eyes on the +writhing form, as she lay on the earth in the night dews and tore her +hair.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The mistress wasn't in again all last night," said the housekeeper +next morning to the underservants. "What is it, think you, that she +does all night?" And they laid their heads together and whispered to +each other.</p> + +<p class="normal">But they all scattered like spray before the wind when Wally came +towards them across the courtyard from the kitchen-garden; she was +pale, and looked prouder and more imperious than ever. And so she +continued; from that day forth she was changed, unjust, capricious, +irritable, so that no one dared speak to her but old Klettenmaier, who +always had more influence with her than any one else. And withal she +carried her haughtiness in everything to the farthest point; her +last word was always "the mistress"--for "the mistress" nothing was +good enough--"the mistress" would not be pleased with this or with +that--"the mistress" might permit herself things which no one else +could venture on, and many another such provocation.</p> + +<p class="normal">Every day she dressed herself as if it were Sunday, and had new clothes +made, and even a silver necklace brought from Vent with all sorts of +pendants in filigree-work, so heavy and costly that the like had never +before been seen in the valley. At the feast of Corpus Christi she left +off her mourning for her father and appeared in the procession so +resplendent with silver and velvet and silk that the people could +hardly say their prayers for gazing at her. It was the first time that +she had joined in a procession, and indeed no one knew exactly what +kind of a Christian she might be; but it was clear that she only went +now to show her new clothes and her necklace, because most of the +people of the canton from as far up as Vent, and as far down as +Zwieselstein, were assembled there.</p> + +<p class="normal">When she knelt down there was a rustling and jingling of stiff silks +and plaitings and tinkling silver, and it seemed to say, "See, no one +can have all this but the mistress of the Sonnenplatte!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It happened that as the last Gospel was being read a slight confusion +arose in the procession, and some people who had been behind were now +walking before her. They were the hostess of the Lamb at Zwieselstein +and the pretty slim Afra; she found herself close to Wally, and nodded +to her, then looked back at Joseph, who was walking behind with the +men--so at least it seemed to Wally. Afra looked so lovely at this +instant, that for sheer jealousy Wally forgot to return her salute. +Then she heard Afra say to her companion, "See there, that is the +Vulture-maiden, that let her vulture tear Joseph to pieces nearly! Now +she'll not even take my good-day--and yet I've said many a Pater Noster +for her."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou might have spared thyself the trouble then," Wally broke in, "I +want none to pray for me--that I can do for myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But as it seems to me, thou doesn't do it," retorted Afra.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've no need to pray as much as other folk; I've enough and to spare, +and don't need to pray to God like a poor maid-servant, who must say a +Pater Noster whenever she's in want of a new shoe-ribbon."</p> + +<p class="normal">The angry blood mounted in Afra's face. "Oh, for that matter, a +shoe-ribbon that's been prayed for may bring more happiness than a +silver necklace that's been got in a godless way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, yes," said the hostess, putting in her word, "Afra's in the right +there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If my necklace doesn't please thee, walk behind me, then thou'll not +see it; nor does it become the mistress of the Sonnenplatte to walk +behind a servant wench."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It'd do thee no harm to tread in Afra's footsteps--that I tell thee +plainly," retorted the innkeeper's wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shame on you, hostess, to lower yourself by taking part with your own +maid," cried Wally with flashing eyes. "He who doesn't value himself, +none other will value!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! then a maid-servant's not a human soul!" said Afra, trembling from +head to foot. "A silk gown though, makes no difference to the good God; +He sees what's beneath it, a good heart or a bad!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, truly," cried Wally with an outbreak of hatred, "it's not every +one can have so good a heart as thine--above all towards the lads. Go +to the Devil!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally!" exclaimed Afra, and the tears rushed from her eyes. But she +had to be silent, for at this moment the procession had again reached +the church, the last benediction was pronounced, and the procession +broke up. Wally shot by Afra like a queen, so that she had to cling to +her companion; she had almost run over the girl, and every one turned +to look after her. The men said no more beautiful maid was to be found +in all the Tyrol, but the women were bursting with envy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She looks rather different now to what she did up on the Hochjoch, +with a dog's hole to live in and neither combed nor coiffed--like a +wild thing!" said Joseph, who was standing not far off, and looked at +her with wondering eyes; then he nodded a farewell to Afra, and quitted +the crowd; he wanted to be home by midday.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Afra hastened after Wally. Her pretty blue eyes sparkled with +tears, like water sprinkled on a fire; she was beside herself with +anger, and so was the innkeeper's wife. They caught up Wally at the +village inn. She too was in the most terrible agitation; she had seen +the affectionate familiar farewell that Joseph had nodded to Afra, and +to her--to her, as she believed--he had not vouchsafed a single glance. +And now he was gone, and all the hopes betrayed that she had set on +this day's doings. This Afra! all her anger was centered on her, she +could have trampled her under foot. And here was Afra standing before +her, stopping her way and speaking to her with angry defiance--she, the +low servant-girl!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mistress" Afra brought out breathlessly, "thou's said a thing that I +cannot let pass, for it touches my character--what did thou mean by +saying I had a good heart towards the lads? I will know what lay behind +those words!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dost wish to make a quarrel with Wallburga Stromminger," cried Wally, +and her flashing eyes looked straight down upon the girl. "Dost think +I'd enter into strife with such a one as thou?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"With such a one as me," cried the girl, "what sort of one am I then? +I'm a poor maid and have had none to care for me, but I've done no one +any harm, nor set fire to any one's house. I've no need to put up with +anything from <i>thee</i>--know that."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally started as though stung by a snake.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A wench art thou, a shameless servant wench that throws thyself on a +lad's neck before every one," she cried, forgetting herself and every +thing, so that the people crowded round her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What? who? whose neck?" stammered the girl, turning pale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell thee? Shall I?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, speak out; I have a good conscience, and the mistress of the Lamb +here, she can testify that it is not true."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Indeed--not true! is it not true that two years ago, when thou hardly +knew Joseph, he dragged thee with him over the Hochjoch, and had to +carry thee half the way because thou made as though thou could walk no +farther? Is it not true thou'st never let him be since, so that +everyone names him and thee together? Is it not true thou keeps Joseph +away from other maids that have better right and were better wives for +him than thou--a vagabond serving-girl? Is it not true that only the +other day, when he had fought the bull, thou fell on his neck before +the whole village as if thou'd been his promised wife? Is none of that +true?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Afra covered her face with her hands, and wept aloud, "Oh, Joseph, +Joseph, that I should have to put up with this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be quiet, Afra," said the good natured landlady consolingly, "she has +betrayed herself, it's only her anger because Joseph doesn't run after +her and won't burn his fingers for her like the other lads. If only +Joseph were here he would make her tell a different story."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I can well believe that he wouldn't leave his pretty sweetheart +in the lurch," said Wally, with a laugh so terribly sharp and shrill +that the sound re-echoed from the hills like a cry of pain. "Such a +sweetheart, who hangs about his neck, is no doubt more convenient than +one who must first be won, and with whom it might come to pass that +he'd have to take himself off again with scorn and mockery. The proud +bear-hunter would no doubt sooner mate with such a one than with the +Vulture-Maiden!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The innkeeper now stepped forward. "Hearken," he said, "I've had enough +of this; the lass is a good lass--my wife and I, we answer for her, and +we'll let no harm come to her. Do thou take back thy words; I order +it--dost understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Again Wally laughed aloud, "Landlord," she said. "Did thou ever hear +tell that the Vulture lets itself be ordered by the Lamb?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Everyone laughed at the play of words, for the host of the Lamb was +proverbially called a "Lamperl,"<a name="div2Ref_01" href="#div2_01"><sup>[1]</sup></a> because he was a weak good-natured +man who would put up with anything.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, thou deserves thy name, thou Vulture-Wally--that thou dost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Make way there," Wally now exclaimed, "I've had enough of this--this +threshing of empty straw. Let me pass!" and she would have pushed Afra +on one side under the doorway.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the innkeeper's wife held Afra by the arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, thou's no call to make way--get thee in first; thou'rt no worse +than she is," she said, as she tried to press through the door with +Afra in front of Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally seized Afra by the waist, lifted her up and flung her from the +door into the arms of the nearest bystander. "First come the +mistresses, and after them the maids," she said; then passing before +everyone into the room she seated herself at the head of the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">Everyone chuckled and clapped their hands at the audacious jest. Afra +cried and was so abashed that she would not go in, and the innkeeper +and his wife took her home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only wait, Afra," said the good woman consolingly on the way home, +"I'll send Joseph to her, and he will take her in hand." But Afra only +shook her head and said no one would do her any good; disgraced she +was, and disgraced she must remain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, but why must thou needs begin a quarrel with that bad girl of +Stromminger's," said the landlord, scolding her good-naturedly, "every +one keeps out of her way that can."</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile Wally sat within and looked out of window at Afra departing +with her companions; her heart beat so that the silver pendants to her +necklace tinkled softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">She was called upon to eat, the vermicelli soup was getting cold; but +she found the soup bad and the mutton as tough as leather; she tossed a +gulden on the table, would take no change, and in the face of all the +astonished peasants rustled out of the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just as she had done after her confirmation five years before, she tore +off her fine clothes when she got home, and flung them into the chest. +The silver necklace with its filigree work she trampled into a +shapeless mass. What good had her splendour done her? It had not helped +her to please the only one whom she desired to please. And, as once +before, she threw herself on her bed, angrily chafing against the holy +images. A piercing torment tortured her soul as if with knives. Her +eyes fell on the carved image of Wallburga above her, and then she +thought that the pain she was enduring might be the knife of God +working on her, to make out of her a Saint--as the curé had said. But +why should she be made a saint? She would so much rather be a happy +woman. And that might have been done so easily; the good God would not +have needed to carve her out for that--she would already have been +quite right just as she was!</p> + +<p class="normal">So she murmured and rebelled against the knife of God.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">CHAPTER XI.</a></h2> + +<h3>At Last.</h3> + +<p class="normal">For some time Wally's moods had been almost unendurable. The whole +night through she would wander about in the open air; by day she was +full of unceasing and indomitable energy, labouring restlessly early +and late, and expecting every one else to do the same--an impossibility +for most people. Vincenz might now venture to call again, for he always +knew the latest news in the valley--and Wallburga had all at once grown +eager for news. When Vincenz perceived this, he made it his express +business to enquire far and near, so as always to have some new thing +to retail to Wally, who thus became gradually accustomed to see him +every day. He soon observed that she always showed more curiosity about +Sölden and Zwieselstein than about any other place, and cunning as he +was, he easily discovered the reason. He constantly brought word of the +continued intimacy between Joseph and Afra; it was news that threw +Wally into the most frightful agitation, but he feigned not to perceive +this, and cautiously avoiding any mention of his own love, succeeded in +making her feel secure and trustful with him. But he was consumed with +jealousy of Joseph; that Hagenbach was the curse of his life. There was +no glory in which he had not anticipated him, no deed of valour in +which he had not stood before him, no match at skittles or at shooting +at which he had not carried off the prize, and now he had taken from +him Wally's heart also--Wally's heart, which his persistent suit might +perhaps have won, had not Joseph been there. "Why does God Almighty +pour everything down on one man and deal so niggardly with another?" +growled Vincenz, and tormented himself secretly as much as Wally did. +If they had only done their lamentations and grumbling together, it +would have been enough to desolate the whole Oetz valley!</p> + +<p class="normal">One evening--it was in haytime--Wally was helping to load a large +hay-cart; the load was ready and only the great crossbar had to be set +in its place, but the hay was piled so high that the men could not +throw it across. When they had got it half way up, they let it slip +again, laughing and playing foolish tricks the while. Wally's patience +all at once gave way. "Get out, you blockheads," she exclaimed, and +mounted on the waggon, pushing the men to right and left out of her +way; then drawing in the rope, she pulled up the crosstree, seized hold +of one end of it with both her rounded arms, and with a single jerk +hoisted it on to the waggon. A shout of admiration broke from all; the +girls laughed at the men for not being able to do what a woman had +done, and the men scratched their heads and thought that all could not +be as it should be with the mistress, and that the devil must have a +hand in it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood on the waggon, and looked at the red setting sun. In her +attitude and on her features was an expression of proud satisfaction; +once more she had felt the certainty that not one was her equal, and +strong in her sense of power, she was ready to challenge the whole +world.</p> + +<p class="normal">At that moment Vincenz came up. "Wally," he called out to her, "thou +looks like Queen Potiphar on the elephant. If Joseph had seen Potiphar +like that, for certain he'd not have been so bashful."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally turned crimson at these offensive words, and sprang down from the +waggon. "I forbid such jests with me," she said, when she was on the +ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay," disclaimed Vincenz, "I meant no harm; but thou looked so +handsome up there, it came out without thinking: it shall not happen +again."</p> + +<p class="normal">They walked on silently together.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What news is stirring?" asked Wally at last, according to custom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not much," said Vincenz; "they say that Hagenbach is going to take the +maid Afra to the dance at Sölden on St. Peter's Day. I heard it from +the messenger who had had to fetch a new pair of shoes from Imst for +Afra, and a silk neckerchief, and Joseph paid for them." Wally bit her +lips and said nothing, but Vincenz saw what was passing in her mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell thee what," said Vincenz, "we also do things in style on St. +Peter's Day, and if the peasant-mistress would come, there would be a +feast to be talked of far and wide; come for once with me to the +dance."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally gave her head a short toss. "I'm the right sort to go to dances," +she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay go, Wally," urged Vincenz, "just for once, if it's only to spite +people."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Much I care for them," said Wally, laughing contemptuously.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But think a bit, people say--" he paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood still. "What do they say?" she asked, looking at him +piercingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vincenz shrank back at the expression on her countenance, "I only mean +that they say thou's got some secret trouble. The upper servant says +thou wast out the whole night, and goes wandering about like a sick +chicken. And folk say thou'st everything heart can desire, and suitors +as many as the sand on the seashore, so if thou's not content with +that, there must be some love-sorrow on thy mind--and ever since what +happened at the Procession--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well! go on!" said Wally huskily.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Since then they say that Joseph is the only lad in the Oetz valley +that thou cares to catch--and that he won't bite."</p> + +<p class="normal">He darted a lightning glance at Wally as he said the words; they +touched her to the quick. She had to stand still and lean her forehead +against the trunk of a tree, the blood throbbed so in her temples.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if it is so, if they do say such things behind my back--" she +gasped, but she could not finish; a sudden mist seemed to cloud and +confuse all her thoughts.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vincenz gave her time to recover herself; he knew what it must be to +her, for he knew her pride. After a time he said,</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, it seems to me thou'd best come with me to the dance; that +were the best way to stop peoples' mouths."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally drew herself up. "I go with no lad to the dance that I don't mean +to marry--that I tell thee once for all!" she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I was thee, I'd sooner marry Vincenz Gellner than die an old maid +for love of Hagenbach," said Vincenz sneeringly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at him with newly-awakened aversion. "I wonder thou'rt not +tired of that," she said; "when thou knows well it's all of no good."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, I ask thee for the last time, can thou not bring thyself to +think of me as a husband?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never--never! sooner will I die," she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vincenz' sharp and prominent cheek bones became white spots on his +yellow face; he looked almost like the vulture, glancing sideways at +Wally, as at some defenceless prey. "I'm sorry, Wally," he said, "but +I've somewhat to say to thee--something that I'd fain have spared thee, +but thou forces me to it. I've given thee a twelvemonth, and now I must +speak." He drew a written sheet of paper from his pocket. "It's nigh +upon a year since thy father died, and if thou doesn't marry me at the +year's end thy right to the farm is over."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stared at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He unfolded the paper. "Here's thy father's will, by which he appoints +that if thou don't marry me by a twelvemonth after his death, the farm +and all belonging to it is mine, and thou gets no more than he was +bound by law to leave thee. There'll be an end then of the proud +peasant-mistress. As yet, no one knows of this. Thou can turn it over +once more, and in the end I fancy thou'll give in, sooner than go with +me before the justices, and have the will carried out."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood still, and measured Vincenz from head to foot with a +single glance of cold contempt, then said with perfect calmness: "Oh +thou pitiful fool! In <i>this</i> net then thou'st thought to catch the +Vulture-maiden? You are a pair, thou and my father, but neither one nor +the other of you knew me. What do I care for money or property? That +which I want cannot be bought with gold, and so I care nothing for it. +On Monday will I pack up my things, and go away again, for thy guest +I'll never be--no, not for an hour. And if it gives me pain to leave +this farm, where I first saw the light--still, I've been no happier as +mistress than when I minded the cattle--and as much a stranger here as +there. So it's all for the best, and I'll leave the place, and go away +as far as I can."</p> + +<p class="normal">Calmly she turned towards the house. A wild anguish seized Vincenz; +he threw himself at her feet, and clasped her knees. "I never meant +that," he cried, "thou mustn't go away,--for God's sake, don't serve me +so--what do I want with the farm? I only meant--my God, my God--only to +try everything!" With one hand he held Wally fast, with the other he +thrust the paper into his mouth, and tore it with his teeth. "There, +there, see, there goes the scrawl--I'll have none of the farm, if +thou'll not stay--there--there--" he strewed the fragments to the wind, +"I want nothing--nothing--only don't thou serve me so--don't go away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at him in wonder. "I pity thee, Vincenz, but I cannot help +thee--no more than I myself am helped. Keep thou the farm and all that +belongs to it; my father left it to thee, and that remains the same, +although thou hast torn up the will--I'll take nothing as a gift from +thee. Everything here is hateful to me, even now--why should I wait? No +one is any good to me, nor I to any one. I'll take my Hansl, and go up +again to the mountain--that is where I belong. But if I might ask thee +one thing--tell no one till I'm gone that the farm was never mine; for +thou seest--there's one thing I cannot bear--that folk should make fun +of me. That--that drives me mad. Think of the pointing, and the scorn +when they know that the proud Wally Stromminger has been turned out of +house and home like a maidservant--I couldn't live through it. Let me +at least go forth as mistress."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," cried Vincenz, "where thou goest, I will go. Thou cannot +hinder me--the roads are free to all, and he who will, may run. If +thou'rt resolved to leave--I go with thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at him with amazement, as he stood there raving before +her, and she shuddered as though she had raised some evil spirit. "What +will come of it all?" she murmured helplessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">At this moment the messenger from Sölden was seen coming across the +meadows from the house straight towards Wally. He had a big nosegay in +his hat and in his Sunday-coat, like a bridal messenger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's come to bid thee to Joseph and Afra's wedding," cried Vincenz +with a wild laugh. Wally's foot stumbled against something; she caught +hold of Vincenz, and he seized her round the waist and held her.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the messenger came up, and took off his hat to Wally. "Good +day to thee, Mistress. Joseph Hagenbach sends thee friendly greeting, +and asks thee to the dance on St. Peter's Day. If it's thy pleasure, he +will come up at noon and fetch thee down to the Stag. Thou'lt send an +answer by me."</p> + +<p class="normal">If Heaven itself had opened before Wally, and Hell before Vincenz, it +would have been much the same thing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then it was not true about Afra! He had come to Wally--he had come +after five years of sorrow and suffering--at last, at last! The word +was spoken--the winds bore it triumphantly onwards, the breezes echoed +it back again, the white glaciers smiled at it in the evening sunshine; +Joseph the Bear-hunter bade the Vulture-maiden to the dance! The +labourers in the field shouted, the waggons swayed beneath their loads, +the vulture on the roof flapped his wings for joy--the two who belonged +to one another were come together at last!</p> + +<p class="normal">Joy to all mankind: the race of giants would live again in this one +pair. And smiling graciously, like a Queen beneath the myrtle crown, +Wally bowed her beautiful head and told the messenger, half-bashfully, +that she should expect Joseph.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vincenz leaned against a tree, distorted, faded, mute--a ghost of the +past.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally threw him a compassionate glance--he was no longer to be dreaded: +she bore a charmed life, none could hurt or harm her more. She hastened +into the house, and the servants looked at her wonderingly, such +rapture lay in her expression. But she could not stay indoors; she took +money, and went through the village like a bliss-bestowing fairy. She +entered all the poorest huts, and gave with liberal hand out of that +which she could rightfully and lawfully call her own,<a name="div2Ref_02" href="#div2_02"><sup>[2]</sup></a> for she had +decided irrevocably that the farm should belong to Vincenz. She was +still rich enough to give to Joseph, and to all around her--even her +rightful share of Stromminger's estate was a fortune. She must do good +to all; she could not bear alone her newly-learnt, immeasurable +happiness.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two days before St. Peter's festival were like a fairy tale +to all the villagers. Who could now recognize the morose and bitter +Vulture-maiden in the beatified girl who moved about as though borne on +invisible wings? It had needed but this one ray of sunshine, and the +hail-stricken, frost-bitten blossom had sprung up again. An +inexhaustible power made itself felt in her bosom, a power for love as +for hatred, for joy as for pain, for self-sacrifice as for defiance. +All around her breathed more freely; it was as though a spell had been +taken off them since Wally's dark repining spirit, that had weighed +like a storm-cloud upon everything, had melted away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When one is as happy as I am, every one else should rejoice too," she +said; and soon it was known everywhere that it was because Joseph had +asked her to the dance--which was almost the same as asking her in +marriage--that Wally was so changed. Why should she conceal it, when in +so few days it would be known? why should she deny that she loved him +with all her heart, above everything? he deserved it all, and he loved +her in return, or he would not be coming to fetch her to the dance. It +was well for her that she dared to show all that she felt. If she met a +child she took it in her arms, and told it how, on St. Peter's Day, +Joseph the bear-hunter was coming--Joseph, who had slain the great +bear, and saved the innkeeper's little Lieserl from the mad bull, and +how they would all open their eyes, he was so tall, and so beautiful +to look at--they had never seen such a man, for there was not such +another in all the wide world. The children were quite excited, and +played all day at Bear and Joseph the bear-hunter. Then she joked +with Hansl, threatening him playfully. "Thou'rt to behave thyself +when Joseph comes, else something will happen--that I can tell +thee!" and Klettenmaier and all the best of the servants had new +holiday-clothes--they knew well enough the reason why; but Wally let +them chatter as they would about it, and was not angry.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then again she would sit for hours quietly in her room, doing nothing, +wondering only how it had happened that Joseph had so suddenly changed +his mind; but however much she thought and thought she could not +understand why the unhoped-for happiness, so sudden, so full, so +complete, had come upon her; and she looked up at her holy images, no +longer with enmity, but with friendly eyes, and thanked them for all +the good that they had brought to her. But when she looked at the cards +that were nailed up above her bed, she laughed aloud. "Well, what do +you now say? Own that you knew nothing of what was coming!" and like +enchanted spirits that no liberating spell can call forth again into +the light, the secrets of the future stared unintelligibly at her from +these mute tokens. If only old Luckard had been there, she could have +told what it was the cards replied to Wally--but to her they were dumb, +like a cipher of which the key is lost. If Luckard had been alive, how +rejoiced she would have been! Wally would have liked to lie down and +sleep till the day of the festival, so that the time might not appear +so long. But there was no question of sleep; she could not even close +an eye by day or by night for impatience. She was always counting, "Now +so many hours more--now so many--"</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the day was come. After breakfast Wally went to her room, and +washed herself, and combed her hair without end. Once more she was a +woman--a girl! Once more she stood before the glass, and adorned +herself, and looked to see if she were fair, if she might hope to find +favour in Joseph's eyes; and once more she had procured a new necklace, +even more beautiful than the first, and filigree pins for her hair as +well. The box was on the table before her, she took out the ornament, +and tied it above her bodice; the bright silver was as white as +the snowy pleated sleeves of her chemise and tinkled like clear +marriage-bells, and through the rose-coloured chintz curtains a dim +rosy light shed a tender mist of bridal-glow over the girl's noble +figure. When she was ready, she took from its case a meerschaum pipe +heavy with silver, such as no peasant of the country had far and +wide--a really splendid pipe--and yet she held it long in her hand, +doubting whether it were good enough for Joseph. And still there was +something else, that she took out slowly, almost timidly, looking at +the door to see if it were securely fastened; it was a small round box, +and in it there lay--a ring. She trembled as she took it out, and a +tear of unutterable joy and thankfulness glistened in her eye. She held +the ring in her folded hands, and for the first time for many days she +knelt down, and she prayed over it that the beloved one might be linked +to her for ever. And she no longer heard the rustle of her silks, and +the tinkle of her silver ornaments; she was lost in the passionate +fervour of her prayers; she pressed forward as it were to the presence +of God with the vehemence of a thankful child whose father has granted +its warmest desire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The mistress will never have done with dressing herself to-day," said +the maids outside, as Wally did not appear.</p> + +<p class="normal">Already the peasants were flocking to the Stag. Whoever had feet to go +on, and Sunday-clothes to go in, would be there to-day, for the whole +village was stirred by the great event of the peasant-mistress going to +the dance with Joseph Hagenbach. The road swarmed with people, and the +landlord of the Stag had done his best, and sent for musicians to come +from Imst.</p> + +<p class="normal">The upper maid-servant stood at the dormer-window above, and looked +down the road by which Joseph must come. Wally stood ready dressed in +her room; her heart beat like a sledge-hammer, her cheeks glowed, her +hands were icy-cold, she held her white neatly-folded handkerchief +pressed tightly to her heart--it had been her mother's wedding +handkerchief. The pipe and the ring for Joseph she had hidden away in +her pocket; so she waited motionless whilst the minutes passed by, and +this silent pause of expectation, in which her breath almost failed her +for impatience, was certainly one of the hardest experiences of her +life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"They're coming, they're coming!" cried the maid at last. "Joseph and a +crowd of other lads from Zwieselstein and Sölden, and the landlord of +the Lamb--it's a regular procession!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Everyone ran out into the courtyard; already the noise of the +approaching steps and voices could be heard in Wally's room. She came +out, and a general "Ah!" of admiration broke from all as she appeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the same moment the procession approached the farm-gate, Joseph at +its head. She went forward to meet him, modestly but with the beaming +loftiness of a bride who is proud of her bridegroom--proud to have been +chosen by such a man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph, art thou there?" she said, and her voice sounded soft and +loving as she had never spoken before. Joseph glanced at her with a +strange, almost a shamefaced look, and then cast his eyes down again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally was startled--was it on purpose, or was it by accident? Joseph +had placed his black-cock feather upside down, as the young men are in +the habit of doing when they seek a quarrel. It could only have +happened from an oversight today!</p> + +<p class="normal">Every one stood round and watched her; she was so anxious that she +could say no more, and he also was silent. She looked at him with eyes +full of fervent moisture, but his avoided hers. He was as much +embarrassed as she was, she thought.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come," he said at last, and offered his hand. She laid hers in it, and +they silently walked as far as the Stag. The strangers and all the +servants closed the procession.</p> + +<p class="normal">As, sometimes, when we have gazed at the sun, all grows black before +us, even in full daylight, so now with Wally in the midst of her +happiness, all suddenly grew dark to her soul. She knew not how it was; +she was bewildered and hardly knew herself--it was all so different +from what she had imagined.</p> + +<p class="normal">A noisy countrydance was beginning as they entered the Stag, and as +Wally passed down the long rows of dancers with Joseph, she heard the +people say: "There is not a handsomer couple in the whole world." She +now saw for the first time how many strangers had come with Joseph, and +that all her rejected suitors were there also. Once more she silently +compared them with Joseph, and she could truly say there was not one of +them who came up to him for stature and beauty. He was a king among the +peasants, a mortal of quite another stamp to the ordinary men who stood +around him, and her eye rested with silent delight on the tall figure, +from his broad chest down to his slender knees and ankles. Any one +seeing him thus must surely understand that him only would she have, +and none other.</p> + +<p class="normal">As she looked round, her glance met two piercing black eyes directed +like daggers at Joseph. It was Vincenz, wedged in among the crowd. And +not far off was another melancholy face--that of Benedict Klotz, who +observed her thoughtfully. As she passed him, he pulled her gently back +by the sleeve. "Mind what thou'rt about, Wally," he whispered, "there's +some plot against thee--I don't know what, but I forebode no good."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally shrugged her shoulders carelessly. What harm could happen to her, +when Joseph was at her side?</p> + +<p class="normal">The sets formed for the dance, and Joseph and Wally were to +begin; every one wanted to see them dance together. No couple had +yet been watched with such envious eyes as this well-dressed, +distinguished-looking pair. Joseph, however, moved away from Wally's +side, and stood before her with something of solemnity in his air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," he said aloud, and the music stopped at a sign from the host +of the Lamb, who stood behind them, "I hope that before we dance +together, thou'lt give me the kiss that no one of thy suitors has yet +been able to win from thee?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally coloured and said softly, "But not here Joseph, not before +everyone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Precisely here, before everyone," said Joseph, with strong emphasis.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment Wally struggled between desire and sweet embarrassment; to +kiss a man before all these people was to her chaste and half-defiant +spirit a severe humiliation. But there he stood before her, the man so +dear to her heart; the moment for which she would joyfully have given a +year of her life--nay her life itself--was there, and should she reject +it for the sake of a few bystanders who could do her no harm, if she +did kiss her bridegroom? She raised her beautiful face to his, and his +eyes were fixed for a moment on the full and blooming lips that +approached his own. Then with an involuntary movement, he pushed her +gently from him, saying softly,</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, not so; a true hunter shoots his game only on the spring or on +the wing--that I told thee once before. The kiss I'll wrest from thee, +not take it as a gift. And were I a maid like thee, I'd give myself +away less cheaply. Defend thyself, Wally, that I may win no easier than +the others, else my honour is lost."</p> + +<p class="normal">A scarlet blush overspread Wally's face; she could have sunk into the +ground for shame. Had she then so completely forgotten what she owed to +herself, that her lover must remind her of it? She was crimson to her +very eyes--it was as though a wave of blood were surging to her brain. +Drawing herself up to her full height, with one flaming glance she +measured herself with him. "Good," she said, "thou shalt have thy +will--thou also shalt learn to know the Vulture-maiden. Look to +thyself, whether now thou'lt get the kiss!"</p> + +<p class="normal">She was almost suffocated. She tore off her neckerchief and stood there +in her silver-clasped velvet bodice and white linen chemise, so that +Joseph's eyes rested in amazement on her beautiful bare neck. "Thou'rt +handsome--as handsome as thou'rt wicked," he muttered, and springing on +her, as a hunter springs on a wild animal to give the death-blow, +he threw his strong arms round her neck. But he did not know the +Vulture-maiden. With one powerful wrench she was free, and there was a +laugh of derision from all those with whom it had fared no better, that +maddened Joseph. He seized her round the waist with arms of iron, but +she struck him such a blow on the heart, that he cried out and +staggered backwards. Renewed laughter! With this blow, of which she +knew the value, she had always defended herself against her importunate +suitors, for none had held out after it. But Joseph smothered his pain, +and with redoubled fury threw himself again on the girl, seized her by +the arms with both hands, and so tried to approach her lips; but in an +instant she bent herself down on one side, and now ensued a breathless +struggle up and down, to and fro, an oppressive silence broken only by +an occasional oath from Joseph. The girl bowed and twisted herself +hither and thither like a snake in his arms, so that he could never +reach her mouth. It was no longer a strife for love--it was a struggle +for life and death. Three times he had got her down to the ground, +three times she sprang up again; he lifted her in his arms, but she +always twisted herself round, and he could not touch her lips. Her fine +linen hung in rags, her silver necklace was all broken to pieces. +Suddenly she freed herself, and flew to the doorway; he overtook her, +and like a stormwind tore her back into his arms. It was a fierce and +glowing embrace. His breath floated round her like hot steam; she lay +on his breast; she felt his heart beat against her own; her strength +left her, she fell on her knees before him, and said, as if fainting +with pain, and shame, and love, "Thou hast me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah!" a heavy sigh broke from Joseph. "You have all of you seen it?" he +asked aloud--he bent down and pressed his mouth upon her hot and +quivering lips. A loud hurrah filled the room. She got up and sank +almost senseless on his breast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay!" he said in a hard voice, and stepped back a little, "<span class="sc2">ONE</span> +kiss is enough--no need of more. Thou'st seen now that I can master +thee--and no further will I go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stared at him, as if she could not understand his words. She was +of an ashy paleness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph," she stammered, "why then art thou come?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Didst think I had come to woo thee?" he answered. "Lately at the +procession thou'st said before everyone that Afra was my sweetheart, +because she was so easy to be had,--and that Joseph the bear-slayer had +not the heart to try and win the Vulture-Wally. Didst truly think a lad +with any spirit in him would let such things be said of him and of an +honest girl? I only wished to show thee that I can master thee as I can +a bear, or a mad bull, and the kiss I have won from thee, that will I +take to Afra, as a kiss of atonement for the wrong that thou hast done +her. Now take heed to thyself another time when thy haughty temper +moves thee. Henceforth, perhaps, thou'll forego the pleasure of holding +up a poor and honest girl to scorn and derision--now that thou'st felt +what it is to be a laughing-stock thyself."</p> + +<p class="normal">A shout of laughter from all sides closed Joseph's speech, but he +turned with displeasure from the applause. "You have seen that +I've kept my word," he said, "and now I must go to Zwieselstein to +comfort Afra. The good soul wept to think that I should play the +peasant-mistress such a shabby trick. God keep you all."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went, but they all ran after him; it had been too good a +joke. Joseph was something like a man. He had shown the proud +peasant-mistress that she had a master.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will do her good!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will serve her right!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph, that's the best day's work thou's ever done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No one'll have anything to do with her, when this is known."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus laughed the chorus of rejected suitors, as they crowded joyfully +round Joseph.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dancing-floor was deserted--only two persons remained with Wally, +Vincenz and Benedict. Wally stood still in the same place and did not +stir; it was as if she were lifeless.</p> + +<p class="normal">Vincenz watched her with folded arms. Benedict went up to her and took +her gently by the arm. "Wally, don't take it so to heart--we are here, +and we'll get satisfaction for thee. Wally--speak. What shall we do? we +are all ready, only say what thou'd have us to do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she turned round, her large eyes had a ghostly gleam in them, her +face was ghastly pale. She opened and closed her lips once or twice, +one word there was she struggled to utter, but it seemed as if the +breath to speak it failed her. At last she brought it out, as from the +very depths of her being,--more a cry than a word: "<span class="sc2">DEAD</span> would I have +him!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Benedict drew back. "God forbid, Wally!" he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Vincenz stepped forward with flashing eyes. "Wally, art thou in +earnest?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, in bloody earnest!" She lifted her hand at the oath, her hand was +quite stiff and the nails blue, as in one dead. "He who lays him dead +at his Afra's feet--him will I marry, as truly as I am Wallburga +Stromminger."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">CHAPTER XII.</a></h2> + +<h3>In the Night.</h3> + +<p class="normal">All through the night a strange and measured sound was audible +throughout the silent, sleeping farm-house. Now and then the maids +awoke and listened, without knowing what they heard, then turned to +sleep again. The boards cracked and the beams trembled, slightly but +unceasingly.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Wally who paced backwards and forwards with heavy, unpausing +steps, her sinking heart engaged in a death-struggle with herself, with +Fate, with Providence. All around was shattered--her clothes flung +about the room, on the floor the carved St. Wallburga, the crucifix, +the holy images, all broken to fragments in impotent wrath.</p> + +<p class="normal">She had half-undressed, and her hair fell loose and disordered on her +bare shoulders. A red gleaming pine-torch flickered in its socket, and +in the trembling shadows the features of the broken figure of Christ +looking distorted and living. She stayed her steps, and looked down on +the fragments.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, thou may grin," she said, "thou's always taken me for a fool. +You're of no good, none of you; idols you are of wood and paper, and no +help to any one. Neither prayer nor curse can you hear. And them for +whom you stand, hide themselves, God knows where, and would laugh if +they could see how we kneel down before a piece of wood." And she +pushed the fragments under the bed, that they might not be in her way +as she walked to and fro.</p> + +<p class="normal">A shot was heard in the distance.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood still and listened; all was silent. She must have fancied +it. Why should the sound have taken her breath away? She was not even +sure that it was a shot. The thought flashed through her like +lightning, "Suppose Vincenz should have shot Joseph!" It was mere +folly, Joseph was safe at home--or perhaps at Zwieselstein with his +Afra!</p> + +<p class="normal">She beat her head against the wall in nameless agony at the thought, +and pictures rose before her that drove her frantic. If only he were +dead--dead so that she need never think of him again! She flung the +window open that she might breathe more freely.</p> + +<p class="normal">Hansl, who was asleep on a tree outside the window, woke up and +fluttered in half-stupid with sleep. "Ah, thou!" cried Wally, and +stretched out her arms to him; she clasped him to her breast, he was +all--all that was left to her in the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">Again--a second shot, and this time distinctly in the direction of +Zwieselstein; she let go of the vulture, and pressed her hand to her +heart, as though she herself had been struck. Why this terror? The +trifling incident had suddenly brought before her the whole terrible +deed which yesterday she had sworn to. She could not help thinking +again and again how it would be if the shot she had just heard had +shattered Joseph's head, and a wild and frenzied joy came upon her. Now +he belonged to her only, now none other could claim his kiss, and as +she thought upon it, it seemed to her as though it had really happened; +she saw him lying on the ground in his blood, she knelt down by him, +she took his head in her lap, she kissed the pale face--the beautiful +pale face--she saw it actually before her. And then suddenly pity +overwhelmed her for the poor, dead man, a burning, unutterable pity; +she called him by every loving name, she shook him, she chafed his +hands--in vain, he was no more. Unspeakable anguish filled her soul; +no, this must not be, he must not die--sooner would she part with her +own life!</p> + +<p class="normal">She felt as if an icy cramp had been grasping and crushing her heart, +so that no warm human blood could flow in her veins, and that now the +grip was at last relaxed and the hot flood streaming into her heart +again. She must go out, she must see whether Vincenz was at home, she +must speak to him at once, before daybreak, she must tell him that the +ghastly deed must not be done--she was in a fever, all her pulses +throbbed. She had desired the deed, commanded it, but already the idea +that it might have been done, extinguished her wrath--and she forgave.</p> + +<p class="normal">She threw a neckerchief on her shoulders, and hastened across the +courtyard and through the garden to Vincenz' house. What would he, what +would everyone think of her? It was all one--what did it matter now?</p> + +<p class="normal">She reached the house. There was a light in Vincenz' room on the +groundfloor; noiselessly she glided up, she could see through the +parted curtains--her heart stood still--the room was empty, the +pine-torch almost burnt away. She went round the house; the door was +unfastened, she opened it softly and went in. All was still as death, +the men and maids fast asleep; she crept through the whole house, +nothing stirred--Vincenz was away! The blood curdled in her veins; she +went into his bedroom, the bed was disturbed--he must have laid himself +down, then risen again; his Sunday clothes were hanging up, but his +work-day clothes were missing, nor was his hat in its place. She looked +into the sitting-room; the nail where his rifle usually hung was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood as if paralysed; she never knew how she got outside the +house again. At the door she dropped on to a bench; her feet would +carry her no further. She tried to reassure herself: most likely, +restless as he was, he had gone out after some night game--what could +he do to Joseph, quietly asleep somewhere--she shivered--on a soft +pillow? And by day when everyone was up and about, nobody could touch +or harm him.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was her evil conscience that pursued her with these terrors, and she +hid her face in her hands. "Wally, Wally, what art thou become?" +Shamed, scorned, degraded in the eyes of men, and a sinner in the eyes +of God. Where was water enough to purify her? Down below, there rushed +the torrent--that--yes, that would clear her from every stain; if she +threw herself into that cold flood, all would be washed away, her +sorrow and her guilt--the whole unblest existence created only to +horror and to strife at once done away with--annihilated. Yes, that +were redemption--why did she hesitate? Away with the useless shell +that held the soul in fetters of guilt and suffering! She started +up, but she could not move, she fell back upon the bench. Was this +down-trodden, deadened spirit still held to life then by some invisible +thread?</p> + +<p class="normal">There, God be praised! a footstep on the grass. There came Vincenz. Now +she could speak with him; all might yet be well.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Saints above us!" exclaimed Vincenz, as she went forward to meet him, +"is it thou?" He gazed at her as if she were a spirit. Wally saw in the +morning twilight that he was pale and disturbed. His gun was on his +shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vincenz," she said in a low voice, "hast thou shot anything?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What?" She looked at his game-bag, it was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Noble game," he whispered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally shivered. "Where is it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He lies in the Ache!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally seized him by the arm, in her eyes was a gleam of frenzy. "Who?" +she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dost need to ask?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph!" she cried, and staggered back against the wall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was a hard job," said Vincenz, wiping his brow; "I never thought +he'd have come so soon within shot. The devil knows what brought him +out and about by night. I thought I'd get up early, so as to be down in +Sölden before he was stirring, and at the first step he walks right +into my hands. But it was still so dark that the first shot missed, and +the second only grazed him, but he must have turned giddy, for he +stumbled on the bridge, and held on by the railing. I made the best of +the chance,--I sprang behind him and pushed him over the rail."</p> + +<p class="normal">A groan like a death-rattle burst from Wally, and as a vulture swoops +upon his prey, she flew at Vincenz and seized his throat with both +hands. "Thou liest, Vincenz, thou liest--it is not true, it cannot +be--say it is not true, or I'll murder thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"On my soul, it's true;--didst suppose Vincenz'd think twice when +there was ought to do for thee?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh murder! most cruel and dastardly murder," sobbed Wally, trembling +from head to foot, "so underhand, so cowardly, so base--that I never +meant; in fair fight I meant that he should die. Cursed be thou in time +and in eternity!--outcast and accursed now and hereafter. What can I do +to thee? With tooth and nail thou ought to be torn in pieces."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So these are the thanks I get?" said Vincenz between his teeth. "Did +not thou bid me do it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if I did--what then? Was that a reason?" cried Wally wildly, +"often one says in anger what afterwards one rues in bitterness. Could +thou not wait till I had come to myself again after the awful shock? +Joseph, Joseph!--wild and wicked I may be, but no murderess. Oh, why +could thou not wait, only a few hours? Thy own wickedness it was that +drove thee on, and thou could never rest till thou had worked it out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's right, lay it all on me," growled Vincenz; "and yet thou's thy +share in the mischief too."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye," said Wally, "I have--and with thee I'll atone for it. For us two +no mercy remains. Blood cries for blood--" She ground her teeth, and +seizing Vincenz by the collar, dragged him forward with her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, leave go of me!--what dost thou want? My God, are these the +thanks I get? Mercy--Wally, thou'rt choking me--where art thou dragging +me to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To where we two belong," was the gloomy answer, and on she went as +though borne by a whirlwind, up the ascent, on to the bridge where the +sheer precipice overhangs the torrent--where the deed was done. "Down," +was the one fearful word she thundered in his ear, "we two--together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God above us!" shrieked Vincenz in terror, "thou swore that if I did +the deed thou'd be my wife, and now wilt thou murder me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally laughed her fearful laugh of scorn. "Thou fool, when I fling +myself down yonder with thee, shall not we two be together to all +eternity? will thou try to save thy wolfish life?" And with the +strength of a giant she grasped him in her arms, and hurried him +forward to the low parapet that she might throw herself with him into +the twilight gloom of the abyss.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help!" shrieked Vincenz involuntarily, and--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help!" sounded feebly, ghostly, like an echo from the depths.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood as if turned to stone and let go her hold of Vincenz. What +was that? Some mocking goblin? "Did thou hear it?" she said to Vincenz.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It was the echo," he said, and his teeth chattered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hark--again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help!" sounded once more like a passing breath from the abyss.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All good spirits be praised, it is he--he lives--he is clinging +somewhere--he calls for help! Yes--I am coming, Joseph, only wait, +Joseph--I am coming!" she shouted out with a voice like a trumpet into +the depths, and with a voice like a trumpet-call she hailed the +sleeping village as she flew along the street, knocking at every door. +"Help, help--a man is perishing, save him--help, for God's sake, +help--it's life or death!" And at the cry everyone sprang from his bed, +and threw open the windows.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is it? what's the matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's Joseph Hagenbach--he's fallen into the ravine," cried Wally, +"ropes--bring ropes--only come quick--it may already be too late--it +may perhaps be too late by the time we get there."</p> + +<p class="normal">She flew like the wind, home to the farm, into the barn, collected all +the ropes that were there, and knotted them together with trembling +hands; but all she could tie together, ropes and lines and cords, were +still not enough to reach into the depths where he lay--God only knew +where.</p> + +<p class="normal">Meanwhile the men came running together half-incredulous, half-amazed +at the terrible news, and brought with them ropes, and hooks and +lanterns--for it seemed as if to-day it would never be light--and there +was questioning and advising and helpless bewilderment, for in the +memory of man no one had ever fallen over the cliff, and here on the +broad Plateau they were not provided with ready means of rescue as they +are in places where the dizzy precipices and yawning clefts and chasms +every year demand their victims. Thus they came at last to the spot, +and a chill terror seized even the most cold-blooded as they bent over +the railing, and looked down into the mysterious depths of the abyss in +which nothing could be seen but the surging mists that rose up from the +water. Vincenz had disappeared; all was solitary and silent as death +far and wide, above and below. Wally gave a halloo so shrill that the +air trembled; all listened with suspended breath--no answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph--where art thou?" she cried once more with a voice in whose +tone the anguish of all suffering and desperate humanity seemed +concentrated. All was still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He doesn't answer--he is dead!" sobbed Wally, and threw herself in +despair upon the earth. "Now all is over!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps he's lost his senses, or is too weak to answer," said old +Klettenmaier consolingly, then whispered in her ear. "Mistress, think +of all the people."</p> + +<p class="normal">She raised herself and pushed her disordered hair off her forehead. +"Tie the ropes together; don't stand there doing nothing--what are you +waiting for?" The men looked at her doubtingly. "We must at least try +if he's not to be found," said Klettenmaier.</p> + +<p class="normal">The men shook their heads, but began to fasten the cords together. "Who +will let himself down by the rope?" they said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who?" said Wally. Her black eyes flashed out of her pale face. "I +will!" she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou, Wally--thou's out of thy senses--the rope will scarce bear one, +much less two."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It need bear only one," said Wally gloomily, and seized the rope that +it might be done quicker.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's impossible, Wally--thou'll have to tie thyself and him to it to +come up again," said the men, dropping their arms helplessly; "the only +thing to do is to send into the villages, and collect more ropes--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And meanwhile he'll fall to the bottom if he's lost his senses, and +all will be too late," cried Wally desperately. "I'll not wait till +more comes--give it me here--unwind the rope, and see how long it +is--go on--unwind!" She shook out the coils of rope, and tried its +length and strength; involuntarily the men took hold of it again, they +unwound the huge coil, the preparations began to take shape and order. +The men stepped out to make a chain. "It may reach far enough, but +it'll never bear two."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it won't bear two, I'll send him up alone. Where he has room to +lie, I shall have room to stand. As soon as I've found a footing, I'll +untie myself, and tie the rope round him; then draw him up, and I can +wait till the rope comes down again--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay--that won't do--if he's weak or senseless he can't be pulled up +alone; he'll be dashed and crushed against the cliff if there's no one +with him to hold him off."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood as if thunderstruck--she had not thought of that. Again, +then, she was thwarted--she was not to reach him, except down yonder, +perhaps, in the cold bed of the Ache! The rope would not bear two, that +she herself could see. "In the name of God," she said at last, and in +spite of the fever that shook her, she stood there dignified and +commanding in her firm resolve. She tied the rope round her waist, and +took her Alpenstock in her hand. "Let me down, that I may at least seek +him. If I find him, I'll stay with him and support him till you've +brought another rope, and let it down to us. I'll wait patiently down +there, even if I've to wait for hours hanging between earth and heaven +till the other rope can come."</p> + +<p class="normal">Old Klettenmaier fell on his knees before her. "Wally, Wally, don't +thou do it, they all say the rope isn't safe. If it must be done, let +me go--what does my old life matter? If I can do no good, at least +thou'll see if the rope holds, and if it breaks, it'll only be me +that's killed--not thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, Wally, hear him," said another, "he's in the right; don't thou +go. Only wait, bethink thyself a little till help comes from the +villages."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally threw up her arms, so that they all fell back. "When I was but a +child, I did not wait to think before I took the vulture from its nest +down the precipice--and shall I wait now when I go to seek Joseph? +Speak no more to me--I will, I must go to him. Now--step back, unwind, +hold fast!" And even as she spoke, she had sprung over the railing, +whilst the men who formed the chain had to hold back with all their +might, so great was the strain upon the rope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God Almighty help us," said Klettenmaier crossing himself, then ran +off, as if Wally's words had reminded him of something. All gazed after +her with horror as she slowly sank lower and lower into the sea of mist +till it had swallowed her up and closed over her, never perhaps to be +seen again. All stood speechless round the spot where she had +disappeared, as round a grave; the tightly-strained rope alone gave +intelligence of the movements of the death-defying diver in this sea of +clouds, and on it every eye was fixed--would it break?--would it bear? +And each time one of the hastily-tied knots was paid out, every heart +beat louder--"Would it hold?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The beads of sweat fell from the brows of the men who formed the chain, +and involuntarily each tried once more the knots on which a human life +depended. So passed minute after minute, heavy as lead,--as if time +also were bound to some rope that dark powers refused to let go. Still +the rope strained and swayed, still she must be hanging to it; she had +not yet found a footing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's coming to an end," cried the last man of the chain, "it's not +long enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"God help us!" they all cried together, "not long enough!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Only a few yards remained, and still no sign from below that Wally's +end was attained. The men pressed together as close as they could to +the edge of the precipice, paying out as much of the rope as they +dared. If it were not long enough;--if all had been in vain;--if they +should be obliged to draw up the hapless Wally, to set forth once more +on the way of death!</p> + +<p class="normal">There--there, the rope is suddenly loosened--it is slack--a fearful +moment! Has it given way, or has its burden touched the ground?</p> + +<p class="normal">The women pray aloud, the children cry. The men begin slowly to pull +in, but only a little way--the rope is tight again. It is not broken, +Wally has found a footing, and now, listen! An echoing cry rises from +the depths, and a quivering response bursts from every throat. Again +the rope is slack, they wind it in, and again it is loosened once or +twice; it would seem that Wally is climbing up the precipice. Meanwhile +the day has broken, but a fine, cold rain is drizzling down and the +swirl of fog below is thicker than ever. Now the rope sharply jerked to +the right takes a slanting direction; the men follow it and pass from +the left to the right side of the bridge. Wally seems to mount higher +and higher; they continue to haul in.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be praised!" said some, "he cannot have fallen so deep; if he lies +so far up, he may still live." "Perhaps she's only looking for him," +said others. Now another pull at the rope, and then a sudden +slackening, and a soul-piercing scream.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's broken!" shrieked the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">No, it is taut again--perhaps it was a scream of joy--perhaps she has +found him. The women fall on their knees, even the men pray, for though +all hated the haughty "peasant-mistress"--still, for the devoted girl +who hangs down there in the chaos between life and death, every one +that has a human heart trembles. If only a ray of sunshine would pierce +the gloom for one single moment! All stand looking down, but they can +distinguish nothing; they must leave it to time that passes with such +slow reluctance, to reveal the event.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rope remains immovable, but not another sound reaches them from +below. Is it broken and caught on some point of rock, while Wally lies +dashed to pieces below? Why is there no signal, no call? And hours must +pass before they can get help from the villages round.</p> + +<p class="normal">No one dares to speak a word--all stand listening with suspended +breath. Suddenly old Klettenmaier comes running up, beckoning and +shouting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See what I've got," he called out, showing a whole length of stout +rope thrown over his shoulders. "Thank God, when Wally spoke of the +vulture, it all at once struck me that old Luckard had had the rope +laid by that Stromminger let Wally down to the vulture's nest +with;--and there sure enough I found it, in the loft under a heap of +old lumber."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is a find!" "Klettenmaier, that's a real godsend," cried the +people confusedly. "God grant it may yet be of use," said the patriarch +of the village, looking despondingly at the cord of deliverance, "she +gives no farther sign!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The rope is pulled!" shouted the foremost man of the chain, and at the +same moment a cry came up, so close at hand, that when all was silent +they could catch the words: "Is there no more rope?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, ay, plenty!" resounded joyfully from every side. A grappling iron +was fastened for an anchor on to the end of the rope, a fresh chain of +men was formed, and it was cast into the impenetrably shrouded abyss. +The oldest of the peasants gave the word of command--for the ropes must +be paid out exactly together, so that Wally might be close to the +injured man and support him. Not half so far down as Wally had gone at +first, the rope was caught below, and held fast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let out!" said the leader, in order that Wally might have a few more +yards to fasten round Joseph. "Enough," he called out then, and like +soldiers at the word of command, the men stood awaiting the next order. +Again a few minutes' pause; she must make the loop securely and +carefully, so that the senseless man, now so nearly saved, might not +fall again into the abyss.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tie it fast, Wally," panted Klettenmaier, half beside himself</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, for God's sake, let her make it fast," echoed the people.</p> + +<p class="normal">A thrice-repeated pull at both ropes at once. "Haul in!" commanded the +leader, and his voice trembled as he spoke. The men at both ropes set +their feet firmly in the ground, the veins swell in legs and arms and +brows, sinewy hands are stretched forward to pull, and the lifting of +the heavy loads begins. A fearful and responsible task!--if one fails, +all is lost.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady," warns the leader, "watch each other."</p> + +<p class="normal">It is a solemn moment. Even the children dare not stir; nothing is +audible far or near but the deep breath of the toiling men.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now!--now they appear through the mist, more and more +distinctly.--Wally emerges with one arm supporting the lifeless body +that hangs to the saving rope, whilst with the other she powerfully +bears off from the precipice with her Alpenstock, to keep herself and +him from being dashed against it. In this way, as if rowing, she +ascends upwards through the sea of clouds. And at last they are there, +close to the edge,--one pull more, and they can be lifted up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady," says the leader--every breath is held--the last moment is the +worst--if the rope were to break now!</p> + +<p class="normal">But no, the foremost of the chain stoop and seize them with a firm +grasp, those behind hold fast to the rope.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Up!" cry the men in front. They are raised--they are there--they are +on firm ground, and a ringing shout of joy relieves the long-oppressed +hearts of the bystanders. Wally has sunk speechless on the inanimate +body of Joseph. She does not see, she does not hear, how all crowd +round her and praise her--she lies with her face upon his breast--her +strength is gone.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">CHAPTER XIII.</a></h2> + +<h3>Back to her Father.</h3> + +<p class="normal">In Wally's room, on Wally's bed, lay Joseph, stretched out, insensible. +All was silent and still around him; she had sent every one away, she +knelt by the bed, she hid her face in her convulsively clasped hands, +and prayed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, Lord God!--my God! my God! have mercy and let him live; take from +me everything--everything--but let him live. I'll ask no more of him, +I'll shun him--I'll leave him to Afra even--only he must not die!" And +then she stood up again and made fresh bandages for his head where the +blood flowed from a gaping wound, and for his breast that had been torn +by the crag, and threw herself upon him as though with her body she +would close those portals through which his life was streaming away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thou poor lad! thou poor lad! so stricken and brought down--oh, +the sin of it--the sin of it! Wally, Wally, what hast thou done? Should +thou not sooner have struck a knife into thine own heart--sooner have +stood by at Afra's wedding, then gone home quietly and died, than have +laid him there to see him perish like cattle that the butcher has +felled?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus she lamented out loud whilst she bound his wounds, turning against +herself with the same anger with which she had been used to revenge +herself on others. She would have torn her heart out with her own hands +if she could, in the wild and frenzied remorse that had seized her. +Just then the door opened softly. Wally looked round in astonishment, +for she had forbidden any one to disturb her. It was the curé of +Heiligkreuz. Wally stood before him as before her judge, pale, +trembling in her very soul.</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be praised!" cried the old man, "he is here then." He went up to +the bed, looked at Joseph, and felt him. "Poor fellow," he said, "you +have been roughly handled."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally set her teeth to keep herself from crying out at these words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How did they get him up again?" asked the priest, but Wally could not +answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, thank God, He has averted the worst in His mercy," continued the +curé. "Perhaps he will get well, and you will then at least have no +murder on your conscience, though before the eternal judge the +intention is as bad as the deed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally tried to speak.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know everything," he said with severity; "Vincenz came to me when he +fled, and confessed all--your love and his jealousy. I refused him +absolution, and sent him to join the Papal army; there he may earn +God's forgiveness by good service to the Holy Father, or expiate his +crimes by death. But what shall I say to thee, Wally?" He looked at her +sadly and piercingly with his shrewd eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally clasped her hands before her face. "Oh!" she cried aloud, "none +can punish me with so bitter a punishment as I have brought on myself. +There he lies dying, whom I loved best in all the world, and I have to +tell myself that I did it. Can there be greater misery than that? Needs +there anything more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The priest nodded his head. "This then is what you have done--you have +become a rough piece of wood, fit to slay men with! It has happened as +I told you; you have resisted the knife of God, and now the Lord casts +you on one side and leaves the hard wood to burn in the fire of +repentance."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ay, your reverence, it is so, but I know of water that will quench +that fire. Into the Ache I will fling myself if Joseph dies--then all +will be at an end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alas, poor fool! do you think that is a flame that earthly water can +quench? Do you really think that, with your earthly body, you can drown +your immortal soul? That would burn in the tormenting flame of eternal +remorse, even if all the seas in the world were poured upon it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What shall I do then?" said Wally gloomily; "what can I do but die?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Live and suffer: that is nobler than death."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally shook her head. Her dark eyes looked vaguely before her. "I +cannot--I feel it--I cannot live, the phantom maidens thrust me +down--all has happened as they threatened me in my dream: there lies +Joseph crushed and broken, and I must follow him; it is fated so, and +it must happen so, none can prevent it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, Wally!" cried the priest, clasping his hands in horror, "what +are you saying? The phantom maidens? What phantom maidens? In Heaven's +name! do we live in the dark heathen times when men believed that evil +spirits made sport of them? I will tell you who the phantom maidens +are:--your own passions. If you had learnt to tame your own wild +unbridled will, Joseph would never have fallen over the precipice. It +is easy to lay the blame of your own evil deeds to the influence of +hostile powers. For that it is that our Lord came to us, to teach us to +acknowledge that we bear the evil in ourselves, and must fight with it. +If we control ourselves, we control the mysterious powers which drove +even the giants of the past to destruction, because with all their +strength they had no moral power to withstand them. And with all your +strength, your hardness and your daring, you are but a pitiful, weak +creature, so long as you do not know what every homely, simple handmaid +of the Lord performs, who, every day in the strict discipline of her +cloister-life, lays on God's altar the dearest wish of her heart, and +esteems herself blessed in the sacrifice! If you had only one glimmer +of such greatness in your soul, you need have no more fear of the +'phantom maidens,' and your foolish dreams would no longer direct your +destiny, but your own clear and conscious will. Reflect for once +whether that were not nobler and happier."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally leaned against the bed-post; she felt as if raised to a +newly-awakened and noble consciousness. "Yes," she said shortly and +decidedly, and crossed her arms on her heaving breast, "your reverence +is right--I understand, and I will try."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will try!" repeated the old priest, "once before you said that to +me--but you did not keep your word."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This time, your reverence, I will keep it," said Wally, and the priest +silently admired the expression with which she spoke the simple words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What security will you give me?" he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally laid her hand on Joseph's wounded breast, and two large tears +sprang to her eyes; no spoken vow could have said more. The wise priest +was silent also, he knew no more was needed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The wounded man turned in his bed and muttered some unintelligible +words. Wally made him a fresh bandage for his head; he half-opened his +eyes, but closed them again and fell back in a death-like slumber.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If only the doctor would come!" said Wally, seating herself on a stool +by the bed. "What o'clock may it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The priest looked at his watch. "What time did you send for him?" he +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"About five o'clock."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then he cannot be here yet. It is only ten o'clock, and it is quite +three hours to Sölden."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Only ten o'clock," Wally repeated in a low voice, and the good priest +was filled with pity to see her sit there so quietly, her hands folded +in her lap, whilst her heart beat with anguish so that it could be +heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">He bent over the sick man, and felt his head and his hands, "I think +you may be easy, Wally," he said, "he does not appear to me like a +dying man."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally sat motionless, gazing fixedly before her. "If the doctor comes +and says that he'll live, I care for nothing more in this world," she +said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right, Wally, I am glad to hear you say that," said the +curé approvingly, "and now relate to me how it was that Joseph was +saved--that will help to shorten the time till the doctor comes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's not much to tell," answered Wally shortly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, it is a noble deed that does honour to the men of the +Sonnenplatte," said the priest, "were you not there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well then, be less short in your answers. I spoke with no one on the +way, and have heard nothing about it. Who fetched him up from the +ravine?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"God be gracious! You, Wally? you yourself?" cried the old man, staring +at her with astonishment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes--I!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But how can you have done it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They let me down by a rope, and I found him fixed between a rock and +the trunk of a fir-tree; if the tree had not been there he must have +fallen into the torrent, and no one'd ever have seen him alive again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child," cried the old man, "that is a great thing to have done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May be so," she answered quietly, almost hardly, "as I'd had him +thrown yonder, it was for me to fetch him up again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are right,--that was only fair," said the priest, controlling his +emotion with difficulty. "But it is not the less an act of atonement +that may take some part of the guilt from your hapless soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is all nothing," said Wally, shaking her head. "If he dies, it's +I that have murdered him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is true, but you gave a life for a life. You risked your own to +save his; you have atoned as far as was in your power for the crime you +have committed--the issue is in God's hands."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally heaved a deep sigh; she could not take in the comfort that lay in +the priest's words. "The issue is in God's hand," she repeated out of +the depths of her burdened heart.</p> + +<p class="normal">The eye of the priest rested on her with content; God would not reject +this soul, in spite of its great faults and imperfections. Never yet, +old as he was, had he met with her equal in power for good, as for +evil. He looked at the wounded man who unconsciously clenched his fist +in defiance. It almost angered him that he should despise the noblest +gift that earth can offer man--a devoted love; that through his +indifference he should have had it in his power to harden a heart so +noble in its nature and capable of such high-minded sacrifice. "You +stupid peasant-lout," he muttered between his teeth.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally looked at him enquiringly: she had not understood.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a knock at the door, and at the same moment the doctor +entered the room. Wally trembled so that she was obliged to hold by the +bedpost. Here was the man on whose lips hung redemption or +condemnation. A crowd of people pressed in after him to hear what he +would say, but he soon turned them all out again. "This is no place for +curiosity; the sick man must have the most perfect quiet," he said +decidedly, and shut the door. He was a man of few words. Only, when he +took the bandage from the sick man's head, "There has been foul play +again here," he muttered.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood white and silent as a statue. The curé purposely avoided +looking at her; he feared to disturb her self-possession. The +examination began; anxious silence reigned in the little chamber. Wally +stood by the window with averted face while the surgeon examined the +wounds and used his probe. She had picked up something from the ground +which she held convulsively clasped between her hands, and pressed +again and again to her lips. It was the thorn-crowned head of the +Redeemer that she had broken in the night. "Forgive, forgive," she +prayed, pale and quivering in her deadly anguish. "Have mercy on me--I +deserve nothing--but let Thy mercy be greater than my sin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"None of the wounds are mortal," said the doctor in his dry way. "The +fellow must have joints like an elephant."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Wally's strength went from her. The chord, too long and too highly +strung, gave way, and loudly sobbing she threw herself on her knees by +the bed, and buried her face in Joseph's pillows. "Oh, thank God! Thank +God!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is the matter with her?" asked the doctor. The priest answered +him by a sign that he understood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, collect yourself," he said, "and help me to put on the +bandages."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally sprang up at once, wiped the tears from her eyes, and lent a +helping hand. The priest observed with secret pleasure that she +assisted the doctor as carefully and skilfully as a sister of charity; +she did not tremble, she wept no more, she showed a steady and quiet +self-control--the true self-control of love. And withal there was a +glory on her brow, a glory in the midst of sorrow, so that the priest +hardly knew her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"She will do yet--she will do," he said joyfully to himself, like a +gardener who sees some treasured faded plant suddenly put forth new +shoots.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the bandages were all fixed and the doctor had given his further +orders, the priest went out with him, and Wally remained alone with +Joseph. She sat down on the stool by the bed and rested her arms on her +knees. He breathed softly and regularly now, his hand lay close to her +on the counterpane--she could have kissed it without moving from her +place. But she did not do it, she felt as if now she dared not touch +even one of his fingers. If he had lain there dying or dead, then she +would have covered him with kisses, as heretofore, when she believed +him lost; the dead would have belonged to her--on the living she had no +claim! He had died to her in the moment when the doctor had said he +would live, and she buried him with anguish as for the dead in her +heart, while the message of his resurrection came to her as the message +of redemption. So she sat long, motionless by the side of the bed with +her eyes fixed on Joseph's beautiful, pale face--suffering to the +utmost what a human soul can suffer--but suffering patiently. She +neither sighed nor lamented now, nor clenched her fist as formerly, in +anger at her own pain; she had in this hour learnt the hardest of all +lessons--she had learnt to endure. What sort of right had she, the +guilty one, to complain--what better did she deserve? How could she +dare still to wish for him, she who had almost been his murderess? How +could she dare even to raise her eyes to him? No, she would bewail +herself no more. "Thou dear God, let me expiate it as Thou will--no +punishment is too great for such as I am--" So she prayed, and bowed +her head humbly on her clasped hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once the door was flung open, and with a cry of "Joseph, my own +Joseph!" a girl rushed in, past Wally, and threw herself weeping upon +Joseph; it was Afra. Wally had started up as if a snake had touched +her: for an instant the battle raged within, the last and hardest +fight. She grasped herself, as it were, with her own arms, as though to +keep herself back from falling upon the girl and tearing her away from +the bed--from Joseph. So she stood for a time, while Afra sobbed +violently on Joseph's breast; then her arms fell by her side as if +paralyzed, and beads of cold sweat stood on her brow. What would she +have? Afra was in her rights.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Afra," she said in a low voice, "if thou truly loves Joseph, be still +and cease these cries--the doctor says he must have perfect quiet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who can be still that has a heart, and sees the lad lie there like +that?" lamented Afra, "it's easy for thee to talk, thou doesn't love +him as I do. Joseph is all I have--if Joseph dies I am all alone in the +world! Oh Joseph, dear Joseph--wake up, look at me--only once--only one +word!" and she shook him in her arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">A low groan escaped from Joseph's lips and he murmured a few +unintelligible words.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Wally stepped forward and took Afra gently but firmly by the arm; +not a muscle of her pale face moved.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have this to say to thee, Afra: Joseph is here under my protection, +and I am responsible for all being done according to the doctor's +orders; and this is my house that thou'rt in, and if thou will not do +what I tell thee, and leave Joseph in peace, as the doctor wishes, I'll +use my right and put thee out at the door, till thou's come to thy +senses and art fit to take care of him again--then," her voice +trembled, "I'll leave him to thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thou wicked thing, thou--" cried Afra passionately, "thou'd turn +me out of the house because I weep for Joseph? Dost think everyone has +so hard a heart as thou, and can stand there looking on like a stone? +Let go my arm! I've a better right than thou to Joseph, and if thou +doesn't like to hear me cry, I'll take him up in my arms and carry him +home--there at least I can weep as much as I please. I'm only a poor +servant-maid, but if I'd to pay for it by serving all my days for +nothing, I'd sooner nurse him in my own little room than let myself be +shown the door by thee--thou haughty peasant-mistress!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally let go of Afra's arm; she stood before her with a white face, and +with marks of such deadly suffering round her closed lips, that Afra +cast down her eyes in shame, as if she divined how unjust she had been.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Afra," said Wally, "thou's no need to show such hatred, I don't +deserve it of thee; for it was for thee I fetched him out of the +abyss--not for me,--and it is for thee he will live, not for me! Look +here, Afra, only an hour ago I'd sooner have throttled thee than have +left thee by his bedside--but now all is broken, my spirit, and my +pride, and--my heart," she added low to herself "And so I'll make way +for thee willingly, for he loves thee, and with me he'll have nought to +do. Stay thou with him in peace--thou need not take away the poor sick +man. Sooner will I go myself. You two can stay at the farm so long as +you will--I will account for it with him to whom it belongs now. And I +will take care of you in everything, for you are both of you poor, and +cannot marry if you have nothing. And so perhaps some day Joseph will +bless the Vulture-maiden--"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, Wally," cried Afra. "What art thou thinking of? I pray thee--oh +Joseph, Joseph--if only I might speak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let it be," said Wally, "keep thyself quiet--for love of Joseph, keep +thyself quiet. And now let me go in peace; torment me no more, for go I +must. Only one thing I pray thee in return for what I've done for thee, +take good care of him. Promise me thou will, that I may go with an easy +mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," said Afra entreatingly, "don't thou do that, don't go away! +What will Joseph say when he hears we've driven thee out of thy own +house?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Spare all words, Afra," said Wally firmly, "when once I have said a +thing, it stands, come what may."</p> + +<p class="normal">She went to the chest, and took out a change of clothes, which she tied +together in a bundle and threw over her shoulder. Then from a box she +took a bundle of linen. "See, Afra," she said, "here is old and fine +linen that thou'll need for bandages, and here is coarser to make lint, +which the doctor will want when he comes this evening. Look, there are +scissors--thou must cut it into strips the length of my finger. Dost +understand? And every quarter of an hour, thou must put a fresh bandage +on his head to draw the heat out. Tell me, can I trust thee not to +forget? Think what it would be if, after I have fetched him out of the +ravine, I should find that thou--thou had been careless in nursing +him--here, at his bedside. And see, he must always lie with his head +high, that the blood may not go to it--and shake the pillows up often. +That is all, I think, now--I know of nought else. Ah, my God, thou'll +not be able to lift him and lay him down as I do--thou hasn't got the +strength. Get Klettenmaier to help thee; he is trustworthy. Now I leave +him in thy hands--" Her voice failed her, her knees trembled, she could +hardly hold the bundle that she carried. She threw a last glance at the +wounded man: "God keep thee!" she said, and left the room.</p> + +<p class="normal">Outside, the priest was talking with Klettenmaier. Wally went up to +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Klettenmaier," she shouted in the old man's ear, "Go in and help Afra +to mind Joseph; Afra is there now in my place. Joseph will stay at the +farm, and I am going away. You are all to treat Joseph as if he were +the master, and to obey him as if I were by, till I come back; and woe +to you, if he has to complain of ought. Let all the servants know!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Klettenmaier had understood, and shook his head, but he did not venture +to make any remark. "Good-bye, mistress," he said, "Come back again +soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never!" said Wally softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Klettenmaier went into the house; Wally stood before the priest, and +met his questioning glance. "Now nought is my own that my heart clings +to, but the vulture," she said sadly, as if exhausted. "But him I +cannot give up--he must come with me. Come, Hansl." She beckoned to the +bird, which sat puffed up and drowsy on a railing; he came flying +towards her with difficulty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou must learn to fly again now, Hansl," she said, "we're going +away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally," said the priest, much concerned, "what do you mean to do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Your reverence, I must go away--Afra is in there! Is it not plain that +I cannot stay? I will do anything, I will all my life go bare and +homeless, and wander through the country, and leave everything to +him--everything--but I cannot look on at his Afra's love--only that I +cannot--cannot bear!" She set her teeth to keep back the springing +tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And for his sake you will really give up house and home? Do you know +what you are doing, my child?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The farm no longer belongs to me, your reverence. Since yesterday I've +known that it belongs to Vincenz, whenever he puts in his claim. But my +money, what I have besides, shall be for Joseph. If he is crippled by +my fault, and cannot earn his bread,--it is my accursed guilt, and I +must provide for him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, is it possible," cried the priest, "that your father +disinherited you of house and home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do I care for house and home? The home I belong to is always +ready," said Wally.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Child," said the old man, much disturbed, "you would not do yourself +an injury?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, your reverence, never now. I see now how right you are in +everything, and that God Almighty will not be defied by us. Perhaps, +when He sees that I truly repent, He'll have pity on me and grant peace +to my weary soul."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now blessed be the hour, hard though it may have been, that broke your +proud spirit! Now Wally, you are truly great! But where are you going, +my child? Will you go to some charitable refuge? Shall I take you to +the Carmelites?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, your reverence, that would never suit the Vulture-maiden. I cannot +be shut up in a cell between walls--under God's free sky, as I have +lived, will I die--I should feel as if God could not come through such +thick walls. I'll repent and pray as if I were in a church, but I must +have the rocks and the clouds about me, and the wind whistling in my +ears, or I couldn't get on at all--you understand, do you not?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I understand, and it would be folly to try to dissuade you. But +where then are you going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going back to my father Murzoll--there is now my only home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do as you will," said the priest. "Go in God's name, my child--I can +part from you in peace, for wherever you go now--it is back to your +Father!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">CHAPTER XIV.</a></h2> + +<h3>The Message of Grace.</h3> + +<p class="normal">High up on the lonely Ferner, near her stony father, once more sits the +outcast, solitary child of man--spell-bound, as it were, like a part of +the dizzy heights from which she looks down on the little world below, +in which no space could be found for the large and alien heart that had +matured in the wilderness among the glacier-storms. Men have hunted and +driven her forth, and that has been fulfilled that her dream foretold, +the mountain has adopted her as its child. She belongs to the mountain +now; stone and ice are her home--and yet she cannot turn to stone +herself, and the warm and hapless human heart is silently bleeding to +death up here between stone and ice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Twice had the moon's disk waxed and waned since the day when Wally +sought this, her last refuge. No familiar face from amongst the +dwellers in the valley had she seen. Only once the priest had dragged +his old and frail body up the mountain to tell her that Joseph was +recovering; further, that news had come from Italy that shortly after +enlisting Vincenz had been shot, and had left to her the whole of his +possessions. Then she had folded her hands on her knees, and said +quietly, "It is well for him--it is soon over," as if she envied him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But what will you do with all this money?" the priest had asked her, +"who will manage your immense property? You must not let it all go to +ruin."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Gold and goods plentiful as straw--and no help in them," said Wally, +"they cannot buy for me one short hour of happiness. When time has gone +by, and I can think of things again, I'll go down to Imst and make it +all sure that my property becomes Joseph's. For myself I'll keep only +enough to have a little house built further on, under the mountain, for +the winter--but now I must have peace, I can care for nothing now. +Manage things for me, your reverence, and see that the servants get +their due, and give the poor what they need; there shall be no poor on +the Sonnenplatte from this day forward."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus briefly had she settled her worldly affairs as though on the brink +of the next world: it remained to her only to await her hour--the hour +of deliverance. It seemed to her as if God had said by the mouth of the +priest, "Thou shalt not come to me, till I myself fetch thee." And now +she waited till He should fetch her--but how long, how terribly long +the time might be! She looked at her powerfully-built frame--it was not +planned for an early death, and yet death was her only hope. She knew +and understood that she must not end her days with violence, that her +atonement must be consecrated; but she thought--surely she might +<i>help</i> the good God to set her free when it should please Him! And +so she did everything that might injure the strongest body. It was not +suicide to take only just enough nourishment to keep herself from +starving--fasting is ever a help to penitence--nor to expose herself +day and night to the storm and rain from which even the vulture took +shelter in a cleft of the rock, so that wet, frost, and privation began +gradually to undermine her healthy constitution. It was not self-murder +to climb the cliffs no mortal foot had trodden, it was only to give the +good God the opportunity to fling her down--if He would! And with a +sort of gloomy pleasure she watched her beautiful body waste away, she +felt her strength diminish, often she sank down with fatigue if she had +wandered far, and when she climbed, her knees trembled and her breath +grew short. Thus she sat one day weary on one of Murzoll's highest +peaks. Around her, piled one upon another, rose white pinnacles and +blocks of ice; it looked like a church-yard in winter where the +snow-covered grave-stones stand in rows side by side, no longer +veiled by clinging leaf or blossom. Immediately at her feet lay the +green-gleaming sea of ice with its frozen waves, that flowed onwards as +far as the pass leading over the mountain. Deepest silence as of the +tomb dwelt in this frozen, motionless upper world. The distance with +its endless perspective of mountains lay dreamily veiled in soft +noonday mists. On Similaun, close to the brown Riesenhorn, nestled a +small, bright cloud, that clung to it caressingly and was wafted up to +sink again, till at last, torn on the sharp edges of the frightful +precipices, it disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally lay supported on her elbow, and her eye mechanically followed the +drift of the tiny cloud. The mid-day sun burned above her head, the +vulture sat not far off, lazily pruning himself and spreading his +wings. Suddenly he became uneasy, turned his head as if listening, +stretched his neck, and flew croaking a short way higher up. Wally +raised herself a little to see what had startled the bird. There, over +the slippery, fissured glacier came a human form straight towards the +rock where Wally sat. She recognized the dark eyes, the short, black +beard, she saw the friendly glance and greeting, she heard the "Jodel" +that he sent up to her--as once years ago, when from the Sonnenplatte +she had seen him pass through the gorge with the stranger--she, an +innocent, hopeful child in those days, not yet cast out and cursed by +her father--not yet an incendiary--not yet a murderess. As a whole +landscape bursts from the darkness with all its heights and depths +revealed, under a flash of lightning--so the whole destined chain of +events passed before her soul, and shuddering, she recognized the depth +to which she was fallen.</p> + +<p class="normal">What had she been then--and what was she now? And what did he seek who +had never sought her then, what did he seek now of her, the condemned +one--the dead-alive?</p> + +<p class="normal">She gazed downwards in unspeakable terror. "Oh God! he is coming," she +cried aloud, and clung to the rock in mortal anguish as if it were the +hand of her stony father. "Joseph--stay below--not up here--for God's +sake not up here--go--turn back--I cannot, will not see thee--;" but +Joseph, who had mounted the rock at a quick run, was coming towards +her. Wally hid her face against the stone, stretching out her hands, as +if to defend herself against him. "Can one be alone nowhere in this +world?" she cried, trembling from head to foot. "Dost thou not hear? +Leave me. With me thou'st nought to do--I am dead--as good as dead am +I--can I not even die in peace?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, Wally, art thou beside thyself?" cried Joseph, and he pulled +her from the rock with his powerful arms, as one might loosen some +close-growing moss. "Look at me, Wally--for God's sake--why will thou +not look at me? I am Joseph, Joseph whose life thou saved--that's not a +thing one does for those one cannot bear to look at."</p> + +<p class="normal">He held her in his arms, she had fallen on one knee, she could not +move, she could not defend herself; she was no longer the Wally of +former days, she was weak and powerless. Like a victim beneath the +sacrificial knife, she bowed her head as if to meet the last stroke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good Heavens, maiden! thou looks ready to die. Is this the haughty +Wallburga Stromminger? Wally, Wally--speak then--come to thyself. This +comes of living up here in the wilds where one might forget to speak +one's mother-tongue almost. Thou'rt quite fallen away; come, lean on me +and I'll lead thee down to thy hut. I'm no hero myself yet, but even so +I've somewhat more strength than thee. Come--one gets dizzy up here, +and I've much to say to thee, Wally--much to say."</p> + +<p class="normal">Almost without will of her own, Wally let herself be led step by step, +as, without speaking, he guided her uncertain footsteps over the +glacier and down to her hut. There however they found the herdsman, and +pausing therefore, Joseph let the girl glide from his support on to a +meadow of mountain grass. She sat silent and resigned with folded +hands; it was God's will to send her this trial also, and she prayed +only that she might remain steadfast.</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph placed himself beside her, rested his chin on his hand, and +looked with glowing eyes into her grief-worn face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have much to account for to thee, Wally," he said earnestly, "and I +should have come long ago if the doctor and the curé would have let me; +but they said it might cost me my life if I went up the mountain too +soon, and I thought that were a pity--for--now I first rightly value my +life, Wally--" he took her hand, "since thou'st saved it--for when I +heard that, I knew how it stood with thee--and just so it stands with +me, Wally!" He stroked her hand gently.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally snatched it from him in sheer terror; it almost took her breath +away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph, I know now what thou would say! Thou think'st that because I +saved thy life, thou must love me out of gratitude and leave Afra in +the lurch after all. Joseph, that thou need not think, for so sure as +there is a God in Heaven--wretched am I and bad--but not so bad as to +take a reward I don't deserve, nor to let a heart be given me like +wages--a heart too that I must steal from another. Nay, that the +Vulture-maiden will not do--whatever else she may have done! Thank God, +there's still some wickedness even I am not capable of," she added +softly to herself. And collecting all her strength, she stood up and +would have gone to the hut where the herdsman sat whistling a tune. But +Joseph held her fast in both arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, hear me first," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nay, Joseph!" she said with white lips, but proudly erect, "not +another word. I thank thee for thy good intention--but thou dostn't +know me yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, I tell thee thou must hear me for a moment--dost understand? +Thou <i>must</i>." He laid his hand on her shoulder and fixed his eyes on +her with an expression so imperious that she broke down and gave way.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak then," she said as if exhausted, and seated herself, far from +him, on a stone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is right--now I see thou can obey," he said, smiling +good-humouredly.</p> + +<p class="normal">He stretched his finely-formed limbs on the grass, laid the jacket he +had thrown off under his elbow and supported himself on it; his warm +breath floated towards Wally as he spoke. She sat motionless with +downcast eyes; the internal struggle gradually brought the hot colour +to her face, but outwardly she was calm, almost indifferent.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See, Wally,--I will tell thee exactly how it is," Joseph went on, "I +could never bear thee formerly, because I didn't know thee. I heard so +much of how wild and rough thou wert, and so I took a bad opinion of +thee and would never have to do with thee at all. That thou'rt a fine +and handsome maid I could see all the while--but I didn't want to see! +So I always kept out of thy way, till the quarrel happened between thee +and Afra--but that I could not let pass. For see, Wally--what is done +to Afra is done to me, and when Afra is hurt it cuts me to the heart, +for thou must know--well, it must come out, my mother in her grave will +forgive me--Afra is my sister."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally started back, and stared at him as if in a dream. He was silent +for a moment, and wiped his forehead with his linen sleeve. "It's not +right for me to talk about it," he continued, "but thou must know, and +thou'll let it go no further. My mother told me on her deathbed that +before ever she knew my father, she had a child out there in +Vintschgau, and I solemnly promised her that I would care for the lass +as a sister, and it's for that I fetched her from across the mountains +and brought her to the Lamb so that she might be near me. But we two +promised each other that we'd keep it secret and not bring shame on our +mother in her grave. Now dost thou understand how I couldn't let an +injury to my sister pass unpunished, and stood up for her when she was +wronged?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally sat like a statue and struggled for breath. She felt as if the +mountains and the whole world were whirling round her. Now all was +clear--now too she understood what Afra had said by Joseph's bedside. +She held her head with both hands, as if she could not grasp the +meaning of it all. If it were indeed true, how gigantic was the wrong +she had done. It was not a heartless man who had scorned her for a +lowly maid-servant--it was a brother fulfilling his duty to a sister +that she would have killed--she would have bereft a poor orphan of her +last remaining stay for the sake of a blind movement of jealousy. "Good +God, if it had been so!" she said to herself. She felt giddy--she +buried her face in her hands, and a dull groan escaped her. Joseph, who +did not observe her agitation, went on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So it came to pass that up at the Lamb I swore before them all that I +would take down thy pride, and do to thee as thou'd done to Afra, and +so we hatched the plot among us, in spite of Afra who'd not have had it +done. And all went well; but when we wrestled with one another, and +when that dear and beautiful bosom lay upon my heart, and when I kissed +thee, it was as if my veins were filled with fire. I'd say no word to +thee, because I'd been thy enemy so long,--but from hour to hour the +fire grew, and in the night I clasped my pillow to me and thought that +it was thou, and when I woke, I cried out loud for thee and sprang out +of bed for the ferment and fever I was in."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop, stop--thou'rt killing me," cried Wally, with cheeks and brow +aflame; but he went on passionately: "So I went out whilst it was still +night, and wandered up to the Sonnenplatte. I'll tell thee all,--I +meant to knock at thy window before break of day, and I was full of joy +to think how thou'd put out thy sleepy face, and how I'd hold thy head, +and make amends for all, and ask thy pardon a thousand, thousand times. +And then--then a shot whistled past my head, and directly after another +hit my shoulder, and as I stumbled some one sprang on me from behind +and hurled me down from the bridge. And I thought, now all is over with +love and everything else. But thou came, thou angel in maiden's form, +and took pity on me, and saved me, and cared for me--Oh, Wally!" He +threw himself at her feet, "Wally, I cannot thank thee as I ought--but +all the love of all the men in the world put together is not so great +as the love I have for thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Wally's strength gave way altogether--with a heart-rending cry she +thrust Joseph from her, and flung herself in wild despair face +downwards on the earth. "Oh, so happy as I might have been--and now all +is over--all, all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally, for God's sake!--I believe thou'rt really mad! What is over? If +thee and me love each other, all is well!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh Joseph, Joseph, thou doesn't know--nothing can ever be between us +two; oh, thou doesn't know, I am outcast and condemned--thy wife I can +never be--trample on me, strike me dead--me it was that had thee flung +down yonder."</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph shrank back at the awful words--he was not yet sure that Wally +was not mad. He had sprung up, and was looking down at her in horror.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph," whispered Wally, and clasped his knees, "I've loved thee ever +since I've known thee, and it was because of thee that my father sent +me up to the Hochjoch, because of thee that I set fire to his house, +because of thee that for three years I wandered lonely in the wilds, +and was hungry and frozen and would have died sooner than be married to +another man. And out of pure jealousy I treated Afra as I did, because +I thought she was thy love and would take thee from me. And thou came +at last after long, long years that I had waited for thee, and thou +asked me to the dance like a bridegroom--and I believed it, my heart +was bursting for joy, and I let thee kiss me as a bride, but thou--thou +mocked me before everyone--mocked me!--for all the true love with which +I had longed for thee--for all the sore trouble that I had borne for +thee--then all at once everything was changed, and I bade Vincenz kill +thee."</p> + +<p class="normal">Joseph covered his face with his hands. "That is horrible," he said in +an undertone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then in the night I repented," Wally went on, "and I went out, and +would have hindered it--but it was too late. And now thou'st come to +tell me that thou loves me, and all would be well if I could stand +before thee with a clear conscience. And I have brought it all on +myself with my blind rage and wickedness. I thought no wrong could be +so great as that thou did to me, and it is all nothing to what I have +done to myself--but it serves me right--it serves me quite right."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a long silence. Wally had pressed her damp brow against +Joseph's knee, her whole body shook as in a death-agony. An agonizing +minute passed by. Then she felt a hand gently raise her face, and +Joseph's large eyes looked down on her with a wonderful expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thou poor Wally!" he said softly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Joseph, Joseph, thou mustn't be so good to me," cried Wally trembling, +"take thy gun and kill me dead--I'll hold still and never shrink, but +bless thee for the deed."</p> + +<p class="normal">He raised her from the ground, he took her in his arms, he laid her +head on his breast and smoothed her disordered hair, then kissed her +passionately. "And STILL I love thee!" he cried in a voice like a +shout, so that the words rang back exultingly from the desert walls of +ice.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally stood there hardly conscious, motionless, almost sinking under +the flood of happiness that flowed over her. "Joseph, is it possible? +Can thou really forgive me--can the great God forgive me?" she +whispered breathlessly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wally! He who could listen to thy words and look in thy wasted face, +and could yet be hard to thee--that man would have a stone in the place +of a heart. I'm a hard fellow, but I could not do that."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh God!" said Wally, and the tears rushed to her eyes, "when I think +that I would have stilled <i>that</i> heart for ever--!" She wrung her hands +in despair: "Oh thou good lad--the better and the dearer thou art to +me, so much the more terrible is my remorse. Oh, my peace is gone, for +ever gone, in earth and in Heaven. Thy servant will I be, not thy +wife--on thy door-step will I sleep, not at thy side--I'll serve thee, +and work for thee, and do all thy will before thou can speak the word. +And if thou strike me, I'll kiss thy hand, and if thou tread on me, +I'll clasp thy knee--and beg and pray till thou'rt good to me again. +And if thou grant me nought but the breath of thy lips, and a glance +and a word--still I'll be content--it'll still be more than I deserve."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And dost think that I should be content?" said Joseph hotly, "dost +think a glance and a breath are enough for me? Dost think I'd suffer +that thou should lie on the doorstep, and me inside? Dost think I would +not open the door and fetch thee in? Dost think perhaps that thou would +stay outside, when I called to thee to come?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally tried to free herself from his grasp; she hid her glowing face in +her clasped hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be at peace, sweet soul," Joseph went on in his deep, harmonious +voice, and drew her towards him. "Be at peace, and take that which our +Lord God sends thee--thou mayst, for thou hast atoned nobly. Torment +thyself no more with self-reproach, for I also have sinned heavily +towards thee, and provoked thee cruelly and rewarded thy long love and +faith with mockery and scorn. No wonder that thy patience gave way at +last--what else could one expect?--thou'rt only the Vulture Wally! But +thou's quickly repented thee, and despised death itself to bring me +from the depths where no man would have had the heart to go, and had me +carried to thy room, and laid upon thy bed, and thyself hast tended me, +till that foolish Afra came and drove thee away, because thou thought +she was my love. And thou wished to give us all thy property that I +might be able to marry Afra--as thou thought! And then came away to +the wilderness with thy heavy sorrow! Oh, thou poor soul, nought but +heart-ache hast thou had for my sake since thou's known me, and shall I +not love thee now and shall we know no happiness together? Nay, Wally, +and if the whole world were hard to thee--it's all one to me, I take +thee in my arms, and none shall do thee an injury."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is it really true that out of all my shame and misery thou'll take me +to thy heart, thy great and noble heart? Thou'll have no fear of the +wild Vulture-maiden that's done so many wicked things?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I fear the Vulture-maiden--I, Joseph the Bear-slayer? No, thou dear +child, and were thou still wilder than thou art, I fear thee not, I'll +conquer thee, that I told thee once before in hatred--I tell it thee +now in love. And even if I could not tame thee, if I knew that within a +fortnight thou'd murder me, I would not leave thee--I could not leave +thee. A hundred times have I climbed after a chamois when I knew that +each step might cost me my life--and yet would never leave it, and +thou--art thou not worth far, more to me than any chamois? See +Wally--for a single hour of thee as thou art to-day, to see thee look +at me and cling to me as now, will I gladly die." He pressed her to him +in a breathless embrace. "A fortnight hence thou'll be my wife, and +have no thought of killing me--I know it, for now I know thy heart."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Wally sprang up, and raised her arms towards heaven. "Oh, Thou +great and merciful God," she cried, "I will praise Thee and bless Thee +my whole life long, for it is more than earthly happiness that Thou +hast sent me--it is a message of Grace!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now evening; a mild countenance looked down on them as in +friendly greeting; the full moon stood above the mountain. On the +valleys lay the shades of evening--it was too late now to descend the +mountain-side. They went into the hut, kindled a fire and sat down on +the hearth. It was an hour of sweet confidence after long years of +silence. On the roof sat the Vulture and dreamed that he was building +himself a nest, the rush of the night-wind round the hut was like the +sound of harps, and through the little window shone a star.</p> + +<p class="normal">Next morning Wally and Joseph stood at the door of the hut ready to set +out homewards.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Farewell, God keep thee, Father Murzoll," said Wally, and the first +gleam of morning showed a tear glittering in her eye, "I shall never +come back to thee more. My happiness lies down yonder now, but yet I +thank thee for giving me a home so long, when I was homeless. And thou, +old hut, thou'll be empty now, but when I sit with my dearest husband +down there in a warm room, I'll still think of thee, and how long +nights through I've shivered and wept beneath thy roof, and will always +be humble and thankful."</p> + +<p class="normal">She turned and laid her hand on Joseph's arm. "Come, Joseph, that we +may be at the good priest's at Heiligkreuz before mid-day."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aye, come--I'm taking thee home, my beautiful bride! You see, you +phantom maidens, I've won her, and she belongs to me--in spite of you +and all bad spirits."</p> + +<p class="normal">And he threw out a "Jodel" into the blue distance, that sounded like a +hymn of rejoicing on the day of resurrection.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Be quiet," said Wally, laying her hand on his mouth in alarm, "thou +mustn't defy them." But then she smiled with a serene look. "Ah no," +she said, "there's no more 'phantom maidens' and no more bad +spirits--there is only God."</p> + +<p class="normal">She looked back once more. The snowy peaks of the Ferner glowed around +in the morning light. "Still it is beautiful up here," she said with +lingering footsteps.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Art sorry to come down yonder with me?" asked Joseph.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If thou wast to lead me into the deepest pit under the earth where no +gleam of day ever shone, still I'd go with thee and never question nor +complain," she said, and her voice sounded so wonderfully soft that +Joseph's eyes were moist.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a sudden rush down from the roof of the hut. "Oh, my +Hansl--I'd almost forgotten thee!" cried Wally. "And thou--?" she said +smiling at Joseph, "thou must make friends with him, for now you two +are brothers in fate. I fetched thee from the precipice as well as +him."</p> + +<p class="normal">So they went down the mountain side. It was a modest wedding +procession, no splendour but the golden crown that the morning sunshine +wove around the bride's head--no follower but the vulture that circled +high in the air above them--but in their hearts was hardly-won, +deeply-felt, unspeakable joy.</p> + +<hr class="W20"> + +<p class="normal">Up yonder on the giddy height of the Sonnenplatte where once "the wild +Highland maid looked dreaming down," where later on she let herself +into the depths of the gloomy abyss to rescue the beloved one, a simple +cross stands out against the blue sky. It was erected there by the +village community in memory of Wallburga the Vulture-maiden and Joseph +the Bear-hunter--the benefactors of the whole neighbourhood.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wally and Joseph died early, but their name lives and will be praised +so long and so far as the Ache flows. The traveller who passes through +the gorge late in the evening when the bell rings for vespers and the +silver crescent of the moon stands above the mountains, may see an aged +couple kneeling up yonder. They are Afra and Benedict Klotz, who often +come down from Rofen to pray by this cross. Wally herself it was who +brought their hearts together, and to-day on the brink of the grave +they still bless her memory.</p> + +<p class="normal">Below in the gorge, white, misty forms hover around the traveller and +remind him of the "phantom maidens." Down from the cross there is +wafted to him a lament as it were out of long-forgotten heroic legends, +a lament that the mighty as well as the feeble must fade and pass away. +Still this one thought may comfort him--the heroic may die, but it +cannot perish from off the earth. Under the splendid coat of mail +of the Nibelungen hero, beneath the coarse peasant frocks of a +Vulture-maiden and a Bear-hunter--still we meet with it again and +again.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> +<br> +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_01" href="#div2Ref_01">Footnote 1</a>: Lamb.</p> + +<p class="hang1"><a name="div2_02" href="#div2Ref_02">Footnote 2</a>: In most foreign countries the law provides that a certain +portion of a man's estate is inalienable from his natural heirs.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h3>THE END.</h3> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W50"> +<h4 style="margin-bottom:0pt; margin-top:0pt">PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER.</h4> +<hr class="W50"> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vulture Maiden, by Wilhelmine von Hillern + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 36827-h.htm or 36827-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/2/36827/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Vulture Maiden + [Die Geier-Wally.] + +Author: Wilhelmine von Hillern + +Translator: C. Bell + E. F. Poynter + +Release Date: July 23, 2011 [EBook #36827] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + + +Transcriber's Notes: + + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/vulturemaidendie00hilluoft. + + + + + + + COLLECTION + + OF + + GERMAN AUTHORS. + + VOL. 29. + + * * * * * + + THE VULTURE MAIDEN BY W. von HILLERN. + + IN ONE VOLUME. + + + + + + + TAUCHNITZ EDITION. + + By the same Author, + + THE HOUR WILL COME . . . . . 2 vols. + + + + + + + THE + + VULTURE MAIDEN + + [DIE GEIER-WALLY.] + + BY + + WILHELMINE von HILLERN. + + FROM THE GERMAN + + BY + + C. BELL AND E. F. POYNTER. + + + _Authorized Edition_, + + + + + LEIPZIG 1876 + + BERNHARD TAUCHNITZ. + + LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON. + CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET. + + PARIS: C. REINWALD, 15, RUE DES SAINTS PERES; THE GALIGNANI + LIBRARY, 224, RUE DE RIVOLI. + + _The Author reserves the Right of dramatizing this Tale_. + + + + + + + TO BERTHOLD AUERBACH, Esq. + + +Permit me to offer you the fruit that I have gathered in a field +peculiarly your own. Under your powerful hand the difficult ground of +German peasant-life has yielded up its wealth of poetry; and if others, +with myself, now reap in the field tilled by you, it is our first duty +to think of you with gratitude, and to render to you the honour that is +rightly yours. + +_Freiburg in Brisgau_, April 1875. + + The Author. + + + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + INTRODUCTION + + CHAPTER I. Joseph, the Bear-hunter + + -- II. Unbending + + -- III. Outcast + + -- IV. Munzoll's Child + + -- V. Old Luckard + + -- VI. A Day at Home + + -- VII. "Hard Wood" + + -- VIII. The Klotz Family of Rofen + + -- IX. In the Wilderness + + -- X. The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte + + -- XI. At Last + + -- XII. In the Night + + -- XIII. Back to her Father + + -- XIV. The Message of Grace + + + + + + THE VULTURE-MAIDEN. + + A TALE OF THE TYROLESE ALPS. + + +Far down in the depths of the Oetz valley, a traveller was passing. On +the eagle heights of the giddy precipice above him, stood a maiden's +form, no bigger than an Alpine rose when seen from below, yet sharply +defined against the clear blue sky, the gleaming ice-peaks of the +Ferner. There she stood firm and tranquil, though the mountain gusts +tore and snatched at her, and looked without dizziness down into the +depths where the Ache rushed roaring through the ravine, and a sunbeam +slanting across its fine spray-mist painted glimmering rainbows on the +rocky wall. To her, also, the traveller and his guide appeared minutely +small as they crossed the narrow bridge, which thrown high over the +Ache, looked from above like a mere straw. She could not hear what the +two were saying, for out of those depths no sound could reach her but +the thundering roar of the waters. She could not see that the guide, a +trimly-attired chamois-hunter, raised his arm threateningly, and +pointing her out to the stranger said: "That is certainly the +Vulture-maiden standing up yonder; no other maid would trust herself on +that narrow point, so near the edge of the precipice. See, one would +think that the wind must blow her over, but she always does just the +contrary to what other reasonable Christian folk do." + +Now they entered a pine-forest, dark, damp, and cold. Once more the +guide paused, and sent a falcon-glance upwards to where the girl stood, +and the little village spread itself out smilingly on the narrow +mountain plateau in the full glow of the morning sun, which as yet +could hardly steal a sidelong ray into the close, grave-like twilight +of the gorge. "Thou needn't look so defiant, there's a way up as well +as down," he muttered, and disappeared with the stranger. As though in +scorn of the threat, the girl sent up a halloo, so shrilly repeated +from every side, that a flying echo reached even the silent depth of +the fir-wood with a ghostly ring, like the challenging cry of the +chamois-hunter's enemy, the fairy of the Oetz valley. + +"Ay, thou may'st scream; I'll soon give it back to thee," he threatened +again; and throwing himself stiffly back, and supporting his neck with +both hands, he pealed forth, clear and shrill as a post-horn, a cry of +mocking and defiance up the mountain-side. + +"She hears that, maybe?" + +"Why do you call the girl up there the Vulture-maiden?" asked the +stranger down in the moist, dim, rustling forest. + +"Because, Sir, when she was only a child she look a vulture's nest, and +fought the old bird," said the Tyrolese. "She is the strongest and +handsomest girl in all the Tyrol, and terribly rich, and the lads let +her drive them off, so that it's a shame to see. There's not one of +them sharp enough to master her. She is as shy as a wild cat, and so +strong that the boys declare no one can conquer her: if one of them +comes too near, she knocks him down. Well, if ever I went up there +after her, I'd conquer her, or I'd tear the chamois-tuft and feather +from my hat with my own hands." + +"Why have you not already tried your luck with her, if she is so rich +and so handsome?" asked the traveller. + +"Well, you see, I don't care for girls like that--girls that are half +boys. It's true, she can't help herself. The old man--Stromminger is +his name--is a regular wicked old fellow. In his time he was the best +wrestler and fighter in the mountains, and it sticks to him still. He +has often beaten the girl cruelly and brought her up like a boy. +She has no mother, and never had one, for she was such a big strong +child that her mother could scarcely bring her into the world, +and died of it. That's how it is the girl has grown up so wild and +masterful."--This was what the Tyrolese down in the ravine related to +the stranger, and he had not deceived himself. The maiden who stood out +yonder above the precipice was Wallburga Stromminger, daughter of the +powerful "chief-peasant," also called the Vulture-maiden; and he had +spoken truly, she deserved this name. Her courage and strength were +boundless as though eagle's wings had borne her, her spirit rugged and +inaccessible as the jagged peaks where the eagles build their nests, +and where the clouds of heaven are rent asunder. + +Wherever anything dangerous was to be done, there from her childhood +upwards, was Wally to be found, putting the lads to shame. As a child +even she was wild and impetuous as her father's young bull, which she +had known how to subdue. When she was scarcely fourteen years old, a +peasant had descried on a rugged precipice a golden vulture's nest with +one young one, but no one in the village dared venture to seize it. +Then the head-peasant, scoffing at the valiant youth of the place, +declared he would make his Wallburga do it. And sure enough Wally was +ready for the deed, to the horror of the women and the vexation of the +lads. "It is a tempting of Providence," said the men. But Stromminger +must have his jest; all the world must learn by experience that the +race of Stromminger down to the children's children might seek its +match in vain. + +"You shall see that a Stromminger girl is worth ten of you lads," he +said laughing to the peasants, who streamed together to witness the +incredible feat. Many grieved for the beautiful and stately young life +that might perhaps fall a sacrifice to the father's boasting; still, +everyone wished to see. As the precipice to which the nest clung was +almost perpendicular, and no human foot could tread it, a rope was +fastened round Wally's waist. Four men, foremost amongst whom was her +father, held it, but it was horrible to the lookers-on to see the +courageous child, armed only with a knife, walk boldly to the edge of +the plateau, and with a vigorous spring let herself down into the +abyss. If the knot of the rope should give way, if the vulture should +tear her in pieces, if in her descent she should dash out her brains +against some unnoticed crag? It was a God-forsaken act of Stromminger's +so to risk the life of his own child. Meanwhile Wally sailed fearlessly +through the air, till midway down the precipice she exultingly greeted +the young vulture, who ruffled his downy feathers, and piping, gnawed +with his shapeless beak at his strange visitor. Hardly pausing to +consider, she seized the bird which now raised a lamentable cry with +her left hand and tucked it under her arm. There was a rushing sound in +the air, and in the same instant a dark shadow came over her, a roaring +filled her ears, and a storm of blows fell like hail upon her head. Her +one thought was "The eyes--save the eyes," and pressing her face +closely against the rock, she hit blindly with the knife in her right +hand at the raging bird that threw itself upon her with its sharp beak, +its claws and wings. Meanwhile the men above hastily drew in the rope. +Still for a time during the ascent, the battle in the air continued; +then suddenly the vulture gave way, and plunged into the abyss--Wally's +knife must have wounded it. Wally however came up bleeding, her face +torn by the rocks, and holding in her arms the young bird, that at no +price would she have relinquished. + +"But, Wally," cried the assembled people, "why didn't thou let the +young one go, then the vulture would have loosed its hold." "Oh," she +said simply, "the poor thing can't fly yet, and if I had let him go, +he'd have fallen down the precipice and been killed." + +This was the first and only time in her whole life that her father gave +her a kiss; not because he was touched by Wally's noble compassion for +the helpless creature, but because she had performed an heroic action +that would reflect honour on the illustrious race of Stromminger. + +Such was the maiden who stood out now on the projecting rock, where the +foot could hardly find room to rest, and dreamily looked down into the +ravine over which she hung; for often, with all her impetuosity, a +strange stillness would come over her, and she would gaze sadly before +her, as though she saw something for which she longed, and which she +yet might not attain. It was an image that always remained the same, +whether she saw it in the grey morning twilight, or in the golden glow +of noon, in the evening red, or in the pale moonlight, and for a year +it had followed her wherever she went or stood, below in the valley, or +above on the mountain. And when, as now, she was out and alone, and her +large chamois-eyes, at once wild and shy, wandered across to the +white-gleaming glaciers, or down into the shadow-filled gorge where the +Ache thundered on its way, still she sought him whom the image +resembled; and when now and then a traveller, minutely small in the +distance, glided past below, she thought, "That may be he," and a +strange joy came to her in the fancy that she had seen him, even though +she could distinguish nothing but a human form, no bigger than a moving +image in a peep-show. And now as those two wayfarers passed along, of +whom the one enquired about her, and the other threatened her, she +thought again, "It may be he." Her bosom seemed too tight for her +beating heart, her lips parted, and like a lark set free, her joy +soared up in a pealing song. And as the hunter in the wood below heard +its dying echo, so an echo of his reply reached her, and she listened +with an intoxicated ear--it might be his voice! and a blushing +reflection of her warm rush of feeling spread itself over the wild, +defiant face. She could not hear that the song was a song of scorn and +defiance. Had she known it, she would have clenched her sinewy fist, +she would have tried the strength of her arm, and over her face dark +shadows would have passed, till it grew pale as the glaciers after +sunset. But now she sat down on the stone that supported her, and +swinging her feet as they hung over the abyss, she rested her graceful +head on her hands, and gave herself up to dreaming over again all the +strange things that had happened that first time that she ever saw him. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + Joseph, the Bear-hunter. + + +It was at Whitsuntide, just a year before, that her father had taken +her to Soelden for the confirmation; thither the bishop came every other +year, because there is a high-road that leads to Soelden. She felt a +little ashamed, for she was already sixteen years old, and so tall. Her +father would not let her be confirmed before; he thought that with it +would come at once love-makings and suitors--and time enough for that! +Now she was afraid that the others would laugh at her. But no one took +any notice: the whole village when they arrived was in excitement, for +it was said that Joseph Hagenbach of Soelden had slain the bear that had +shown itself up in Vintschgau, and for which the young men in all the +country round had watched in vain. Then Joseph had set out across the +mountains, and by Friday last he had already got him. The messenger +from Schnalser had brought the news early, and Joseph himself was soon +to follow. The peasants of Soelden, who were waiting in front of the +Church, were full of pride that it should be a Soeldener that had +performed the dangerous deed, and talked of nothing but Joseph, who was +indisputably the finest and strongest lad in all the mountains, and a +shot without a rival. The girls listened admiringly to the tales of +Joseph's heroic deeds, how no mountain was too steep for him, no road +too long, no gulf too wide, and no danger too great; and when a pale, +sickly-looking woman came towards them across the village-green, they +all rushed up to her and wished her joy of the son who had won such +glory. + +"He's a good one, thy Joseph," said the men cordially; "he's one from +whom all may take example." "If only thy husband had lived to see this +day, how rejoiced he would have been," said the women. + +"No, no one would ever believe," cried one quaintly, "that such a fine +fellow was thy son--not looking at thee." + +The woman smiled, well-pleased. "Yes, he's a fine-grown lad, and a good +son, there can't be a better. And yet, if you'll believe it, I never +have an hour's peace for him; there's not a day that I don't expect to +see him brought home with his limbs all broken. It's a cross to bear!" + +The religious procession now appeared upon the place, and put an +end to the talk. The people thronged into the little church with the +white-robed, gaily-wreathed children, and the sacred office began. + +But the whole time Wally could think of nothing but Joseph, the +bear-slayer, and of all the wonderful things he must have done, and of +how splendid it was to be so strong and so courageous, and to be held +in such great respect by every one, so that no one could get the better +of him. If only he would come now, whilst she was in Soelden, so that +she also might see him; she was really quite burning to see him. + +At length the confirmation was over, and the children received the +final blessing. Suddenly, on the green outside in front of the church, +there was a sound of wild shouting and hurrahs. "He has him, he +has the bear!" Scarcely had the bishop spoken the last words of the +blessing when every one rushed out, and joyfully surrounded a young +chamois-hunter, who, accompanied by a troop of fine and handsome lads +from the Schnalser valley and from Vintschgau, was striding across the +green. But handsome as his comrades might be, there was not one of them +that came near him. He towered above them all, and was so beautiful--as +beautiful as a picture. It seemed almost as though he shone with light +from afar; he looked like the St. George in the church. Across his +shoulders, he carried the bear's fell, whose grim paws dangled over his +broad chest. He walked as grandly as the emperor, and never took but +one step when the others took two, and yet he was always ahead of them; +and they made as much ado about him as though he had been the emperor +indeed, dressed in a chamois-hunter's clothes. One carried his gun, +another his jacket; all was wild excitement, shouting and huzzaing--he +alone remained composed and tranquil. + +He went modestly up to the priest, who came towards him from the +church, and took off his garlanded hat. The bishop, who was a stranger, +made the sign of the cross over him and said, "The Lord was mighty in +thee, my son! With his help thou hast performed what none other could +accomplish. Men must thank thee--but thou, thank thou the Lord!" + +All the women wept with emotion, and even Wally had wet eyes. It was as +though the spirit of devotion that had failed her in church, first came +to her now, as she saw the stately hunter bow his proud head beneath +the priest's benedictory hand. Then the bishop withdrew, and now +Joseph's first enquiry was, "Where is my mother? Is she not here?" + +"Yes, yes," she cried, "here am I," and fell into her son's arms. + +Joseph clasped her tightly. "See, little mother," he said, "I should +have been sorry for thy sake not to come back again. Thou dear little +mother, thou'd never have known how to get on without me, and I too +should have been loth to die without giving thee one more kiss." + +Ah, it was beautiful, the way he said it! Wally had quite a strange +feeling--a feeling as though she could envy the mother who rested so +contentedly in the loving embrace of the son, and clung so tenderly to +the powerful man. All eyes rested with delight on the pair, but an +unutterable sensation filled Wally's heart. + +"But tell us now, tell us how it all happened." + +"Yes, yes, I'll tell you," he said laughing, and flung the bearskin on +to the ground, so that all might see it. They made a circle round him, +and the village landlord had a cask of his best ale brought out and +tapped on the green; for one must drink after church, and above all on +such an extra occasion as this, and the little inn-parlour could never +have held such an unusual concourse of people. The men and women +naturally pressed close round the speaker, and the newly-confirmed +children climbed on to benches, and up into trees, that they might see +over their heads. Wally was foremost of all in a fir-tree, where she +could look straight down upon Joseph; but the others wanted her place; +there was some noise and struggling because she would not give way, and +"Saint George" looked up at them. His sparkling eyes fell upon Wally's +face, and remained smilingly fixed on it for a moment. All Wally's +blood rushed to her head, and she could hear her heart beating in her +very ears with her intense fright. In all her life before she had never +been so frightened, and she had not an idea why! She heard only the +half of what Joseph was relating, there was such a singing in her ears; +all the while she was thinking, "Suppose he were to look up again?" And +she could not have told whether she wished it or dreaded it most. And +yet, when in the course of his story it did once happen again, she +turned away quickly and ashamed, as though she had been found out in +something wrong. Was it wrong to have looked at him so? It might be, +and yet she could not leave off, though she trembled so incessantly +that she was afraid he might notice it. But he noticed nothing; what +did he care for the child up there in the tree? He had looked up once +or twice as he might have looked at a squirrel--nothing further. She +said so to herself, and a strange sorrow stole over her. Never before +had she felt as she did to-day; she was only thankful that she had +drunk no wine on the road; she might have thought that it had got into +her head. + +In her confusion she began playing with her rosary. It was a beautiful +new one of red coral, with a chased cross of pure silver, that her +father had given her for her confirmation. All of a sudden as she +turned and twisted it, the string broke and, like drops of blood, the +red beads rolled down from the tree. "That is a bad sign," an inner +voice whispered to her, "old Luchard doesn't like it--that anything +should break when one is thinking of something!" Of something! Of what +then had she been thinking? She turned it over in her mind, but she +could not discover. Precisely she had been thinking of nothing in +particular. Why then should she be so troubled by the string breaking +just at that moment? She felt as though the sun had suddenly paled, and +a cold wind were blowing over her; but not a leaf was stirring, and the +icebound horizon glittered in the radiant sunlight. The shadow of a +cloud had passed--within her--or without her? How could she tell? + +Joseph meanwhile had finished relating his adventure, and had shown +round the purse containing the forty florins paid by the Tyrolese +government as the reward for shooting a bear, and there was no end to +the handshakings and congratulations. Only Wally's father held sullenly +aloof. It angered him that any one should accomplish a great and heroic +deed; no one in the world had any right to be strong but himself and +his daughter. During thirty years he had been esteemed, without +dispute, the strongest man in the whole range of mountains, and he +could not bear now to find himself growing old, and obliged to make way +for a younger generation. When, however, someone said to Joseph that it +was no wonder he should be such a strong fellow--he had it from his +father who had been the best shot and the best wrestler in the whole +place--then the old man could contain himself no longer, but broke in +with a thundering "Oho! no need to bury a man before he's dead!" + +Everyone fell back at the threatening voice. "It's Stromminger!" they +said, half-frightened. + +"Ay, it is Stromminger, who's alive still, and who never knew till this +moment that Hagenbach had been the best wrestler in the place. With his +tongue, if you like, but with nothing else!" + +Joseph turned round like a wounded wild cat, glaring at Stromminger +with flaming eyes. "Who says that my father was a boaster?" + +"I say it, the head-peasant of the Sonnenplatte, and I know what I'm +saying, for I've laid him flat a dozen times, like a sack." + +"It is false," cried Joseph, "and no man shall blacken my father's +name." + +"Joseph, be quiet," the people whispered about him, "it's the +head-peasant--thou mustn't make a quarrel with him." + +"Head-peasant here, head-peasant there! If God in Heaven were to come +down to blacken my father's name, I wouldn't put up with it. I know +very well, my father and Stromminger had many a wrestling-bout +together, because he was the only one who could stand up with +Stromminger. And he threw Stromminger just as often as Stromminger +threw him." + +"It's not true!" shouted Stromminger, "thy father was a weak fool +compared to me. If any of you old fellows have a spark of honour, +you'll say so too--and thou, if thou doesn't believe it after that, +I'll knock it into thee!" At the word "fool" Joseph had sprung like a +madman, close up to Stromminger. "Take thy words back, or--" + +"Heavens above us!" shrieked the women. "Let be, Joseph," said his +mother soothingly, "he's an old man, thou mustn't lay hands on him." + +"Oho!" cried Stromminger, purple with rage, "you'd make me out an old +dotard, would you? Stromminger is none so old and weak yet but he can +fight it out with a half-fledged stripling. Only come on, I'll soon +show thee I've some marrow left in my bones. I'm not afraid of thee yet +awhile, not if thou'd shot ten bears." + +And like an enraged bull the strong old man threw himself on the +young hunter, who in spite of himself gave way under the sudden and +heavy spring. But he only staggered for a moment; his slender form +was so firmly knit, was so supple in yielding, so elastic in rising +again--like the lofty pines of his native soil, that grow with roots of +iron in the naked rock, buffeted by all the winds of heaven and bearing +up against their mountain-load of snow. As easily might Stromminger +have uprooted one of these trees, as have flung Joseph to the ground. +And in fact, after a short struggle, Joseph's arms closely clasped +Stromminger, tightening round and almost choking him, till a deep groan +came with his shortening breath, and he could not stir a hand. And now +the young giant began to shake the old man, bending first on one side, +then on the other, striving steadily, slowly but surely to force first +one foot and then the other from under him, and so loosen his foothold +by degrees. The bystanders hardly dared to breathe as they watched the +strange scene--almost as though they dared not look on at the felling +of so old a tree. Now--now Stromminger has lost his footing--now he +must fall--but no; Joseph held him up, bore him in his strong arms to +the nearest bench and set him down on it. Then he quietly took out his +handkerchief and dried the beads of sweat from Stromminger's brow. + +"See, Stromminger," he said, "I've got the better of thee, and I might +have thrown thee; but God forbid that I should bring an old man to +shame. And now we will be good friends again; we bear no malice, +Stromminger?" + +He held out his hand, smiling goodhumouredly, but Stromminger struck it +back with an angry scowl. "The devil pay thee out--thou scoundrel," he +cried. "And you, all you Soeldeners who have amused yourselves with +seeing Stromminger made a laughing-stock for the children--you shall +learn by experience who Stromminger is. I'll have nothing more to do +with you, and grant no more time for payments--not if half Soelden were +to starve for it." + +He went up to the tree, where Wally still sat as in a nightmare, and +pulled her by the gown. "Come down," he said, "thou'll get no dinner +there. Not a Soeldener shall ever see another kreuzer of mine." But +Wally, who had rather fallen than got down from the tree, stood as if +spell-bound with her eyes fixed almost beseechingly on Joseph. She +thought he must see how it pained her to go away; she felt as though he +must take her hand in his, and say, "Only stay with me: thou belong'st +to me, and I to thee, and to no other!" But he stood still in the midst +of a knot of men who were whispering together in dismay, for many in +the village owed money to Stromminger, whose wealth circulated in the +very veins of the whole neighbourhood. + +"Well--wilt thou go on?" said Stromminger, giving the girl a push, and +she had to obey him whether for weal or woe; but her lips trembled, her +breast heaved painfully; she flung a glance of powerless anger at her +father; he drove her before him like a calf. So they went on for a few +steps; then they heard some one following them, and turning round, +there stood Joseph with a couple of peasants behind him. + +"Stromminger," he said, "don't be so headstrong. You can never go, you +and the girl, all that long way to the Sonnenplatte, without eating +anything." + +He stood close to Wally; she felt his breath as he spoke, his eyes +rested on her, his hand lay compassionately on her shoulder; she knew +not how it happened--he was so good, so dear--and she felt as she did +when, taking the vulture's nest, the rushing sound of its wings +suddenly filled her ears, and sight and hearing went from her. Even so, +something overwhelming to her young heart, lay in his presence, in his +touch. She had not trembled when the mighty bird hovered above her, +darkening the sun with his broad pinions, she had known how to defend +herself calmly and bravely; but now she trembled from head to foot, and +stood bewildered and confused. + +"Get off!" cried Stromminger, and clenched his fist at Joseph, "I'll +hit thee in the face if thou doesn't let me be--I will, if it cost me +my life." + +"Well--if you won't, you won't, and so let it be,--but you're a fool, +Stromminger," said Joseph calmly, and he turned round and went back +with the others. + +Now no one tried to detain them; they walked on unmolested, farther--at +each step farther away from Joseph. Wally looked round, and still for a +time she could see his head towering above the others, she could still +hear the confused sound of voices and of laughter on the green before +the church. She could not yet believe that she was really gone, that +she should not see Joseph again--perhaps never again. Now they turned a +corner of the rock and all was hidden, the village green with all the +people and Joseph--and every thing, every thing was gone. Then suddenly +there came upon her, as it were, a revelation of a great joy of which +she had had one glimpse, and which was lost to her for ever now. She +looked around as though imploring help in her soul's need, in this new, +this unknown anguish. And there was none to answer her and to say, "Be +patient, presently all will be well!" Dead and motionless were the +rocks and cliffs all around, dead and motionless the Ferner looked down +upon her. What did they care, they who had seen worlds come and worlds +pass away, for this poor little trembling woman's heart? Her father +walked on at her side, silent as though he were a moving rock. And he +it was that was guilty of all. He was a wicked, hard, cruel man; there +was not a creature in the world that took any interest in her. And +while she thought all this, struggling with herself, she walked on +mechanically farther and farther in advance of her father, up hill and +down hill, as though she wished to walk off her heart's pain. The +scorching sun glared on the blank wall of rock, she strove for breath, +her tongue clove to the roof of her mouth, all her veins throbbed; +suddenly her strength gave way, she threw herself on the ground and +broke into loud sobs. + +"Oho! what's all this about?" exclaimed Stromminger in the greatest +astonishment, for never since her earliest infancy had he seen his +daughter weep. "Art out of thy wits?" + +Wally made no reply; she gave herself up to the wild outbreak of her +soul's suffering. + +"Speak, will thee? open thy mouth or--" + +Then from her throbbing, raging heart, like a mountain torrent from the +cleft rock, she poured forth the whole truth, overwhelming the old man +with the rush and ferment of her passion. She told him everything, for +truthful she had always been and unaccustomed to lying. She told him +that Joseph had pleased her, that she felt such a love for him as no +one in the world had ever felt before, that she had been rejoicing so +in the thought of talking to him, and that if Joseph had only heard how +strong she was and how she had already done all sorts of strong things, +he would certainly have danced with her and he would certainly have +fallen in love with her too; and now her father had deprived her of it +all, because he must needs fall upon Joseph like a madman; and now she +was a laughing-stock and a disgrace, so that Joseph to the last day of +his life would never look at her again. But that was always the way +with her father, he was always hard and mad with everyone, so that +everywhere he was called the wicked Stromminger--and now she must atone +for it all. + +Then suddenly Stromminger spoke. "I've had enough of this," he cried. +There was a whistling through the air, and such a blow from her +father's stick crashed down upon Wally that she thought her spine was +broken; she turned pale and bowed her head. It was as hail falling on +the scarce opened blossom of her soul. For a moment she was in such +pain that she could not stir; bitter tears forced themselves through +her closed eyes, like sap from a broken stem; otherwise she lay still +as death. Stromminger waited by her muttering curses, as a drover +stands by a heifer that, felled by a blow, can do no more. + +Around them all was still and lonely, no voice of bird, no rustling of +trees broke the silence. On the narrow rocky path where father and +daughter stood, no tree ever bore a leaf, no bird ever built its nest. +A thousand years ago the elements must have warred here in fearful +conflict, and far as the eye could reach nothing could be seen but the +giant wrecks of the wild tumult. But now the fires were burnt out that +had rent the ground, and the waters subsided that had swept away the +strong ones of the earth in their raging flood. There they lay hurled +one upon another, the motionless giants; the mighty powers that had +moved them lay slumbering now, and peace as of the grave lay over all +as over monuments of the dead, and pure and still as heavenward +aspirations the white glaciers rose high above them. Only man, +ever-restless man, carried on even here his never ending strife, and +with his suffering destroyed the sublime peace of nature. + +At last Wally opened her eyes and gathered her strength to go on; no +further lamentation passed her lips, she looked at her father +strangely, as though she had never seen him before; her tears were +dried up. + +"Thou may guess now what'll come of it, if thou thinks any more of yon +scoundrel that made thy father a jest for children," said he, holding +her by the arm, "for thou may know this, that I'd sooner fling thee +down from the Sonnenplatte than let Joseph have thee." + +"It is well," said Wally, with an expression that startled even +Stromminger; such unflinching defiance lay in the simple words, in the +tone in which they were spoken, in the glance of irreconcilable enmity +which she threw at her father. + +"Thou's a wicked--wicked thing," muttered he between his teeth. + +"I have not stolen anything," she answered in the same tone. + +"Only wait awhile--I'll pay thee out," he snarled. + +"Yes, yes," she answered, nodding her head, as if to say, "only try +it!" Then they said no more to each other the whole way back. + +When they had reached home, and Wally had gone into her room to take +off her holiday finery, old Luckard who had lived with her mother and +her grandmother, and who had brought Wally up from her cradle, put her +head in at the door. "Wally, hast been weeping?" she whispered. + +"Why?" asked the girl with unwonted sharpness. + +"There were tears on the cards--I laid out the pack of cards for thy +confirmation; thou fell between two knaves and I was frightened at it; +it was all as near as if it had happened to-day and close by." + +"Like enough," said the girl indifferently, and laid away her mother's +beautiful gown in the big wooden chest. + +"Does anything ail thee, child?" asked the old woman. "Thou looks so +ill and thou'st come home so early. Didn't thou dance?" + +"Dance!" The girl laughed, a hard shrill laugh, as though one should +strike a lute with a hammer till the strings ring back all jarred and +jangled out of tune. "What have I to do with dancing." + +"Something's happened to thee, child--tell me--perhaps I can help +thee." + +"None can help me," said Wally, and shut down the lid of the chest as +if she would bury in it all that was oppressing her. It was as though +she were closing down the coffin-lid over all her youthful hopes. + +"Go now," she said imperiously, as she had never spoken before, "I +shall rest awhile." + +"Jesus, Maria!" shrieked Luckard, "there lies thy rosary all broken. +Where are the beads?" + +"Lost." + +"Oh! Lord! Lord! what ill luck! only the cross is left and the empty +string. To break thy rosary on thy confirmation day! and tears on the +cards besides! Our Father in Heaven! what will come of it?" + +Thus lamenting, half pushed out by Wally, the old woman left the room, +and Wally bolted the door after her. She threw herself on the bed and +lay motionless, staring at the picture of the Holy Mother and at the +crucifix which hung on the wall opposite. Should she pour out her +sorrows to these? No! The Mother of God could bear her no good-will, +otherwise she would not have let just her confirmation day above +all others be so spoilt for her. Besides, she could not know what +love-sorrows were, for she had known suffering only through her Son, +and that was something quite different from what Wally felt. And the +Lord Jesus Christ!--He certainly did not trouble himself about +love-stories; no one might dare to approach Him with such matters as +these. All that He desired was that one should be always striving after +the kingdom of Heaven. Ah! And all her young, wildly-beating heart was +longing and yearning with every throb for the beloved, the best-beloved +one down here on earth; the kingdom of Heaven was so far away and so +strange, how could she strive after it in this moment when, for the +first time, all powerful nature was imperiously claiming in her its +right? With bitter defiance she gazed at the images of the Mother and +Son, whose pity was for quite other griefs than hers, who demanded of +her only what was impossible. She vouchsafed to them no further word, +she was angry with them as a child is angry with its parents when they +unjustly deny it some pleasure. Long she lay thus, her eyes fixed +reproachfully on the holy images; but soon she saw before her only the +dear and beautiful face of Joseph, and involuntarily she grasped her +shoulder with her hand where his hand had lain, as though to keep firm +hold of his momentary touch. And then she saw his mother again of whom +she had been so jealous, and she lay once more in Joseph's arms, and he +caressed her so fondly; and then Wally pushed the mother away and lay +herself instead on Joseph's heart; and he held her clasped there, and +she looked down into the depths of his black flaming eyes, and she +tried to imagine what he would say, but she could think of nothing but, +"Thou dear little one," as he had said, "Thou dear little mother." And +what could be sweeter or dearer than that? Ah! what could the kingdom +of Heaven, in which those Two up yonder wanted to have her, what could +it be in comparison with the blessedness that she felt in only thinking +of Joseph--and how much greater must the reality be! + +There was a tap at her window, and she started up as if from a dream. +It was the young vulture which she had taken two years before from the +nest, and which was as faithfully attached to her as a dog. She could +leave him quite free, he never hurt anyone, and flew after her with his +clipped wings as best he could. She opened the little window, he +slipped in and looked trustingly at her with his yellow eyes. She +scratched his neck gently and played with his strong wings, now +spreading them out, now folding them together again. A cool air blew in +through the open window. The sun had already sunk low behind the +mountains, the narrow casement framed the peaceful picture of the +mountain tops veiled in blue mist. In herself too all grew more +peaceful; the evening air revived her spirit. She took the bird on her +shoulder. "Come, Hans," she said, "we are doing nothing, as though +there were no work in the world." The faithful bird had brought her +wonderful comfort. She had taken it for her own from the steep cliff +where no one else would venture; she had fought its mother for life or +death, she had tamed it and it belonged wholly to her. "And he will +also one day be mine," said an inward voice, as she clasped the bird to +her bosom. + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + Unbending. + + +This was the short story of love and sorrow, whose pain even now awoke +again in the young heart as she looked down into the valley, thinking +to see Joseph who so often passed along it, and never found the way up +to her. She wiped her forehead, for the sun was beginning to burn, and +she had already mowed the whole meadow-land from the house up to the +"Sonnenplatte;" so the point on which she stood was called, because +rising high above all around, it ever caught the earliest rays of the +morning sun. From it the village took its name. + +"Wally, Wally," some one now called from behind her, "come to thy +father, he's something to say to thee," and old Luckard came towards +her from the house. Her father had sent for her? What could he want? +Never since their adventure in Soelden had he spoken with her excepting +of what concerned the day's work. Wavering between fear and reluctance +she rose and followed the old woman. + +"What does he want?" she asked. + +"Great news," said Luckard, "look there!" + +Wally looked, and saw her father standing before the house, and with +him a young peasant of the place named Vincenz, with a big nosegay in +his button hole. He was a dark, robust fellow whom Wally had known from +her childhood as a reserved and stubborn man. He had never bestowed a +kindly word on anyone but Wally, to whom from her school-days upwards +he had shown a special goodwill. A few months previously both his +parents had died within a short time of each other; now he was +independent, and next to Stromminger the richest peasant in the country +side. The blood stood still in Wally's veins, for she already knew what +was coming. + +"Vincenz wants to marry thee," said her father; "I've said 'yes,' and +next month we'll have the wedding." Having thus spoken he turned on his +heel and went into the house as if there were nothing more to be said. + +Wally stood silent for a moment as though thunderstruck; she must +collect herself, she must consider what was to be done. Vincenz +meanwhile confidently stepped up to her with the intention of putting +his arm round her waist. But she sprang back with a cry of terror, and +now she knew well enough what it was she had to do. + +"Vincenz," she said, trembling with misery, "I beg of thee to go home. +I can never be thy wife--never. Thou wouldn't have my father force me +to it. I tell thee once for all I cannot love thee." + +A look brief as lightning flashed across Vincenz's face; he bit his +lips, and his black eyes were fixed with passionate eagerness on Wally. +"So thou doesn't love me? But I love thee, and I'll lay my life on it +that I'll have thee too. I've got thy father's consent and I'll never +give it back, and I've a notion thou'll come to change thy mind yet if +thy father wills it." + +"Vincenz," said Wally, "if thou'd been wise thou'd not have spoken like +that, for thou'd have known I'll never have thee now. What I will not +do, none can force me to do--that thou may know once for all. And now +go home, Vincenz; we've nothing more to say to each other," and she +turned short away from him and went into the house. + +"Oh, thou!" Vincenz called out after her in angry pain, clenching his +fist. Then he checked himself. "Well," he murmured between his teeth, +"I can wait--and I _will_ wait." + +Wally went straight to her father. He was sitting all bent together +over his accounts and turned round slowly as she entered. "What is it?" +he said. + +The sun shone through the low window and threw its full beams on Wally, +so that she stood as though wrapped in glory before her father. Even he +was amazed at the beauty of his child as she stood before him at that +moment. + +"Father," she began quietly, "I only wanted to tell you that I will not +marry Vincenz." + +"Indeed!" cried Stromminger, starting up. "Is that it? Thou won't marry +him?" + +"No, father, I don't like him." + +"Indeed! and did I ask thee if thou liked him?" + +"No, I tell it you plainly, unasked." + +"And I tell thee too unasked that in four weeks thou'll marry Vincenz +whether thou likes him or not. I've given him my word, and Stromminger +never takes his word back. Now get thee gone." + +"No, father," said the girl, "things can't be settled in that way. I'm +no head of cattle to let myself be sold or promised as the master +pleases. It seems to me I also have a word to say when it has to do +with my marriage." + +"No, that thou hasn't, for a child belongs to her father as much as a +calf or a heifer, and must do what its father orders." + +"Who says that, father?" + +"Who says so? It's said in the Bible," and an ominous flush rose on +Stromminger's face. + +"It says in the Bible that we are to honour and love our parents, but +not that we are to marry a man when it goes against us merely because +our father orders it. See, father, if it could do you any good for me +to marry Vincenz, if it could save you from death or from misery--I'd +do it willingly, and even if I were to break my heart over it. But +you're a rich man that need ask nothing of anyone; it must be all one +to you whom I marry; and you give me to Vincenz out of pure spite, that +I may not marry Joseph, whom I love, and who would certainly have loved +me if he could have got to know me; and it's cruel of you, father, and +it says nowhere in the Bible that a child should put up with that." + +"Thou--thou pert thing, I'll send thee to the priest; he'll teach thee +what the Bible says." + +"It will be no good, father; and if you sent me to ten priests, and if +they all ten told me that I must obey you in this, I yet wouldn't do +it." + +"And I tell thee thou _shall_ do it so sure as my name is Stromminger. +Thou shall do it, or I'll drive thee out of house and home and +disinherit thee." + +"That you can do, father, I'm strong enough to earn my own bread. Yes, +father, give everything to Vincenz--only not me." + +"Foolish nonsense," said Stromminger perplexed. "Shall people say of me +that Stromminger cannot even master his own child? Thou shall marry +Vincenz; if I have to thrash thee into church, thou shall." + +"And even if you thrashed me into church I'd still say no, at the +altar. You may strike me dead, but you cannot thrash that 'Yes' out of +me; and even if you could, sooner would I fling myself down from the +cliff, than I'd go home with a man I've no love for." + +"Now listen," cried Stromminger; his broad forehead was cleft as it +were, with a swelling blue vein that ran across it, his whole face was +suffused, his eyes bloodshot. "Now listen, thou'd better not drive me +mad. Thou's already had enough of my cudgel; now give in, or between us +things will come to a bad end!" + +"Things came to a bad end between us a year ago, father. For when you +beat me so that time on my confirmation day, then I felt all was at an +end between us. And see, father, since then it's been all one to me +whether you are bad to me or good, whether you treat me well or strike +me dead--it's all one to me. I have no heart left for you. You're no +dearer to me than the Similaun-, or Vernagt-, or Murzoll-glacier." + +A stifled cry of rage broke from Stromminger. Half-stupified he had +listened to the girl's words, but now, incapable of speech, he sprang +upon her, seized her by the waist, swung her from the ground high over +his head, and shook her till his own breath failed; then flinging her +to the ground he set his heavy heel studded with nails upon her breast. +"Unsay what thou has said," he gasped, "or I'll crush thee like a +worm." + +"Do it," said the girl, her eyes fixed steadily on her father. She +breathed hard, for her father's foot weighed on her like lead, but she +did not stir; not so much as an eyelash trembled. + +Stromminger's power was broken. He had threatened what he could not +perform, for at the thought of crushing the fair and innocent breast of +his child his anger faded, he grew suddenly calm. He was conquered. +Almost staggering he drew back his foot. + +"Nay, I'll not end my days in a prison," he said gloomily, and sank +exhausted into his chair. + +Wally got up, she was pale as death, her eyes were tearless, +lustreless, like a stone. She waited passively for what might come +next. Stromminger sat for a minute in bitter reflection, then he spoke +in hoarse tones. + +"I cannot kill thee, but since Similaun and Murzoll are dear to thee as +thy father, by Similaun and Murzoll thou may remain for the future, +thou may belong to them. Thou shall never more stretch thy feet under +my board. Thou shall go and mind the cattle up on the Hochjoch, till +thou's found out it's better to be in Vincenz's warm home, than in the +snow drift of the glacier. Tie up thy bundle, for I'll see no more of +thee. Go up early tomorrow, I'll let the Schnalser people know, and +send the cattle after thee next week by the boy. Take bread and cheese +enough to last till the beasts come; Klettenmaier will guide thee up +there. Now take thyself off. These are my last words and by _these_ +I'll stand." + +"It is well, father," said Wally softly; she bowed her head, and +quitted her father's room. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + Outcast. + + +"Up on the Hochjoch!" It was a fearful sentence. For in the +inhospitable regions of the Hochjoch there is none of the joyous life +of the lower pastures, where the sweet aromatic air resounds with +the tinkle of bells, with the calls of the herdsmen and mountain +girls--here are eternal winter, and the stillness of death. Sadly and +gently as a mother kisses the pale forehead of her dead child, so the +sun kisses these cold glaciers. Scanty meadows, the last clinging +vestiges of organic life penetrate, as though lost, the wintry desert, +till the last shoot perishes, the last drop of rising sap is frozen; it +is the slow extinction of nature. But the frugal peasant utilises even +these niggard remains; he sends his flocks up to graze on what they may +find there, and the straying sheep tempted to reach after a plant which +has wandered hither from a milder region, not unfrequently falls into +some crevice in the ice. + +Here it was that the child of the proud chief peasant, whose +possessions extended for miles in every direction and reached up even +to the clouds, must spend her bloom in everlasting winter. While on the +lower earth May-breezes were blowing, the rising sap opening every bud, +the birds building their nests, and all things stirring in joyous +unison, she must take the herdsman's staff and quit the spring-meadows +for the desert of the glaciers above; and only when autumn winds should +be sighing and winter preparing to descend into the valley, might she +also return thither, as though she had been sold to winter, life and +limb. + +No one of the peasants of the neighbourhood would send his shepherds up +there, but they let out the meadows to the Schnalser people who lay +nearer to the ridge on the farther side, and they sent a few half-wild, +weather-beaten fellows, who clothed themselves in skins and lived miles +asunder in stone cabins like hermits; and now Stromminger, who hitherto +had always leased his pastures, condemned his own child to lead the +life of a Schnalser herdsman. But from Wally's lips came no complaint; +she prepared herself in silence for her mountain journey. Early in the +morning, long before sunrise, whilst her father, the men, and the maids +were still sleeping, Wally set out from her father's house for the +mountain. Only old Luckard, "who had known it all beforehand from the +cards" and who had passed the night with Wally helping her make up her +bundle, stuck a sprig of rue in her hat as a farewell-token, and went +part of the way with her. The old woman wept as if escorting the dead +to the grave. Klettenmaier came behind with the pack. He was a faithful +old servant, the only one that had grown grey in Stromminger's service, +because he was deaf and did not hear when his master stormed and swore. +This was the guide her father had selected for Wally. Luckard went with +her till the road began a steep ascent. Then she took leave of them and +turned back, for she had to be home in time to prepare the first meal. + +Wally climbed the hill and looked down upon the road along which the +old woman went crying in her apron, and even her heart almost failed +her. Luckard had always been good to her; though she was old and +feeble, at least she had loved Wally. Presently the old woman turned +once more and pointed above her head. Wally's eyes followed the +direction of her finger, and behold! something floated towards the +mountain heights clumsily, uncertainly through the air, like a paper +kite when the wind fails, now flying on a little way, then falling, and +with difficulty rising again. The vulture with his clipped wings had +painfully fluttered the whole way after her; but now his strength +seemed to give way and he could only scramble along, flapping his +pinions. + +"Hansl!--oh, my Hansl!--how could I forget thee!" cried Wally, +springing like a chamois from rock to rock the shortest way back to +fetch the faithful bird. Luckard stood still till Wally once more +reached the narrow path, then greeted her again as if after a long +separation. At last Hansl too was reached, and Wally took him in her +arms and pressed him to her heart like a child. Since last evening the +bird was so identified in all her thoughts with Joseph, that it seemed +almost as if it were a dumb medium between him and her; or as though +Joseph had changed into the vulture, and in holding Hansl she clasped +him in her arms. + +As an ardent faith creates its own visible symbols to bring near to +itself the unattainable and the remote and to seize the intangible, and +as to faith a wooden cross and a painted image become miraculous--so +ardent love creates its own symbols, to which it clings when the +beloved one is far off, unattainable. Even so Wally derived now a +wonderful consolation from her bird. "Come, Hansl," she said tenderly, +"thou shall go with me up to the Ferner; we two will never be parted +more." + +"But, child," said old Luckard, "thou never can take the vulture up +there, he'd die of hunger. Thou's no meat for him up there, and +creatures like him eat nothing else." + +"That is true," said Wally sadly, "but I can't part from the bird; I +must have something with me up there in the wilderness. And I can't +leave him alone at home either; who'd look after him and take care of +him when I'm away?" + +"Oh! for that thou may be easy," cried Luckard, "I'll look after him +well enough." + +"Ay, but he'll not follow thee," said Wally; "thou'rt not used to his +ways." + +"Nay, let me have him," said Luckard. "All this long time I've taken +care of thee, surely I can take care of the bird. Give him me here, +I'll carry him home," and she pulled the vulture out of Wally's arms. +But it would not do; the noble bird set himself on the defensive, and +pecked so angrily at Luckard that she was frightened, and let go. It +was of no use for her to think of taking him home with her. + +"Thou sees," cried Wally joyfully, "he'll not leave me; I must keep +him, come what will. I was once called the Vulture-maiden and the +Vulture-maiden I must still remain. O, my Hansl, as long as we two are +together, we shall want for nothing. I'll tell thee what, Luckard, I'll +let his wings grow now, he'll not fly away from me, and then he can +find food for himself up yonder." + +"God bless thee, then, take him with thee. I'll send thee up some fresh +and salt meat by the boy, thou can give him that till he can fly +abroad." And so it was settled. Wally took the vulture under her arm +like a hen, and parted from Luckard who began to cry afresh. But Wally, +without further delay, went up the mountain again after the guide, who +had meanwhile gone on ahead. + +In two hours they reached Vent, the last village before entering the +realms of ice. Wally mounted the hill above Vent; here began the path +to the Hochjoch. Once more she paused, and leaning on her Alpenstock +looked down on the quiet, still half-dreaming village, and over the +lake beyond, and the last houses of the Oetz valley, to the farms +of Rofen which, lying almost at the foot of the ever-advancing, +ever-receding Hochvernagtferners, seemed defiantly to say to it, "Crush +us!"--even as Wally yesterday had defied her father. And like her +father the Hochvernagt each time withdrew its mighty foot, as though it +could not bear to destroy the home of its brave mountain children, "the +Kloetze of Rofen." + +While she thus stood, looking down on the utmost dwellings of man +before mounting to the desert beyond the clouds, there rose from the +church-tower of Vent the sound of the bell for matins. Out of the door +of the little parsonage, where the buds of the mountain-pink tapped the +window in the morning breeze, came the priest and went with folded +hands to his pious duty in the church. Here and there the wooden houses +opened their sleepy eyes, and one figure after another coming out, +stretched itself and took its way slowly to the church. Carefully and +losing no tone by the way, the wind-winged angels bore the pious sound +up the slope, and it rang in Wally's ear like the voice of a child that +prays. And as a child arouses its mother by its sweet lisping, so the +peal from Vent seemed to have aroused the sun. He opened his mighty +eye, and the rays of his first glance shot over the mountains, an +immeasurable shaft of flame that crowned the eastern heights. The dim +grey of the twilight sky suddenly lighted up to a transparent blue, +each moment the beam grew broader in the heavens, and at length mounted +in full splendour over the cloud-veiled peaks, and turned his flaming +countenance lovingly to earth. The mountains threw off their misty +shrouds, and bathed their naked forms in streams of light. Deep down in +the ravines the clouds heaved and rolled, as though they had sunk down +thither from the pure heaven above. In the air was a rushing as of wild +hymns of joy, and the earth wept tears of blissful waking, like a bride +on her wedding morning; and like the tears on the eyelashes of the +bride, the dewdrops quivered joyfully on each blade and spray. Joy lay +everywhere,--above on the mountain tops where the dazzling rays were +mirrored in the farseeing eyes of the chamois,--below in the valley +where the lark soared, warbling, from amongst the springing corn. + +Wally gazed intoxicated on the awakening world, with eyes that could +hardly take in the whole shining picture in its pure morning beauty. +The vulture on her shoulder lifted its wings as though longingly to +greet the sun. Below in Vent, meanwhile, all was awakening to new life. +From where Wally stood she could see everything distinctly in the clear +morning light. The lads kissed the maidens by the well. White smoke +curled upwards from the houses, vanishing without a trace in the serene +spring air, as a sorrowful thought loses itself in a happy soul. On +the green in front of the church the men assembled in white Sunday +shirt-sleeves, their silver-mounted pipes in their mouths. It was +Whit-Monday, when all make holiday and rejoice. Oh! holy Whitsuntide! +just such a day must it have been when the Spirit of the Lord fell on +the disciples and enlightened them with divine illumination, that they +might go forth into all the world and preach the Gospel of Love, preach +it to open hearts, touched by the happy spring--for, in the spring-tide +of the year appeared also the spring-tide of man--the religion of love. +For her only who stood up there on the mountain was there no +Whitsuntide, no revelation of love. In her no persuasive voice had +quickened the gospel into life. A meaningless letter it had remained to +her, a buried seed which needed the vivifying ray to make it spring up +in her heart. No dew of peace fell on her from the deep blue heavens; +the bird of prey on her shoulder was to her the only messenger of love. + +At last Wally broke away from her dreamy contemplation. She gave one +farewell glance to the merry, noisy villagers, then she turned to climb +the silent snow fields of the Hochjoch--in banishment. + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + Murzoll's Child. + + +For five hours did Wally continue to ascend; now over whole fields of +fragrant Alpine plants, now sinking ankle-deep in snow-fields, or +crossing broad moraines. Last night's sleeplessness lay heavily upon +her limbs, and she almost despaired of ever reaching the end of her +journey. Her hands and feet trembled, for to struggle for life during +five hours against so steep an ascent is hard work. Large drops stood +on Wally's brow, when suddenly as by a magic stroke she stood before a +dense wall of cloud. She had turned an angle of the rock which hid the +sun, and now thick mists enveloped her and an icy breath dried the +sweat from her forehead. Her foot slipped at every step, for the ground +was like glass; she stood upon ice, she had stepped upon the Murzoll +glacier, the highest ridge of the serrated Hochjoch. Nothing grew here +but starveling mountain-grass between clefts in the snow; around were +the blue gleaming ice-crevasses, the virgin snow-flats, untrodden this +year by foot of man or beast. Mid-winter! Wally shuddered at its icy +touch. This was the forecourt to Murzoll's ice-palace, of which so many +tales are told in the Oetz valley, where the "phantom maidens" dwell, +of whom old Luckard had related many a story to the little Wally in the +long winter evenings when the snowstorms howled round the house. The +air that blew on her now from those desolate walls of ice, those caves +and dungeons, came to her with a ghostly thrill like a shudder out of +her childhood, as though in very truth there dwelt the dark spirit of +the glacier, with whom Luckard had so often frightened her to bed when +she had been naughty. + +Silently she walked on. At last her deaf guide halted by a low cabin +built of stone, with a wide overhanging roof, a strong door of rough +wood, and little slits instead of windows. Within were a couple of +blackened stones for a hearth, and a bed of old rotten straw. This was +the hut of the Schnalser herdsman, who had formerly found shelter here, +and here Wally was now to dwell. She did not change countenance however +at the sight of the comfortless hut; it was neither more nor less than +a bad mountain cabin, there were many such, and she was used to hard +living. It was not such things as these that could quench her resolute +spirit; but she was exhausted to faintness; since yesterday she had +gone through more than even her unusual strength could bear. +Mechanically she helped the deaf man, whom Luckard had loaded with a +number of good things for Wally, to arrange a better bed, and to make +the desolate hut somewhat more habitable. Mechanically she eat with him +some of the food Luckard had sent. The man saw that she was pale, and +said compassionately, "There, now thou's eaten something, lie down a +while and sleep. Thou needs it. I'll fetch thee up some wood meanwhile +to last thee a few days, then I must go back, or I shall never be home +by daylight, and thy father strictly ordered me to get back to-day." He +shook up a good bed of straw that he had brought with him; she sank +down on it with half closed eyes and held out her hand gratefully. + +"I'll not wake thee," he said. "In case thou'rt still asleep when I go, +I'll say goodbye to thee now. Take care of thyself and don't be +frightened. I'm sorry for thee all alone up here; but, why didn't thou +obey thy father?" + +Wally heard the last words as in a dream. The deaf man left the cabin, +shaking his head compassionately; the girl was already sound asleep. + +Her breast heaved painfully, for even in her sleep her past sorrow +weighed on her like a mountain. And she dreamed of her father; he was +dragging her into church by her hair, and she thought that if only she +had a knife so that she might cut off her hair she would be free. Then +suddenly Joseph stood by her, and with one stroke he cut through the +long plait, so that it remained in her father's hand; and while Joseph +was struggling with her father she ran out and climbed to the height of +the Sonnenplatte to throw herself into the torrent. But a terror came +over her, and she hesitated; then again she heard her father close +behind her, and urged by despair she made the leap. She fell and fell, +but could never reach the bottom, and suddenly she felt as if she were +met from below by a gust of wind that supported and carried her +upwards. So she floated, struggling always to keep the balance she +continually feared to lose, up to the very summit of Murzoll. But she +could gain no footing on the rock; a terrible whirlwind had seized her, +and she strove in vain to cling to the bare precipice, like a ship that +cannot reach the land. Black storm-clouds gathered together around her, +through which Murzoll's snowy summit rose in ghostly whiteness. Fiery +snakes shot through the black mass, the mountains quaked beneath a +crashing thunder-clap, and flung whirling backwards and forwards +between these mighty powers, a terror came over her that the tempest +might cast her head downwards into the abyss. She bowed and turned, +like a little ship on the swaying waves of the wind, striving only to +keep her head uppermost. But suddenly her feet were raised and she felt +that the weight of her head must carry her down, through the storm and +thunder and the black darkness of the clouds; she would have cried for +help, but could utter no sound--terror choked her voice. Then all at +once she felt herself supported, she was on firm ground, she lay in a +mountain cleft, as it seemed; but no, it was no cleft, they were giant +arms of stone that embraced her, and behold, out of the brightening +clouds a mighty face of stone bent over her: it was the hoary +countenance of Murzoll. His hair was of snow-covered fir trees, his +eyes were ice, his beard was of moss and his eyebrows of edelweiss; on +his brow was set as a diadem the crescent moon which shed its mild +radiance over the white face; and the icy eyes shone with a ghostly +light in its bluish rays. He gazed at the maiden with these cold eyes, +piercing but unfathomable, and beneath their glance the drops of agony +on her brow and the tears on her cheeks froze and fell down with a +faint ringing sound like crystal beads. He pressed his stony lips to +hers, and under the long kiss his mouth grew warm and dewy and +blossomed with Alpine roses, and when Wally looked up at him again +glacier streams flowed from the icy eyes down upon his mossy beard. The +black clouds had cleared away and the breath of spring stirred the +night. + +Now Murzoll moved his lips, and his voice sounded like the dull roll of +a distant avalanche. "Thy father has banished thee," he said, "I will +receive thee as my child, for a heart of cold stone may more easily be +moved than the hardened heart of man. Thou pleasest me, thou art one of +mine; there is strength in thy nature as the rocks are strong. Wilt +thou be my child?" + +"I will," said Wally, and clung to the stony heart of her new father. + +"Then stay with me and go no more among men; among them there is +strife, with me there is peace." + +"But Joseph, whom I love," said Wally, "shall I never have him?" + +"Let him be," replied the mountain, "thou mayest not love him; he is a +chamois hunter, and to such as he my daughters have sworn destruction. +Come, I will take thee to them, that they may deaden thy heart, else +thou canst not live in our eternal peace." And he carried her through +wide halls and endless galleries of ice till they came to a vast hall +that was transparent as though of crystal; the rays of the sun shone +through and broke into millions of coloured sparks, and through the +walls heaven and earth gleamed in varied and mingled splendour. There +white maiden-forms, glistening like snow, with waving veils of mist, +were playing with a herd of chamois, and it was charming to see them +sporting with the swift-footed animals, catching them and chasing them +here and there. These were Murzoll's daughters, the "phantom maidens" +of the Oetz valley. They crowded inquisitively round Wally as Murzoll +set her down on the slippery glass of the floor. They were as beautiful +as angels, and had faces like milk and blood; but as Wally observed +them more closely, a slight shudder ran through her, for she saw that +they had all eyes of ice, like their father, and that the rosy hue of +their cheeks and lips was not that of blood, but the sap of the Alpine +rose, and they were as cold as frozen snow. + +"Will you receive this maiden?" asked Murzoll. "I like her, she is +strong and firm as the rock, she shall be your sister." + +"She is fair," said the maidens; "she has eyes like the chamois. But +she has warm blood, and she loves a hunter--we know!" + +"Lay your hands on her heart that she may be frozen with all her love, +and live in bliss with you," said Murzoll. + +The damsels hastened to her--it was like the breath of a snow +storm--and laid their cold white hands on her heart; already she felt +it shrink and throb more slowly. But she kept off the maidens with both +arms and cried, "No, no, leave me. I want none of your bliss, I want +only Joseph." + +"If thou goest back amongst men we will dash Joseph to pieces, and +throw thee and him into the abyss," threatened the phantom maidens; +"for no one may live among men who has seen us." + +"Throw me into the abyss, but leave me my heart to love. All, anything +I will bear, but I will not part from my love," and with the strength +of despair Wally seized one of the damsels round the waist and wrestled +with her; and behold! the tender form was shattered in her arms, and +she held in her hand only dripping snow. The daylight was extinguished; +suddenly all was veiled in grey twilight. She stood on the bare rock; a +sharp wind drove needles of ice in her face, and instead of the +"phantom maidens" white mists whirled round her in a wild dance. High +above, Murzoll's pale countenance looked darkly down upon her through +the clouds, and his voice of thunder said, + +"Dost thou rebel against Men and Gods?--Heaven and earth will be thy +enemies. Woe is thee!" And all had vanished--Wally awoke. The chill +evening wind whistled through the window-slits on the girl. She rubbed +her eyes; her heart still trembled at the weird dream; she thought long +before she knew where she was, or could separate the images of her +dream from the reality; an inexplicable sense of horror remained in her +mind and mingled itself with all she saw. She rose from her bed and +involuntarily called loudly for the servant. She went out of the hut to +seek him; it was a clear and beautiful evening; the mists were +scattered, but the sun was low and the breeze blew keenly from the +heights. Wally hastened hither and thither in search of the deaf man; +she found only the pile of firewood that he had made for her. Then it +occurred to her that he had said he would go away while she was asleep. +It was so; he had not waited for her awakening. It was not right of him +to abandon her while she slept. To wake thus and find no one; it was +hard! All was so silent around her, so deserted and empty. It must be +six o'clock and milking time. The confiding cattle would look at the +stable door, where no mistress would come in with bread and salt for +them--she was sitting up here with her hands in her lap, and around her +far and wide stirred no living thing. Oh! the deathly stillness and +inaction--she knew not how she felt--alone, so terribly alone! She +climbed higher still, on to an overhanging point, that she might look +down upon the wide world. A vast unknown picture was spread before her +eyes in the purple of the setting sun. There lay before her to the very +verge of the horizon the great range of the Tyrol, in the distance +growing fainter and fainter, close at hand crushing and overpowering +her with their great silent sublimity; between them, like children in +their father's arms, slept the blooming valleys. A nameless longing +seized her for the beloved fields of home, that even now lay reposing +peacefully before her eyes in the evening shadows. The sun had set, and +on the horizon lay violet clouds shot with streaks of ruddy gold; +little by little, the pale full moon began to shine, contesting the +victory with the last flickering gleams of day. Down in the valleys it +was already night; here and there, scarcely visible in the distance, a +light glimmered from afar--a star of earth. Now they were going to +rest, her weary companions down yonder. With them all was well; a +friendly roof was above their heads; they rested securely in the bosom +of a sheltered home--perhaps, already half-asleep, they still listened +behind the coloured curtain of the little window to the beloved one's +song--only she was alone, thrust forth and banished, exposed +defenceless to every terror, her only shelter the inhospitable hut, +where the wind whistled through the empty window-slits. "Father, +father, how could thou have the heart to do it?" she cried aloud, but +near and far nothing answered but the rush of the night-wind. Higher +and higher rose the moon, the streaks of light in the west lost their +gold, and glimmered only a pale yellow in the darkness of the evening +sky. The outlines of the mountains seemed to shift and grow larger in +the twilight; threatening, overpowering, her nearest neighbour, the +mighty Similaun, looked down upon her. All the giant peaks around +seemed to stare at her frowningly, because she had dared to spy out +their nightly aspect. It was as though only since Wally's arrival, they +had all become so still and quiet--as a company that confers of private +affairs is suddenly dumb when a stranger enters. There she stood, the +helpless human form, so lonely in the midst of this silent, motionless +world of ice, so inaccessibly high above all living things, so strange +in the weird company of clouds and glaciers, in the terrible, +mysterious silence. "Now art thou all alone in the world!" cried an +inner voice, and an unspeakable anguish, the anguish of the forsaken +ones, swept over her. It seemed to her all at once as though she were +doomed to go on, for ever lost, through vast immeasurable space, and as +though seeking help she clung to the steep wall of rock, pressing her +wildly-beating heart against the cold stone. + +What passed within her in that hour, she herself did not know, but it +seemed as though the stone against which she pressed her young, warm, +trembling heart, had exercised some mysterious power over her, for that +hour left her hard and rough as if she had been in very truth Murzoll's +child. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + Old Luckard. + + +When about a week later the herdsman came up the mountain with the +flocks, Wally almost frightened him, she looked so wasted away; but +when he said to her, "Thy father bids me ask thee if thou'st had enough +of being up here, and if thou'll do thy duty?"--she set her teeth and +answered, "Tell my father, I'd sooner let myself be eaten piecemeal by +the vultures, than do anything to please them that drove me up here!" + +This was for the present the last message that passed between her and +her father. + +When Wally had her little flock around her, which consisted only of +sheep and goats, for larger animals could not find sufficient food on +these heights, then her old spirit revived and the mountain lost its +terrors for her. In the midst of her helpless charges she was no longer +alone, she had again some one to work for, something to care about. For +though the vulture had been a faithful companion, yet he could not do +away with the inactivity that had driven her almost to despair, and +allowed dark thoughts to gain the mastery over her. + +So little by little she became accustomed to the solitude, and it grew +dear and sweet to her. Life with its daily claims, small and great, +narrows and confines every great nature: up here Wally's untameable +spirit could expand without constraint; up here was freedom--no human +being to gainsay her, no alien will to oppose itself to hers--and +standing there, the only soul-gifted being far and wide, by degrees she +felt herself a queen on her solitary, lofty throne, a sovereign in the +unmeasurable, silent realm that lay beneath her eyes. And she looked +down at last from her heights with a mixture of pity and scorn on the +miserable race below, who, wrapped in earth-born clouds, spent their +lives in longing and grasping, in haggling and hoarding, and a secret +aversion took the place of her first home-sickness. There, far below, +were strife and anguish and crime. Murzoll had spoken truly in her +dream--up here among the pure elements of ice and snow, in the clear +atmosphere, free from all smoke, or pestilential taint of death--here +was peace, here was innocence; here among the mighty tranquil mountain +forms, which in the beginning had terrified her, the sentiment of the +sublime had flooded her soul and had raised it far above the common +measure of mankind. One only of all those low earthly inhabitants +remained to her dear and beautiful and great as before. It was Joseph +the bear-slayer, the Saint George of her dreams. But he, like herself, +dwelt more on the heights than in the valleys, he had climbed all the +sky-piercing peaks on which no other foot would venture, he brought +down the chamois from the steepest rocks, and for him nor height nor +depth had any terror; he was the strongest, the bravest of men, as she +was the strongest, the bravest of maidens. In all the Tyrol no maiden +was worthy of him but herself; in all the Tyrol no man was worthy of +her but he. They belonged to one another, they were the giants of the +mountains; with the puny race of the valleys they had nothing in +common. + +So, in her solitude, she lived for him only, and awaited the day when +this promise should be fulfilled to her. That day must come, and being +certain of this, she did not lose patience. + +Thus the summer passed away, and winter fell upon the valleys, and soon +Wally must descend with its wild forerunners, the storm and the snow, +to her estranged home. She quailed at the thought. Rather would she +have crept up here into some deepest ice-cave with suspended existence +like the wild bear than go down again to the noise and smoke of the low +spinning-room, and be wedged, together with her morose father, her +detested suitor, and the malicious servants, within the narrow compass +of the house, imprisoned behind walls of snow a foot high, out of +which, often for weeks at a time, no escape was possible. + +The nearer the time came, the heavier her heart grew, the more +despondingly did she revolt against the thought of that imprisonment; +but time passed on, and no one came to fetch her; it seemed as though +down there she was entirely forgotten. Colder ever and more wintry grew +the weather, the days ever shorter, the nights ever longer; two sheep +perished in a snow-storm; soon the animals could find no more food, and +the time for fetching home the flocks was gone and past. "They mean to +leave us to die up here of hunger," said Wally to the vulture, as she +divided her last piece of cheese with him, and a secret horror swept +over her; the young healthy life rebelled within her against the +terrible thought. What should she do? Forsake the flock and find the +homeward track, leaving the innocent beasts to perish miserably? +Nay!--that Wally would not do--she would stand or fall like a brave +commander with his troops. Or should she set out together with the +flocks, all ignorant of the road as she was, and wander over the +snow-covered Ferner to see at last one animal after another sink amid +the ice and snow, or fall into the clefts of the rock? This also was +impossible; she could do nothing but wait. + +At last, one misty autumn morning when she could not see her hand +before her face for the fog, when the little flock, trembling with +frost, were all huddled together in their fold, and Wally, stiff with +cold, sat over the fire on the hearth--then the boy appeared to conduct +her home. And though she had shrunk with horror from the thought of +slowly starving up here with her flock, yet now all her former dread of +the return home came upon her again, and she knew not which seemed the +greater evil--to sink here by the side of her harsh father Murzoll, or +to be obliged to go back to her real father. + +The herd-boy broke the silence: "Thy father bids me tell thee thou's +not to come into his sight unless thou'll do as he bids thee; but, if +thou'll not hear reason, then thou may stay with the cow-herd in the +stable--into the house thou shall not come; that he's sworn." "So much +the better," said Wally, drawing a deep breath, and the boy stared at +her in astonishment. + +Now she could go down with a light heart; now she would be spared all +contact with those hated people, and could live for herself in barn and +stable; what her father had devised as a punishment, was to her an act +of kindness. Now she could indulge her thoughts undisturbed; and if she +was in need of encouragement there was old Luckard who was always so +good to her. Yes, in her solitude she had first learned to understand +what was the true worth of such a faithful heart, and that her father +could not take from her. + +She set to work almost cheerfully to prepare for her homeward journey; +for now that her dread of the hateful intercourse with her father was +removed, she could think with silent joy on the gladness of the old +woman at the return of her foster-child. There was still some one down +yonder who took pleasure in her, and that thought did her good. + +"Come, Hansl," she said when all was packed to the vulture, who, with +ruffled feathers, sat unwilling to move on the hearth, "now we are off +to see old Luckard!" + +"But Luckard's not at the farm any more," said the boy. + +"Why, where is she, then?" asked Wally startled. + +"The master has turned her out." + +"Turned her out! old Luckard!" cried Wally. "Why, what's been the +matter?" + +"She couldn't get on with Vincenz, and he's everything with the master +now," the boy explained in a tone of indifference, and, whistling, he +hoisted the bundle of Wally's things. Wally had turned quite pale. "And +where is she now?" she asked. + +"With old Annemiedel in Winterstall." + +"How long ago did it happen?" + +"Oh, about three weeks ago. She cried ever so, and could hardly walk, +the fright went to her knees; Klettenmaier and the boy had to hold her +or she'd have tumbled down. All the village stood round and looked on +to see her go away." + +Wally had listened motionless, her sunburnt face had turned quite pale, +and her breast heaved painfully. When the boy had ended, she seized her +staff from the wall, flung the vulture on to her shoulder, and stepped +out of the hut. + +"Go on first," she commanded in a hoarse voice. The little flock was +quickly assembled, the milking gear packed together, and the procession +set itself in motion. Wally spoke not a word; a fearful tension marked +her features, and with lips pressed together, a threatening line that +recalled her father's look between her thick brows, she led the flock +onwards with long strides, her firm step leaving deep tracks in the +snow. Faster and ever faster she walked, the farther down she got, till +the boy with the flock could scarcely keep up with her, and where the +way was steep she struck the iron point of her staff into the soil and +swung herself down with a mighty spring, so that only the vulture in +the air could follow her path over cliffs and crevasses. Often both +herdsman and flock vanished in the mist behind her; then she stood +still and waited a moment till they were in sight, and when the boy had +indicated the direction of the road, on she went again without rest or +pause, as if it were a matter of life and death. + +At last the region of perpetual snow was passed, and at Wally's feet +lay Vent, as it had lain six months before when she had gone up the +mountain; only not now in the glow of the May sunshine, but forlorn, +autumnal, cold and dead. The boy announced that they must rest there +for a while. Wally refused, but the boy declared it would be as good as +killing both man and beast, not to rest for half an hour. + +"As thou will," said Wally, "stay--. I am going on. If they ask where I +am when thou gets home, say only that I am gone to old Luckard." And +she strode on, the flapping wings of the faithful Hansl rustling over +her; he could fly now as he liked, for Wally no longer clipped his +wings. + +Now she had reached the spot where on her upward journey Luckard had +bid her farewell and turned homewards again. "Dear old Luckard!" Wally +fancied she could see her again quite plainly, crying in her apron as +she turned away, waving her one more farewell with her brown, bony +arms, her silver locks that always hung from below her cap fluttering +in the wind. She had grown grey in honour and fidelity in Stromminger's +house, and now shame had fallen on that white head! And Wally had +parted from her so lightly, and repressed her tears, and had torn +herself impatiently away when the old woman in her grief would not let +her go; and no foreboding had warned her of the fate to which she was +sending the unprotected old servant with that brief farewell, or that +Luckard for her sake would suffer hardship and disgrace. Wally ran and +ran as if she could overtake Luckard going down the road as she had +gone six months before; and in spite of the autumn frost, the sweat +stood on her brow, the sweat of a winged haste to pay her heavy debt of +gratitude; and hot tears gathered in her eyes as she seemed always to +see the old woman silently walking and walking on before her. She went +so slowly, poor old Luckard, and Wally so fast; and yet they remained +always as far apart, and Wally could not overtake her. + +For one instant must Wally pause for rest and breath. She wiped the +drops from her brow and the tears from her eyes; then she felt as if +driven inexorably onwards again. "Wait, Luckard, only wait, I'm coming +to thee," she murmured breathlessly to herself, as if for her own +comfort. + +At last the church tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her, and from +thence a giddy path led high over the torrent to a solitary group of +houses on the farther side of the ravine. This was the little spot +called Winterstall, where Luckard was living. Wally passed behind the +houses of Heiligkreuz, and crossed the slight bridge beneath which the +wild waters of the Ache roared and foamed as though they would sprinkle +with their angry froth even the defiant girl who looked carelessly down +into the awful depths as though neither danger nor dizziness existed in +the world. The bridge was passed, still a steep bit of road remained, +and then at last it was reached, the goal for which she had striven +with a beating heart; she was in Winterstall, and there just to the +left of the path stood the hut of Luckard's cousin, old Annemiedel, +its tiny windows deep set beneath the overhanging thatch. Behind +them, no doubt, the old woman sat spinning, as was her custom in the +winter-season, and Wally drew a deep breath out of a lightened heart. +She had reached the cottage, and before entering she looked smiling +through the low window for Luckard. But there was no one in the room; +it looked empty and deserted with an unmade bed in one corner left +standing in a disorderly heap. Above it, a smoke-blackened wooden +Christ stretched his arms on a cross, on which were hung a piece of +crape and a dusty garland of rue. It was a dreary scene, and at the +sight of it all joy forsook Wally; she set down the vulture on a rail, +unlatched the door and stepped into the narrow passage. At one end an +open door led into the little kitchen, where a small fire of brushwood +smouldered on the hearth. Some one was there busily at work; it must +certainly be old Luckard, and with a beating heart Wally walked in. The +cousin stood on the hearth cutting up bread for her soup. No one else +was there. + +"Oh, my God! Wally Stromminger!" cried the old woman, and let her knife +fall into the platter in her astonishment. "Oh, my God, what a pity, +what a pity!" + +"Where is Luckard?" said Wally. + +"She is dead! Oh, my God, if thou'd only come three days sooner--we +buried her yesterday." Wally leant silent and with closed eyes against +the door post; no sign betrayed what was passing in her soul. + +"It's a real pity!" continued the old woman loquaciously. "Luckard said +she felt as if she couldn't die without seeing thee once more, and thou +was always coming on the cards, and day and night she would listen to +hear if thou wasn't coming. And when she felt herself near death, +'After all, I must die,' she said, 'and I've never seen the child,' and +then she would have the cards once more, and she wanted to lay them out +for thee in the very death-struggle, but she couldn't do it, her hand +shook on the counterpane. 'I can see no more,' she said, and lay back, +and it was all over." + +Wally clasped her hands over her face, but still no word passed her +lips. + +"Come into the bedroom," said the old woman goodnaturedly. "I've hardly +borne to go in there since they carried Luckard out. I'm always so +alone, and I was so glad when my cousin came and said now she'd stay +with me. But I soon saw she couldn't live long after her disgrace. It +went to her stomach, she could hardly eat anything, and every night I +could hear her crying, and so she got always weaker and thinner--till +she died." + +The old woman had opened the door of the room into which Wally had +looked before, and they went in. A swarm of autumn flies buzzed up. In +the corner stood Luckard's old spinning wheel silent and still, and the +empty disordered bed confronted it sadly. + +From a panelled cupboard on which the black Virgin of Altenoetting was +depicted, Annemiedel took a worn pack of German cards. + +"There, see; I laid the pack by for thee, I was sure thee would come. +It always stood so on the cards. They're true witches' cards these, and +a pack that has had the touch of a dead hand on it, that is doubly +good. I don't know what misfortune they're sending thee, but Luckard +always shook her head and read them with a fearful heart. She never +told me what she saw in them, but for sure it was no good." + +She gave Wally the cards; Wally took them in silence and put them in +her pocket. The cousin wondered that Luckard's death should not touch +her more nearly, that she should be so quiet and not even shed a tear. + +"I must go," the old woman said, "I've got my soup on the fire. Say, +thou'll dine with me?" + +"Yes, yes," said Wally gloomily, "only go, cousin, and let me rest +awhile. I sprang almost straight down here from the Hochjoch." + +Annemiedel went away shaking her head. "If Luckard had only known what +a hard-hearted thing it is!" + +Scarcely was Wally alone when she bolted the door behind the old woman +and fell on her knees by the empty bed. She drew the cards from her +pocket, laid them before her, and folded her hands over them as over +some holy relic. + +"Oh! Oh!" she cried aloud, in a sudden outburst of grief: "Thou'st had +to die, and I was not with thee; and in all my life long thou's always +been loving and good to me--and I--I did not pay it back. Luckard, dear +old Luckard, can thou not hear me? I am here now--and now it is too +late. They left me up there. There's no herdsman they'd have left so +long, and it was all malice, that I might just be frozen and then give +in! It had already cost me two of my flock--and now thee too, thou poor +good Luckard!" + +Suddenly she sprang to her feet; her eyes red with crying flashed with +a feverish light, she clenched her brown fists. "Only wait down yonder, +you scoundrels--only wait till I come. I will teach you to drive +innocent and helpless folk out of house and home. As true as God is +above us, Luckard, thou shall hear even in thy grave how I will stand +up for thee!" + +Her eyes fell on the crucifix over the dead woman's bed. "And Thou! +Thou let'st everything go as it will, and Thou helps no one that cannot +help himself," she murmured bitterly in her storm of grief to the +silent enduring image above, whose significance she never could +understand. She was terrible in her righteous anger. All that lay in +her of her father's inflexible nature had developed itself unfettered +up yonder in the wilds, and her great and noble heart that knew none +but the purest impulses drove without suspecting it ill-seething blood +through her veins. + +She gathered together her sacred relics, the cards, on which the dying +woman's clammy fingers had traced the last message of her love; then +she went out into the kitchen to Annemiedel. + +"I will now go on, cousin," she said calmly, "I only beg thee to tell +me how things fell out between Luckard and Stromminger--" she no longer +called him father. The old woman had just served the soup in a wooden +bowl and she insisted on Wally's sharing it with her. + +"Thou must know," she said, while Wally was eating, "Vincenz there, he +knows just how to come over thy father, and he's got the better of him +altogether. Ever since the summer, Stromminger's had a bad foot and +cannot walk. So Vincenz goes up to him every evening and passes the +time for him playing cards, and always lets him win--he thinks he'll +gain once for all when he wins thee. The old man can hardly live now +without Vincenz, and so little by little he's given him the oversight +of everything, because with his lame foot he can never get about +himself. So Vincenz thinks now the house and farm half belong to him +already, and bustles in and out just as he pleases. That was how the +quarrel began with Luckard, for Luckard, she would always see that +everything was right and fair, as she was used to do, and Vincenz took +everything out of her hands and she durst never say a word. Then when +he saw that Luckard was downright pining, he said to her that he'd let +her manage everything just as if she'd been mistress, and that he'd +take care to wink at anything she might like to do, if she'd only help +him to get thee--for he knew very well that she could do anything with +thee. And then Luckard grew angry; 'She'd never stolen in her life,' +she said, 'and wasn't going to begin now in her old age--she wanted +nothing but what she could earn honestly, and that as for the man who'd +look on at cheating and say nothing, she'd never recommend him to +Wally,' she said. And what does the villain do? goes straight to +Stromminger and accuses Luckard. He'd convinced himself now, he said, +that it was only Luckard that had set thee against him and thy father, +and it was all her doing, he said, that thou was so unruly, because she +was fain to hold everything under her own hand. That's how it all came +about. And it just broke her heart to think that such things were +believed of her, when not a word of it all was true. It grieved her +such injustice should be done. Is it not true, she never said to thee +that thou shouldn't obey thy father?" + +"Never, never; on the contrary she was always humble and discreet, and +never talked about what she had nothing to do with," said Wally, and +again her burning eyes were wet. She turned away her face and rose to +go. "God keep thee, cousin," she said, "I'll soon come back again." She +took her staff and hat, called her bird, and set out hastily towards +home. + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + A Day at Home. + + +As Wally went back across the bridge, she turned giddy; she felt now +for the first time how the blood had mounted to her head. The milder +air down here that felt heavy and oppressive after the clear, icy +atmosphere of the Ferner, the bird that clung tightly to her shoulder +as her rapid movements made his hold insecure--all seemed painful, +almost unbearable. At last she came to the village where her home +stood, but to reach it she was obliged to go the whole length of the +street, to the very last house. All the villagers, who had just +finished their dinners, put their heads out of window and pointed at +her with their fingers. "See, there goes the Vulture-maiden. Hast +ventured down at last, then? And thou's brought the vulture back with +thee, thou and he were not frozen together, then? Thy father left thee +to shiver up there long enough!" "Let's see, now, how thou'rt looking? +As brown and lean as a Schnalser herdsman." "He! he! thou's grown tame +enough up yonder; yes, yes, that's the way to serve such as will not +obey their father!" + +A shower of spiteful comments such as these fell around Wally; she kept +her eyes bent on the ground, and the burning red of shame and +bitterness mounted to her brow. Insulted--scoffed at--thus the proud +daughter of the chief peasant returned to her home. And all--for what? +An implacable hatred rose up in her, sorer, bitterer than anger; for +anger may subside, but the deep hatred that grows in an embittered, +ill-treated heart strikes its roots through the whole being; it is the +silent, persistent outcome of helpless revenge. + +Silently Wally mounted the hill behind the hamlet whence Stromminger's +farm looked proudly down. No one noticed her arrival but the deaf +Klettenmaier, who was splitting wood for winter-use under the wooden +shed in the yard; all the others were in the field. + +"God be praised," he said, and took off his cap to his master's child. +She set down her burden, the heavy vulture, on the ground, and gave her +hand to the old man. + +"Thou's heard?" he said. "Old Luckard?" + +Wally nodded. + +"Ay! ay!" he continued without interrupting his work. "If Vincenz once +takes a dislike to any one he never rests till he's driven them out. +He'd be glad enough to see me off the place, for he knows very well I +always held by Luckard, and he thinks that if no one was left at the +farm to help thee, thou dursn't be so wilful. And because there's +nothing else he can do to me, he leaves me always the hardest work; +I've a whole waggon load of wood to cut up every day, but I can't do it +for long. See, I'm nearly seventy-six years old, and this is the third +day. But that's just what he wants, to be able to tell Stromminger that +I'm no longer good for anything, or else for me to go away of myself +when I can hold out no more. But where could I go--an old man like me? +I _must_ hold out." + +Wally had listened with a gloomy countenance to the old man's speech. +Now she went quickly into the house to fetch bread and wine for him; +but the store-room was locked and so was the cellar. Wally went into +the kitchen. Her heart felt a pang--here had been Luckard's peculiar +domain, and she felt as if the old woman _must_ come to meet her and +ask: "How is it with thee?--what does thou want?--what can I do to +serve thee?" But all that was over and gone. A strange and sturdy +servant girl sat on the hearth, peeling potatoes. + +"Where are the keys?" asked Wally. + +"What keys?" + +"The keys of the store-room and the cellar!" + +The girl looked insolently at Wally. "Ho, ho! what next--and who may +thou be?" + +"That thou might guess well enough," said Wally proudly, "I am the +master's daughter." + +"Ha, ha," laughed the girl, "then thou may just take thyself out of the +kitchen. The master has forbidden that thou should come into the house. +Over there in the barn--that's thy place. Dost understand me?" + +Wally grew pale as death. Thus, then--thus was she to be received in +her father's house. Wallburga, daughter of the Strommingers, must give +way to the lowest servant girl on the estate to which she was heir! Not +only was she to be forbidden her father's presence--it was intended to +break her spirit through degrading humiliations. She, Wally, the +Vulture-maiden, of whom her father had once proudly said that a girl +like her was worth ten boys! + +"Give me the keys!" she commanded in a firm voice. + +"Ha! ha! that's better still. The master has ordered us to look on thee +as a stable girl--there's no question of keys there. I look after the +house, and I give out nothing but what the master allows." + +"The keys," cried Wally in an outburst of anger, "I command thee!" + +"Thou's no call to command me--dost understand? I'm Stromminger's +servant, and none of thine. And I am master in the kitchen, dost +understand? It's Stromminger's orders. And if Stromminger holds his own +daughter lower than a servant--no doubt he knows the reason why!" + +Wally stepped close up to the servant, her eyes flashed, her lips +quivered; the girl was frightened. But only for an instant did the +struggle last in Wally, then her pride conquered; with the miserable +serving maid she had nothing to do. She left the house. Her pulses beat +like hammers, her eyes swam, her bosom rose and fell in gasps; it was +too much--all that this day had brought her. She crossed the yard, took +the cleaver from the hand of the old man who was trembling with his +efforts, and led him to a bench that he might rest himself. He honestly +resisted, he dared not leave his task incomplete; but Wally made him +understand she would do his work for him. + +"God bless thee, thou hast a good heart," said the man, seating himself +wearily on the bench. Wally went into the shed and split the heavy logs +with mighty blows. So wrathfully did she swing the axe that at each +stroke she hit it through the wood deep into the block. The old man +watched with astonishment how the work went on better in her hands than +in a man's, and he took a pride in it--he had seen the child grow up +from her birth and loved her in his own way. But Wally saw afar the +hated form of Vincenz approaching, and involuntarily she discontinued +her work. Vincenz did not see her. He came up from behind Klettenmaier, +and suddenly stood close in front of the startled old man, whilst Wally +observed him from within the shed. He seized the man by the doublet and +pulled him up. "Hallo," he screamed in his ear, "dost call that +working? thou lazy dawdle, thou; as often as I come by thou's sitting +there doing nothing--now I've had enough of it--be off with thee," and +he gave him a push with his knee, so that the trembling old man was +flung to a distance on the stone pavement of the yard. + +"Help, master! help me up," cried the man imploringly, but Vincenz had +seized a cudgel and raised his arm. "Wait a bit--thou shall see how I +help up a lazy knave!" he said. At this moment such a blow fell on +Vincenz's head that he uttered a loud cry and staggered backwards. "God +in heaven, what is that?" he stammered and sank upon the bench. + +"It is the Vulture-maiden," answered a voice trembling with rage, and +Wally, the hatchet in her hand, stood before him with white lips and +staring eyes, struggling for breath as if the wild pulses of her heart +were choking her. + +"Did thou feel that?" she panted out with breathless pauses. "Dost know +now how it feels to get a heavy blow? I'll teach thee to oppress my +faithful old servant. Thou'st already sent my Luckard underground, and +now thou'll do the same by this old man? Nay, before I'll suffer such a +deed, I'll set my whole inheritance in flames and smoke thee out of it +as I would a fox." Meanwhile she had helped up old Klettenmaier, and +led him out to the barn. "Go in, Klettenmaier," she said, "and recover +thyself, _I_ order thee." + +Klettenmaier obeyed; he felt that at this moment she was master, but at +the door he freed himself from her support and said, shaking his head, +"Thou shouldn't have done it, Wally--go and look after Vincenz; I fear +thou'st given him a heavy blow." + +She left the old man and went out again. Vincenz lay quite still. Wally +looked at him with half-averted eyes; he had lost consciousness and lay +stretched out on the bench, and blood dripped from his head on to the +ground. With quick decision, Wally went into the kitchen and called to +the girl; "Come out here; bring some vinegar and a cloth and help me." + +"What, thou's more orders to give already," said the girl, laughing out +loud, without stirring from the spot where she sat. + +"It's not for me," said Wally with a dark and evil glance, as she took +the vinegar flask from the shelf. "Vincenz is lying out there--I've +half killed him." + +"Heaven and earth!" shrieked the maid; and instead of hastening to help +Vincenz, she ran screaming about the house and yard. "Help, help," she +cried; "Wally has struck Vincenz dead!" And from every side the alarm +cry was echoed back till it reached even to the village, and every one +ran to the spot. + +Wally had meanwhile called Klettenmaier to her assistance, and was +washing the face of the senseless man with vinegar and water. She could +not understand how it was the wound was so deep, for she had struck +with the back of the hatchet, and not with the sharp edge; but the blow +had been dealt with a force of which she herself was unconscious. Her +long restrained rage had concentrated itself in that one stroke, which +came crashing down as if she were still splitting the logs of wood. + +"What's happened here?" roared a voice in Wally's ear, and her blood +stood still--her father had dragged himself out on his crutches. +"What's happened here?" repeated twenty or thirty voices, and the yard +was filled with people. + +Wally was silent. + +A buzzing murmur arose all round her, every one pressed forward, +touching and examining the lifeless man. "Is he dead?" "Will he die?" +"How came it about?" "Did Wally do it?" was asked from one to another. + +She stood there as though she neither heard nor saw, and laid a bandage +on the wounded Vincenz. "Can thou not speak?" thundered her father. +"What hast thou done, Wally?" + +"You can see!" was the short reply. + +"She owns to it," they all shrieked together. "Gracious Heaven, what +insolence!" "Thou gallows-bird, thou!" cried Stromminger. "Is it so +thou comes down again to thy home?" + +At the word "home," Wally gave a short bitter laugh and fixed a +piercing glance on her father. + +"Laugh away," cried Stromminger; "I thought thou'd learn better up +there, and now, scarce a quarter of an hour in the house, thou's +already at mischief again." + +"He moves," cried one of the women, "he's still alive." + +"Carry him into the house and lay him on my bed," ordered Stromminger, +making way by the kitchen door against which he was leaning. Two men +raised Vincenz and carried him indoors. + +"If only the doctor were here," lamented the women, following the sick +man into the room. + +"If only we had old Luckard, we should need no doctor," said some of +them, "she knew what was good for everything." + +"Let her be fetched," cried Stromminger, "tell her to come this +instant." + +Again Wally laughed. "Yes, truly, old Luckard," she said. "Thou'd be +glad to have her back again now, Stromminger! Thou must seek her now in +the churchyard!" + +The people looked at each other in consternation. "Is she dead?" asked +Stromminger. + +"Yes, three days ago she died--died heartbroken because of what you did +to her. See, Stromminger, it serves thee right, and if yon man dies +because there is no one by who knows how to cure him, it serves him +right too; so much as that he has well deserved of Luckard." + +Now there arose a tumult--this was too bad. "After such a deed to talk +like this, and say it served him right, instead of repenting it. Why, +no one's life was safe! and Stromminger to stand by and let her talk +like that and never say a word! there was a fine father for you!" So +they talked together, while Wally, with folded arms, stood defiantly in +the kitchen door looking at Stromminger, who, in spite of himself, was +hard hit by her reproaches. Now however his wrath returned with double +force, and raising himself on his crutch he cried to the crowd; "I'll +show you what manner of father I am! seize her and bind her." + +"Yes, yes," cried the people confusedly, "bind her, such a one should +be under lock and bolt--before the justice she shall go, the +murderess." + +Wally uttered a dull cry at the word "murderess," and drew back into +the kitchen. "Hold," cried Stromminger. "Before a justice my daughter +shall never go; do you think I'll live to see the chief peasant's child +taken off to prison? Do you know Stromminger no better than that? Do +_I_ need a court of justice to punish a wilful girl? Stromminger +himself is man enough for that, and on my own ground and my own +territory I am my own judge and justice. I'll soon show you who +Stromminger is, though I am lame. Into the cellar she shall go, and +there remain under lock and key, till her proud spirit is broken and +she comes after me on her knees before you all. You have heard, all of +you, and if I don't keep my word you may set me down a rascal." + +"Merciful God, hast Thou forgotten judgment?" cried Wally. "No, father +no! for God's sake don't lock me up! Turn me out, send me up the +Murzoll to perish in the snow--I'll die of hunger--I'll die of +cold--but under the open heavens. If you lock me up, harm will come of +it!" + +"Aha, thou'd like to be off again wandering round like a vagabond--that +would please thee better? Not so; I've been too soft with thee. Thou'll +stop under lock and key till thou asks pardon on thy knees of me and of +Vincenz." + +"Father, all that is no good with me; sooner than do that, I'd rot away +in the cellar--that you might know of yourself. Let me go, father, or, +I tell you once more, harm will come of it." + +"There--enough said. Well, you--what are you all standing there for? +Are you dreaming? Am I to run after her with my lame foot? Seize her, +but hold her fast--she has Stromminger blood in her that'll try your +teeth--hold on there!" + +The peasants, stung by this mockery, crowded into the kitchen. "We'll +soon get hold of her!" they said scoffingly. + +But with one spring Wally was at the hearth, and had snatched burning +brands from the fire. "The first that touches me, I'll singe him, hair +and skin!" she cried, and stood like the archangel with the flaming +sword. + +All fell back. + +"Shame upon you!" cried Stromminger. "All of you together might be a +match for a girl! Strike the brands from her hand with a stick," he +ordered, in a paroxysm of rage, for it was now a point of honour with +him to master his daughter before the eyes of the whole village. Some +of them ran and fetched sticks; it was like hunting a wild animal, and +a wild animal Wally had in truth become. Her eyes bloodshot, the sweat +of agony on her brow, her white teeth clenched, she defended herself +against this pack of hounds, fought like the wild beast of the forest, +without reflection, without calculation, for her freedom--her life's +element. Now they struck with the sticks at the brands in her grasp, +her only weapon, and she flung them into the midst of the crowd, so +that they fell back on one another, shrieking; then, snatching another +brand from the hearth, and yet another, she threw them like fiery shot +at the heads of her assailants. The uproar grew louder. + +"Water here," cried Stromminger, "fetch water,--put out the fire!" + +This would be an end to everything; the fire once out, Wally was lost. +One moment more, and the water would be brought--despair seized the +girl. All at once there came a thought--a terrible, desperate thought; +but there was no time for consideration; the thought was a deed before +she could reflect upon it, and waving a burning log in her hand, she +rushed swift as an arrow through her pursuers out into the courtyard, +and hurled the brand with a mighty fling on to the hay-loft, right into +the middle of the hay and straw. + +There was a scream of terror and amazement. "Now put the fire out," +cried Wally, and flew across the courtyard through the gate, away and +away, whilst all in the farm hurried shouting and storming to +extinguish the flames that were already blazing upwards through the +roof. + +With the rising pillar of smoke, as if born of the roaring flame, a +dark object rose screeching from the roof, circled two or three times +high overhead in the air, and then took flight in the direction in +which Wally had fled. + +Wally heard the rushing sound behind her; she thought it was her +pursuers, and ran blindly on. It was already night, but there was no +darkness, clear light quivered all around her, so that she might still +be seen from afar. She mounted a steep point of rock whence she could +look down the road, and now she saw that her pursuer was coming through +the air. She had attained her end, no one thought any more of following +her. To save the farm buildings was a more pressing need, and all hands +were engaged in the work. The vulture overtook her as she stood there, +and bounded against her with such force as nearly to throw her down +from the rock. She pressed the bird to her bosom and sank exhausted on +the ground. With dazed eyes she looked up at the glare of the fire that +shone afar, and lighted up the dark mountain tops around. With a +glowing and angry aspect her deed looked down on her--threatening, +wrathful, overpowering. From every church tower in the canton round +sounded the dismal peal of warning, and the bells rang out quite +distinctly, "Incendiary, incendiary." But the terrible song lulled her +senses to sleep--unconsciousness dropped a kindly veil over her hunted +spirit. + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + "Hard Wood." + + +Deep night surrounded Wally when she once more opened her eyes. The red +glow was extinguished, the bells were silent; far below her in the +ravine the Ache thundered its monotone, and over her head high in the +heavens, stood a star. She gazed at it as she lay motionless with +upturned face on the ground, and it seemed to beam down upon her with a +look of forgiveness. A wonderful sense of consolation breathed through +the night. The wind caressingly cooled her burning brow, she sat up and +began to collect her thoughts. It could not be late, the moon was not +yet up, and the fire must have been very quickly extinguished. It must +have been--for how could the conflagration spread when every one was +there, and ready that moment to lend a helping hand? She knew not how +it was, she searched herself to the very bottom of her soul, and she +could not feel herself guilty. She had done it only from necessity, to +keep off her pursuers whilst she gave them something else to do. She +knew quite well that she would now be called an "incendiary," but was +she one indeed? She raised her eyes to the stars over her head; it was +as if now, for the first time, she held communion with the great God, +and what He said to her was--forgiveness. The pure night-sky looked +peacefully down on her, that open sky, for the love of which she had +done the deed. Only under this high, vaulted dome of stars could she +find space to breathe; to lie imprisoned in the gloomy cellar without +light, without air, for weeks, for months--till, to escape, she went to +the home of her hated suitor, and made herself a mockery and disgrace +by open repentance on her knees before her father! It was worse than +death--it was an impossibility! + +The girl who in utter loneliness had for six long months been the guest +of the inhospitable wilderness of the Ferner, who had watched through +many nights with the storm, the hail, the rain for her wild associates; +whose brow the fire of heaven had kissed before it quivered to earth; +round whom the thunder had warred in all its terror, whilst its power +was as yet unspent by the winds; the girl who had almost daily staked +her life springing over some bottomless abyss to save a straying +goat--this girl could no longer bend herself to the ideas and the +tyranny of small minds, could not submit to bit and bridle like +an animal, must defend herself for life--unto death. Men had no +longer any right over her; she had renounced them and mated herself +with the elements. What wonder that she had called one of her wild +companions--Fire--to her aid when warring against man? + +She could not understand it all, she had never learnt to reflect about +her own consciousness; she knew not the "wherefore!" But she felt that +God would not call her to account, that He from His supreme throne +measured with a quite other standard than that of man; even to her, up +on her mountain heights, everything had appeared so small that down in +the valley she had thought so large--how much more to Him up there in +Heaven? God alone understood her; down below they might think her a +criminal--God acquitted her. + +She raised herself and shook the burden from her soul, and felt herself +as heretofore, vigorous and confident, strong and free. + +"Now, Hansl, what shall we do next?" asked she of the vulture, to whom +in her solitude she had accustomed herself to talk aloud. Hansl was at +that moment watching some reptile of the night, then snatched at it, +and killed it. + +"Thou'rt in the right," said Wally, "we must seek our bread. For thee, +it is well, thou can find it anywhere--but I?" Suddenly the bird became +uneasy, flew up and watched something in the distance. + +Then it occurred to Wally that as soon as the fire was out she would be +searched for, and that she must get farther away as quickly as might +be. But whither? Her first thought was Soelden. But the blood mounted to +her face--might not Joseph think that she was running after him? And +should he see her in disgrace and dishonour, poor, a runaway from +home--pointed at and decried as an "incendiary." + +No, he at least should never see her thus, rather would she run to the +very ends of the earth. And without any further consideration she took +the vulture on her shoulder--the only good or chattel that troubled +her--and set out in the direction whence she had come in the morning, +to Heiligkreuz. + +She had walked for two hours, her feet were sore, she was weary to +death, when the tower of Heiligkreuz rose up before her in the +darkness, and, like a gleam from a lighthouse, the rising moon shone +through the open belfry and showed the way to the aimless wanderer. + +Stumbling with fatigue, she dragged herself through the sleeping +village up to the church. Now and then a dog barked, as with quiet +steps she passed along. Whoever observed her now would take her for a +thief; she trembled as though she really were one; to what had the +proud Wally Stromminger come! + +Behind the church was the parsonage; near the door was a wooden bench, +and from wooden boxes in the little windows bushes of withered +mountain-pinks hung down. Here she would remain till daylight; the +priest would at least protect her from ill-usage. She lay down on the +bench, the vulture perched on the railing at her head, and in a few +minutes nature asserted its rights and she was asleep. + +"May the Lord defend us! what foundling has He sent me here!" sounded +in Wally's ears, and she opened her eyes. It was broad daylight, and +there stood by her none other than the reverend cure himself. + +"Praised be Christ the Lord," stammered Wally in bewilderment, and put +her feet down from the bench. + +"For ever and ever. Amen. My child, how did you come here? who are you, +and what strange companion is that you have with you? it is almost +enough to frighten one!" said the priest with a friendly smile. + +"Your reverence," said Wally simply, "I've something heavy on my +conscience, and I would be glad to confess to you. My name is +Wallburga, and I belong to Stromminger, the chief-peasant of the +Sonnenplatte. I've run away from home; you see--Vincenz Gellner wanted +to marry me, and I struck his head open with a blow, and then I set +fire to my father's barn--" + +The priest clasped his hands together. "God help us, what tales are +these! So young, and so wicked already!" + +"Your reverence, I am not really wicked, truly I am not--I wouldn't +hurt a fly--but they made me do it!" said Wally, and she looked up at +the priest with her large honest eyes, so that he was obliged to +believe her whether he would or not. + +"Come in," he said, "and tell me all about it--but leave that monster +outside;" he meant the vulture. Wally flung the bird upwards into the +air, so that it flew on to the roof; then she followed the priest into +the little house, and he made her come into his sitting-room. + +There all was still and peaceful. In the alcove stood a rough wooden +bedstead with two flaming hearts painted over it, which to the cure +signified the hearts of our Saviour and the Virgin Mary; over the bed +was a holy-water cup in porcelain, and a shelf full of books of +devotion; in the room there were more shelves with other books and an +old writing desk, a brown bench behind a large heavy table, some wooden +seats, a praying-stool beneath a great crucifix with a garland of +edelweiss, and a few gaily coloured lithographs of the Pope and of +various saints. From the ceiling hung a bird-cage with a crossbeak. An +antique commode with lions'-heads holding rings in their mouths as +handles to the heavy drawers, represented the luxury of the dwelling, +and on this commode were all sorts of beautiful things. A little shrine +with a carved saint, a glass box with a wax image of the infant Christ +in a red silk cradle, a glass spinning wheel, and a bunch of tarnished +artificial flowers, such as are made in convents, in a yellow vase +under a glass shade; a small box with many coloured shells, a tiny +model of a mine in a bottle, and, as a centre-piece, a little manger +made in moss and sparkling fragments of spar, with delicately carved +figures of men and beasts. A few pretty cups and mugs were not wanting +amid these holy surroundings, and two small crystal salt cellars to the +right and left of the nativity set off on either hand the central +piece. + +And all was as clean as if no such thing as dirt existed in the +world. This commode with the various objects upon it constituted the +child-like altar which the lonely priest, six thousand feet above the +sea and above modern culture, had raised to the God of beauty. Here he +had stood many a time when the snow was whirling outside and the storm +rocked the little wooden house, and gazed musingly at the tiny, +neatly-carved world within, shaking his head with a smile and saying, +"What will not men do next?" + +Much the same, thought Wally in passing by, as her glance fell on the +marvellous trifles. Rich as her father was, such things as these had +never found their way into his house; what indeed could the clumsy +peasant have done with them? In her whole life she had never seen such +things--she to whom, in comparison with her scythe and hay-fork, a +spinning-wheel seemed the height of elegance. She felt as if in this +little room she dare not move for fear of injuring something, as if +here she must be particularly well-behaved. She wished to leave +her iron-shod shoes at the door, so as not to spoil the smooth, +white-scoured boards; but the priest would not allow it, so she trod as +softly as she could and seated herself modestly at the farthest end of +the bench which the cure offered her. The priest let his clear friendly +eyes rest observingly upon her, and saw that she could not remove her +astonished gaze from the ornaments on the commode. The old man was a +student of humanity. + +"You would like first to look at my pretty little things? Do so, my +child; besides, you are not just yet collected enough for the serious +matters we must speak of." + +And he led Wally to the mysterious commode, and explained everything to +her, and told her where each thing had come from. + +Wally did not venture to speak, and looked and listened full of +reverence. When they had come to the manger, the last and the best, +"See," said the priest, "here at the back is Jerusalem, and there are +the three Wise Kings who travelled to see the Holy Child--see, there is +the star that is guiding them--and there lies the child in the manger, +and does not dream yet that he is born to suffer for the sins of the +whole world. For as yet He cannot think, and has brought no remembrance +with him of His Heavenly home; for the Son of God became in all things +a real child of man, like any other--else men might have said that +there was no miracle in being as good and patient as Jesus Christ was, +if He was the Son of God and had the power of God, and that it was no +use to strive to follow such an example, if one was only an ordinary +man. They say it often enough as it is, and go on in their sins." + +Wally looked at the pretty naked infant with his gold paper glory lying +there so patiently, and when she thought of the stern dark crucified +God as a poor helpless baby born to suffering, it touched her +compassion, and she was sorry that she had been "so rude" to the poor +crucified Being yesterday when standing by Luckard's bed. + +"But why did He let it all happen to Him?" she said involuntarily more +to herself than to the priest. + +"Because He wanted to show mankind that they should not repay evil for +evil, and should not revenge themselves; for God has said, 'Vengeance +is mine.'" Wally grew red, and cast down her eyes. + +"Now come, my child," said the wise man, "and make your confession." + +"That will soon be done, your reverence," said Wally. And honest as was +her nature, she related to him, in low and timid tones indeed but +without any attempts at palliation, how all had happened, and soon the +whole circumstances were made clear to the confessor. A mighty picture +of life lay unrolled before him, sketched in rude and rough outlines, +and he pitied the noble young blood that had grown wild between rugged +rocks and rugged men. + +Long after Wally had ended he sat silent, looking meditatively before +him. His gaze fixed itself on an old, much-read volume on a book-stand +by the wall; a stranger whom he had received hospitably had given it to +him; on the back stood printed in gold letters--Das Niebelungen-Lied. + +"Your reverence," said Wally, who took the thoughtfulness on his +features for an expression of reproof; "it was too much, all coming +together. I was still full of anger about poor old Luckard, and then he +must needs strike the old man also. I couldn't look on and see the old +man beaten, that I could not, and if it were all to come over again, I +should do just the same. An incendiary I am not--not even though they +call me one. When a house is set fire to in broad daylight when +everyone is about, nothing much can be burnt, that is certain. I didn't +know how else to help myself, and I thought that if they had to put it +out, they couldn't come after me. And if that is a sin, then I don't +know what is to be done in this world where men are so wicked and do +one all the harm they can." + +"We must do as Christ did--suffer and endure!" said the priest. + +"But, your reverence," said Wally, "when Jesus Christ let men do as +they would with Him, He knew _why_ He did it--He wanted to teach people +something. But I don't know why I should do it, for no one would learn +anything of me in all the Oetz valley. And if I had let myself be +locked up in the cellar ever so patiently, it would all have been for +nothing, for nobody would have taken example by me, and it would very +likely have cost me my life." + +For a moment the priest paused to reflect; then he fixed his kindly +observant eyes on Wally and shook his head. + +"You wilful child, you. Even now you would like to begin some fresh +dispute with me. They have wickedly roused and irritated you, till you +imagine enmity and contradiction everywhere. Look round, recollect +yourself and see where you are--you are with a servant of God, and God +says 'I am Love.' And this shall be no empty word to you, I will show +you that it is true. I will tell you that when all men hate and condemn +you, still the good God loves you and forgives you. Such as you are, +hard men, stern mountains, and wild storms have made you; and that the +good God knows very well, for He can look into your heart and see that +it is good and upright, however much you have been in fault. And He +knows that no garden-flower can bloom in the desert, and that a rude +axe never carved a fine image. But now look farther. If our Lord and +Master finds a piece of rude carving in particularly good wood, so that +it seems to Him worth the trouble of making something better out of it, +then He Himself takes the knife and carves the bungling work of man, +that under His hand it may grow into beauty. Now listen, for I say take +heed not to let your heart grow harder, for when the Lord has cut once +or twice at the wood, if He finds it too hard He grudges the trouble, +and throws the work away. Take heed then, my child, that your heart be +soft and yielding under the shaping finger of God. If its hard pressure +seems to you unbearable, yield, and think you feel the hand of God that +is working on you. And if pain cuts sharply into your soul, think it is +the knife of God cutting away its ruggedness. Do you understand me?" + +Wally nodded somewhat doubtfully. + +"Well," said the old man, "I will make it still clearer to you. Which +would you rather be, a rough stick with which men may perhaps fight and +kill each other, and which when it is rotten is broken up and burnt, or +a finely carved holy image like that one yonder that is set in a frame +and devoutly honoured?" + +This time Wally understood and nodded quickly. "Why, of course--rather +a holy image like that." + +"Well, see now. Rude hands have made a rough block out of you, but +God's hand can carve you into a holy image if you will do just as He +bids you." + +Wally looked at the speaker with wide, astonished eyes; she felt so +strangely--pleased and yet ready to weep. After a long silence, she +said timidly, "I don't know how it is. Sir, but with you everything is +quite different to what it is anywhere else. No one ever spoke so to me +before. The priest at Soelden always scolded and talked about the Devil +and our sins; and I never knew what he would have, for at that time I +had done nothing wrong. But you speak so that one can understand you--I +mean that if I might stay with you--that would be the best for me; I'd +work night and day and earn my bit of bread." + +The cure considered a long time; then he shook his head mournfully. + +"That cannot be, my poor child. Even if I myself wished it, it would +not do. Though I might grant it to you in God's name, before men I dare +not. For God sees the motive, men see only the deed. The priest in the +confessional is one thing--the priest in common life is another. In the +confessional he is the medium of Grace, in the world he is the medium +of Law. He must incite men, by word and example, to honour and keep the +law. Think what people would say if the priest took a notorious +incendiary into his house. Would they understand why I did so? +Never--they would only conclude that I had taken the sinner under my +protection, and thereupon sin the more. And if afterwards we lived to +see a really wicked incendiarism, I should have to reproach myself +bitterly that I had given encouragement to it by my indulgence to you. +Can you not understand this, and take it without murmuring as the +unavoidable result of your deeds?" + +"Yes," said Wally gloomily; and her eyes reddened with repressed tears. +Then she rose quickly and said shortly, "I thank your reverence very +much then, and wish you good morning." + +"Hey, hey," cried the priest, "so high-flown again already? Don't you +think it will be shorter to go through the wall than through the door? +In your place, I would sooner go straight through the wall!" + +Wally stood still ashamed, and looked down at the floor. The old +gentleman looked at her with a comical expression of wonder, "How much +will it not cost you to subdue that hasty blood? Is that the way you +mean to run off? Did I say I would leave you to your fate because I +cannot keep you with me in my house? First of all, you must have +breakfast with me, for man must eat, and God knows how long it is since +you eat last. Then we will talk farther." He went to a sliding panel +that opened into the kitchen, and called to the old maidservant to get +breakfast for three; then sitting down at his simple desk, he wrote +down for Wally the names of a few peasants whom he knew to be worthy +people. + +"See, here is a whole list of honest men and women in the Oetz and +Gurgler valleys," said he to Wally. "Try to find a place with one of +them; over the mountain nothing will be yet known of your fault, and by +the time people hear of it you can have shown yourself to be an honest +girl, so that they will be willing to shut their eyes to it. You must +not appeal to me, but you are as tall and as strong as a man, and they +will gladly take you; you can work with a will and make yourself +useful, if you choose. But you must learn to obey--must give in to +custom and order, else you will do no good. I do not ask you to go back +to your father, and let yourself be locked up in the cellar; that would +be undue punishment, and do you more harm than good. Nor do I ask you +to marry Vincenz out of obedience to your father and make yourself +miserable for life. But I do ask of you that you should curb your wild +spirit in the service of worthy people, in reasonable and regular +activity, and so become again a useful member of human society. Will +you promise me this?" + +"I will try," said Wally, in her unwavering honesty. + +"That is all I ask of you in the first instance, for I know well that +you cannot with a good conscience promise more. But try to do it with +an honest will, and remember always that God throws away wood that is +too hard. I will go to-day to your father and speak to his conscience, +that he may forgive you and be reconciled to you, or at least not +pursue you any farther. Give me news soon of where you are, that I may +let you know how things stand." + +Marianne brought the breakfast, and the pastor said the morning +prayers. Wally, too, devoutly folded her hands, and from her deepest +soul prayed God that he would help her to become good and useful; she +was in such holy earnest--she would so gladly have been good and +useful, if only she had known how. + +When prayers were over, all three sat down, she, and the pastor, and +Marianne to breakfast. But scarcely had they begun when a shout was +heard outside. "A vulture! See, up on the roof there, a vulture! shoot +him down, bring guns!" + +"Heavens! my Hansl," cried Wally springing up, and would have run out +at the door. + +"Stop," cried the priest, "what are you doing? Why risk yourself +needlessly? You cannot go out now, when at any moment your father's +people may come to take you!" + +"I'll not leave my Hansl in the lurch, come what may," cried Wally, and +with one spring she stood outside the house. + +The cure followed her, shaking his head. "The vulture is tame," she +cried to the people. "He belongs to me; leave him alone." + +"One can't leave a creature like that to fly about as it will," said +the people, grumbling. + +"Has he taken a sheep or a child?" asked Wally defiantly. + +"No." + +"Well, then, leave me and my bird unmolested!" said the girl; and she +stood there with an air so proud and threatening that the people looked +at her with astonishment. "Wally, Wally," gently warned the priest, +"think of the hard wood." + +"I do think, your reverence!" she said, and beckoned with her hand to +the vulture. "Hansl, come back." The bird shot down from the roof, so +that the people all shrank back frightened. She took him on her +shoulder, and stepped up to the priest. "God keep your reverence," she +said gently, "and thank you for all your kindness." + +"Will you not come in and finish breakfast?" said the old man. + +"No, I'll not leave the bird alone again, and besides I must go +on--what have I to stay for?" + +"May God and all the Saints preserve thee, then!" said the pastor +troubled, while Marianne was furtively thrusting some food into the +pocket of her pleated gown. + +For a moment her foot lingered on the threshold that had grown dear to +her, then she silently stepped forward between the people, who made way +for her. + +"Who is she?" they asked each other. + +"She is a witch!" she heard them whisper behind her. + +"She is a stranger," said the priest, "who came to make her confession +to me." + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + The Klotz Family of Rofen. + + +Day after day Wally wandered round the canton seeking a place, but no +one would take her with her vulture, and from him she would not part. +Even if she had abandoned him, he would have flown back to her again, +and as to killing the faithful bird, such a thought could not enter her +mind, let what might befal her. Now, in very truth, she was the +Vulture-maiden, for her destiny was inseparably linked to that of the +bird, and he had as much influence over it as a human being. Luckard's +old cousin, to whom she once paid a passing visit, would have taken her +in gladly, but she would have been too near home, and wholly in her +father's power. She must go farther--as far as her feet would carry +her. Every day the season grew more severe; it began to snow, and the +nights, which Wally was often forced to spend in an open barn, were +keenly cold. The clothes she wore grew old and shabby, she began to +look like a beggar and a vagabond, and she was every day more summarily +dismissed from the doors where she ventured to knock with her +companion. She looked so strange that no good housewife now would let +her work in the house for even a few hours, and eat at her table +afterwards. They gave her a piece of bread at the door for "God's +pity's sake;" and Wally, the haughty Wally, daughter of the +Strommingers, sat down on the threshold and eat it. For she would +not die! Life--tormented, baited, poor and naked--life was still +fair to her, so long as she could hope that sooner or later Joseph +might come to love her; for the sake of that hope she would bear +everything--hunger, cold, weariness. But her frame, hitherto so +powerful, began to fail under the constant consuming anxiety and +tension, her eyes were dim, her feet refused to serve her, and as soon +as she lay down quietly her thoughts whirled in her brain, and she fell +into a feverish dose. With overwhelming dread she met the feeling that +she might be going to fall ill. It was too much! If she were to lose +consciousness in some barn or shed, she might be taken back to her +father, she would find herself once more in his power. She had wandered +up into the Gurgler valley, and as she had there found nothing to do, +she had taken the weary road again over to the Oetz valley; she had +been as far as Vent, which lying in the domain of her father Murzoll, +seemed to her almost like a home. But there things had gone worse than +ever with her; the ruder the place, the ruder the inhabitants, and when +Wally arrived there, she found that the news of her deed had hastened +to precede her, and that wherever she showed herself she was met with +horror and aversion. She did not appeal to the cure of Heiligkreuz; he +had desired her not, and she perceived that he had been right to do so; +but for that reason she sought no more priests; not one of them would +dare to take any interest in her. + +The last door in Vent had just been closed upon her. Before her lay +nothing but the cloud-reaching wall of the Platteykogel, the Wildspitz, +and the Hochvernagtferner, which closed in the valley, and over which +no pathway led. Here on all sides the world was shut in like a +_cul-de-sac_, and she was at the end of it; she stood still and looked +up and around at the steep and towering walls. It was a grey morning; +thick snow had fallen during the night and lay all over the valley, +which looked like a prodigious trough of snow; every trace of a path +was obliterated. She sat down and thought, "If I go to sleep, and am +frozen, it is an easy death." But it was not yet cold enough for that; +the snow melted under her, and she was soon shivering from the wet. +Then she started up and dragged herself up the slope that leads up +behind Vent to the Hochjoch; from thence she could look over all the +surrounding country, and here she became aware of a sort of furrow in +the snow that led behind the village along by the Thalleitspitz into +the very heart of the Ferner. It might be a footpath--but whither did +it lead? She went up higher to get a wider view, and a bandage seemed +to fall from her eyes--that was the path that led from Vent to +Rofen--Rofen, the highest inhabited spot in the whole Tyrol, the last +in the Oetz valley where men, like eagles, can still dwell, and of them +only two families, the Klotz family and the Gestreins; Rofen that lies +silent and hidden at the foot of the terrible Vernagt-glacier, on the +shore of the lake of ice where no straying foot wanders from year's end +to year's end, which a venerable tradition wraps in a mysterious veil. +This was the place that Wally must strive to reach, this was the last +refuge where she might perhaps find help, or at least could die in +peace and unseen, like the wild animal of the desert. Thither would she +go--to the Kloetze of Rofen; they were the most renowned guides in all +the Tyrol, they were at home on the mountains as the mountain-spirits +themselves; they would understand how Wally would sooner burn down a +house, would sooner die, than let herself be deprived of the breath of +freedom; and they could protect her against all the world, for the +farms of Rofen had right of sanctuary. Duke Frederick had granted it in +token of gratitude, because he once in sore distress had found refuge +there from his enemies. Joseph the Second had indeed withdrawn it at +the end of the last century, but the peasant clings to old usages, and +the villagers of the Oetz valley willingly continued to hold it in +honour. No one who sought and found asylum at Rofen could be touched; +for the Rofeners--the Kloetze and the Gestreins--harboured no one who +did not deserve it, and were held in as great respect as their +forefathers. An assault on their home-right would have been simply a +sacrilege. + +Wally lifted her arms to Heaven in passionate thankfulness to God who +had shown her this path. Her head swimming, her feet stumbling, she +strove for the last goal that her strength might yet avail to reach; +first, downwards to the path that led from Vent, then again steeply +upwards. For an endless hour she mounted the encumbered path; there +they lay before her as if sleeping in the snow, the peaceful, honoured +farms of Rofen, which she had so often seen from Murzoll looking like +eagles' nests clinging to the cliff. Her heart beat so that she could +hear it, her knees almost failed her; if she were to be turned away, +even here! A fresh storm of snow whirled silently around her, and +wrapped the whole scene in a white, shifting veil. It flitted and +glanced before her eyes, and the white veil waved coldly about her +head, but it melted on her fevered brow and flowed in drops down her +face and hair, and she trembled again with the chill. At last she stood +before the door of Nicodemus Klotz, and took hold of the iron knocker; +but as she put out her hand, a strange light flashed before her eyes, +she fell heavily against the door, then sank down in a heap on the +ground. + +On and on the white flakes drifted up the narrow valley and wrapped it +in a shrouding veil, and heaped themselves before the well-closed door +of Nicodemus Klotz over the stiffened body that lay there, till it was +a peaceful white hillock. + +Nicodemus Klotz sat on his warm bench by the stove, smoked his pipe, +and looked comfortably out of window at the snow. So the peaceful +half-hours passed by, whilst his brother Leander, a fine-looking +hunter, read the weekly news out of a shabby paper. "It is coming down +finely," said Nicodemus, blowing out a cloud of smoke. + +"Yes," said Leander, looking up at the snowflakes floating and swarming +before the little window. Suddenly in the midst of the white whirl a +dark wing struck on the panes, something fluttered and croaked, then +flew up to the roof. + +"There is something there," said Leander standing up. + +"What matter?" growled the elder brother, "whatever it may have been, +thou can't go out in this storm." + +"Why not?" said Leander taking his rifle from the wall; the wing-stroke +of the passing bird had roused his hunter's instincts; he must see what +it was. He went to the door and opened it cautiously, so as not to +disturb the bird by any noise. A mass of snow fell inwards, and he +perceived the heap that had piled itself up on the threshold. He could +not get out; he must fetch a spade to clear away the wall, and +impatiently putting aside his gun, he began to shovel. + +"Heavens! what is this?" he cried out suddenly, "Nicodemus, +come--quick--here is some one buried under the snow--help me!" + +His brother hastened forward; in a moment the heap was dug into, and a +beautiful rounded arm appeared, and then from beneath the light +covering, they drew forth a lifeless body. + +"Good God! a maiden--and what a maiden!" whispered Leander as the +beautiful head and the finely-moulded form revealed themselves. + +"How can she have wandered up here?" said Nicodemus, shaking his head +as he lifted, not without effort, the heavy body out of the snow. + +"Is she dead?" asked Leander touching her, while his eyes rested with +mingled alarm and pleasure on the pale, sunburnt face. + +"She must instantly be rubbed," ordered Nicodemus, "inside, in the +bedroom there." + +They carried the weighty burthen into the house and laid it on +Nicodemus' bed. "She must have lain a good half-hour out there; it must +be about that time since I heard a heavy blow against the door, but I +thought it was a lump of snow fallen from the roof." + +Leander fetched a tub full of snow, and officiously tried to help in +pulling off the girl's garments. "Let be," said the older and more +discreet man, "that will not do--a youngster like thee; the girl'd be +ashamed if she knew it. Do thou go out and see if thou can bring down +one of the Gestreins, Kathrine or Marianne. Go!" + +Leander could not take his eyes from the lifeless form. "Such a +beautiful maid!" he muttered compassionately as he went out. + +With gentle care the experienced man now undressed the girl, and rubbed +her hard with the snow till warmth revived in her skin, and the blood +began to circulate again. Then he dried her well, covered her up +carefully, and poured a few drops of a strong cordial extracted from +herbs down her throat. At last she recovered consciousness, turned and +stretched herself, and looked once round the room; but her eyes were +glazed and vacant, and muttering a few unintelligible words, she closed +them again. + +"She is ill," said Nicodemus to Leander, who at this moment reappeared, +whilst a sturdy peasant woman who stopped at the door to shake off the +snow followed him. + +"Marianne," said Nicodemus--she was his married sister, "thou must help +us here. Two men like Leander and me can't look after the girl. There +is Leander making eyes at her already." + +He threw a dissatisfied glance at the young man, who was again standing +by the head of the bed and seemed to devour with his eyes the face of +the sick girl; but he turned away hastily and blushed at being found +out. + +Marianne went up to the bed, and her first question was: "Who can she +be?" + +"God only knows! Some vagabond," said Nicodemus. + +"What should make thee say that?" growled Leander, "one can see plainly +enough she's no vagabond." + +"Ay, because she's a handsome girl and pleases thee," said Marianne; +"there's many a fair face covers a blackened soul--good looks prove +nothing; a decent girl doesn't wander round the country at this time of +year, all alone in the snow till she falls in a heap. Likely enough +she's in some scrape, and God knows what sort she may be to harbour in +the house." + +"Well, it's all one now," said Nicodemus good-naturedly, "we can't turn +a sick girl out in the cold and snow, be she what she may." + +"As you will," said the woman, "I'll come over here and welcome, to +take care of her for you; but I won't take her into my house, and that +you may know once for all." + +"No one asked thee; we will keep her ourselves," said Leander +irritated, and as Wally again muttered some words to herself, he leaned +tenderly over her and asked, "What is it? What dost thou want?" + +The elder brother and sister exchanged glances. "As for thee," said +Nicodemus, "I have something to say to thee. Thou's willing enough and +ready to open house and home before we know who this woman is. There +stands the door;--now walk out and come in here no more unless thou'd +like to see me turn out the girl, ill as she is. Dost understand?" + +"What, one mayn't even look at a girl now," grumbled Leander, "I see no +reason why thee should come in before me." + +"Thou'st nought to do but to go out; I'll allow none of this so long as +I am master of the house and eldest brother to thee." So saying +Nicodemus took him by the arm and pushed him out, and remained himself +alone with his sister by the sick girl. + +Wally did not recover consciousness, she lay in a fever; her throat +was swelled, her limbs stiff and aching. The brother and sister +soon saw that the stranger must have suffered terribly from cold and +over-fatigue, and they tended her to the best of their powers. Leander +meanwhile wandered idly and restlessly through the house, and as often +as one of them came out of the sick room he was in the way to enquire +how things were going on. He was full of grief and vexation; he also +would so willingly have tended the beautiful girl. Towards evening it +ceased snowing, and he took his rifle and went out. But he had scarcely +been away a minute when he came back again and called Nicodemus from +the sick room. "Look here," he said, much excited, "there is a vulture +on the roof, a splendid golden vulture, and he looks at me quite +quietly and confidingly, as though he belonged there." + +"Ah!" said Nicodemus, "that is singular." + +"Only come and see," said Leander, and drew his brother out, in front +of the house. "There--there he sits and never moves. A state prize, and +I can't shoot him! The devil take it all!" + +"Why can't thou shoot him?" asked Nicodemus. + +"How can I fire now, with the sick girl lying indoors?" said Leander, +stamping his foot. + +"Drive him away," advised Nicodemus, "and then thou can follow him and +shoot him further off where she cannot hear." + +"Tsch, tsch," said Leander, throwing up balls of snow to scare off the +bird. The vulture ruffled his feathers, screamed, and at last rose. But +he did not fly away, he floated for a minute high in the air, and then +quietly let himself down on to the roof again. + +"That is strange, he won't go away; it's just as if he were tame." + +Once, twice more they tried to drive it off--always with the same +result. + +"He's bewitched," said Leander, making the sign of the cross; but it +did not seem to trouble the bird--so it was certain the devil could +have nothing to do with it! + +"It seems to me that he's been shot already, and cannot fly," said +Nicodemus, "any way let him be in peace till he comes down of himself, +if thou doesn't wish to frighten the girl with the crack of the rifle." + +"He's half down already; I believe I might take him with my hand," said +Leander. He fetched a ladder, laid it against the wall and cautiously +ascended. The bird quietly let him approach; he drew his handkerchief +from his pocket, and would have thrown it over the vulture's head, but +the bird struck and pecked at him so violently, that he was obliged to +beat a hasty retreat. + +Nicodemus laughed. "There, he's shown thee how to catch a vulture with +the hand. I could have told thee as much as that." + +"I never saw such a bird in my life," said Leander grumbling, and +shaking his head, "Wait a bit," he added, threatening his foe above, +"only wait till I find thee somewhere else." + +"Thou can hunt him to-morrow if he's not perished in the night. If he +can fly, he'll go farther away, and hardly come so far as this again." + +It was getting dark now, and Marianne came out to say she must go home +and cook her husband's supper. The brothers went in, and Nicodemus also +went to prepare supper, by fetching bread and cheese from the store +room. While he was gone, Leander softly opened the door that led from +the living room into the bedroom and peeped through the crack at Wally. +She lay still now, and slept soundly. It was so long since she had lain +in any bed, that it could be seen even in her sleep how comfortable she +found it; she lay reclining so softly, so easily amongst the pillows. +"God help thee, thou poor soul, God help thee!" whispered Leander to +her through the opening, then hastily closed the door again, for he +heard Nicodemus coming. He was sitting quite innocently on the bench by +the stove when his brother came in with the food. + +"To-night," said Nicodemus, "we shall do well enough; as Benedict is +not here, I can sleep upstairs in his bed, but to-morrow night, when +he's back again, we three must divide the two beds between us." + +"Oh, I need no bed," said Leander hastily. "For the sake of her in +there, I'd as soon sleep on the bench here, or in the hay-loft; it is +all one to me. If any of us is to be put out for her, it shall be me, +and no one else." + +"Well, if it pleases thee, thou can have it so. But in the hay-loft, +not on the bench; that is too near the sick-room--dost understand?" + +"Ay, ay, I understand well enough," muttered Leander, and bit into his +cheese as if it were a sour apple. + +The bedroom of the two younger brothers was exactly opposite that of +Nicodemus, who took the bed of the absent Benedict. Two or three times +in the night he got up, and went to listen at Wally's door; she talked +and wandered a good deal, and once Nicodemus could clearly understand +that she was speaking of a vulture. "Ah," thought he, "she too will +have seen the vulture when she came up, and the fright comes back to +her in her dreams." + +Early in the morning, before breakfast even, the restless Leander was +up and out; he did not come home till nearly mid-day. + +"Well, how is she getting on?" he asked as he came in. + +"Just the same; she doesn't come to herself at all, and she's always in +dread of people who, she thinks, want to take her away." + +Leander scratched his head behind his ear. "Then I can't shoot yet. +Only think now--there's the vulture outside still sitting on the roof." + +"Never!" + +"Ay, when I went out this morning, I couldn't see him anywhere; then I +thought, he's flown away, and I went after him for nearly three hours. +Then when I get home, there he is, sitting quietly on the roof again." + +"Well," said Nicodemus, "that's a thing that might make one really +uneasy, if one happened to be superstitious." + +"Ay, indeed. One might almost think of the phantom maidens of Murzoll, +and that they meant to play me a rogue's trick." + +"God be praised!" said a rough deep voice, and Benedict the second +brother, who had been away on a journey, now walked in. + +"Ay, God be praised thou'rt back again," cried his brothers together. +"What's the news? What's thou been doing?" + +"Oh, nothing much; they've only sent me from Herod to Pilate again down +in the Court-house, and crammed me with half-promises. I only know that +all Oetzthal, man and beast of all three genders, may break neck and +limb over the road here before we get the path." The speaker threw off +his knapsack discontentedly and seated himself on the bench by the +stove. "Is there anything to eat?" he said. + +"Directly," said Nicodemus, who did the cooking himself, and he fetched +in the soup. + +He also brought a bowl of milk, and took it in to the sick girl; +Leander's eye followed him enviously. Benedict was hungry and fell to +on the soup without observing what his brother had done: Nicodemus soon +returned, and silently, like all peasants, who seem to fear when +performing the solemn act of eating that they will get out of time if +they speak, the three spooned up the soup in a measured rhythmical +movement, so that neither of them should get more nor less than his +share. + +When they had eaten, the weary Benedict lighted his pipe and stretched +himself comfortably on the bench. + +"What's the news in the world? Tell us all about it," said Leander, who +knew his brother's habit of silence. Benedict had stuck his pipe aslant +in his mouth and yawned. "I know of nought," he said. After a time, +however, he went on: "Rich Stromminger of Sonnenplatte, his daughter, +the Vulture-maiden, you know--she set her father's place on fire, and +is running now about the country begging." + +"Ah, when did that happen?" asked the brothers astonished. + +"She must be a real bad girl that," continued Benedict. "Her father had +sent her up to the Hochjoch before this, because she wouldn't do his +bidding, and when she comes down, the first thing is that she half +kills Gellner, and sets her father's house on fire." + +"Jesu Maria!" + +"After that she naturally ran away, and is now wandering about the +neighbourhood. Yesterday she was in Vent, and trying to get a place, +but who would have such a girl in the house? To add to it all, she +drags the big vulture about with her that she took from the nest, and +expects folk to take that in too. Naturally every one refuses." + +Nicodemus looked at Leander, and Leander grew crimson. + +"Well!--" said Nicodemus, "now I know who's lying in there!--The +vulture that won't leave the roof--and all night she was raving about a +vulture--that's not so bad--we've the Vulture-maiden in the house!" + +Benedict sprang up. "What!" he cried. + +"Don't cry out so loud," said Leander, "dost want the poor sick girl to +hear it all?" + +Then Nicodemus related how Leander had found her half dead in the snow, +and how they could not do otherwise than keep her in the house, at +least till she was able to walk. But Benedict was a rough man, and +thought the illness was only a pretence--that his brothers had been too +soft and should have sent her away. He would soon have got the better +of her. "For incendiaries he had no sanctuary," he cried, and his +piercing eyes glanced wrathfully under his bushy brows. + +"If thou'd seen the maid, thou'd have taken her in too," said Leander, +"It'd have been less than human to turn the poor thing out in the wind +and weather." + +"Indeed? And in that way we should get at last every robber and +murderer in the neighbourhood in asylum here, till it is said that +Rofen is a hiding-place for all the rabble--that'd be a fine thing for +the justices to get hold of. If you two can be taken in by a cunning +chit, I at least must maintain order and decency in Rofen!" + +He approached the door. Nicodemus stood before it and said quietly, but +firmly, "Benedict, I am the eldest, and I'm master in Rofen as much as +thou, and I know as well as thou what is our duty as Rofeners. I give +thee my word I will keep the girl no longer in the house than I must +for human and Christian duty; but now she is sick, and I will not +suffer thee to ill-use her. So long as I live at Rofen I'll have no +injustice done under my roof." + +Then Leander broke in. "Look here," he said confidently and with +flashing eyes; "only let him go in--when he sees her, he'll never send +her away." + +"I believe thou'rt right, thou simpleton," said Nicodemus smiling, and +he softly opened the door. + +Benedict hastily and noisily entered; this time Leander ventured to +slip in also, and Nicodemus had nothing to say against it; he might +help to watch over the harsh Benedict and keep him from being too +rough. Marianne was sitting by the bed making new stockings for the +sick girl, for she had become so ragged that she would have had none to +wear when she could get up again. At Benedict's noisy entrance she made +a sign that he should be quiet; but scarcely had he perceived the sick +girl, when of himself he hushed his footsteps, and went slowly up to +the bed. Wallburga was fast asleep. She lay on her back, and had thrown +one beautiful rounded arm over her head; her abundant dark-brown hair +fell loosely over the snow-white neck that no sunshine could tan +through her thick peasant's bodice, and which her loose linen chemise +now left partly uncovered; her mouth was half-open as though smiling, +and two rows of pearly teeth shone between the arched lips; on the +sleeping brow lay an unspoken expression of nobility and purity that no +words can describe. Benedict had grown quite still. He gazed long at +the touching and yet innocent picture as if astonished, and his brown +face began gradually to redden--like Leander's, which seemed dyed in a +crimson glow. Then he ground his teeth together and turned round. "Aye, +she is certainly ill," he said in a voice which implied, "There is +nothing to be done," and he went out of the room on tiptoe. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + In the Wilderness. + +Once again spring-breezes blew across the land. The melting snows +flowed down in rushing mountain-torrents; timidly, half-suspiciously +the first Alpine plants peeped out, as though to ask the sunshine if it +were indeed in earnest, and they might venture forth a little further. +Here and there isolated patches of snow still lay like forgotten linen +sheets. In the evergreen pine and fir-woods, the birds lifted their +wings, held twittering consultations, and attuned their little throats +to the universal song of rejoicing. + +From the Ferner mountains avalanches came thundering down into the +valleys, and beneath the terrible, moving masses, walls and rafters, +trees and bushes, crashed together. There was a thronging and +wrestling, a thundering and rustling--there were threats and +allurements, fears and hopes, in the heights and in the valleys, and +man also, ever-venturesome, ever-inquisitive man, arose from his long +winter's rest, stretched forth his feelers, and began to grope about +the mountains with his alpenstock for some foothold in the loose and +shifting snow. + +Only Rofen yet lay in the shadow of its narrow, heaven-high walls, +hidden like a late sleeper beneath its white coverlet. Before the door +of the Rofen farm stood Leander, feeding Hansl with a big mouse that he +had caught for him. Hansl had been Leander's pet from the hour when it +came out that he belonged to Wally, and the bird was well cared for +among the Rofeners. + +Benedict came towards the house with his mountain pole. He had been +reconnoitring the path to Murzoll, and had more than once hovered +between life and death. His glance was unsteady, his whole appearance +agitated and gloomy. + +"Well?" asked Leander in anxious suspense. + +"The road is passable at need. If I guide her, she can risk it." + +"Nay, Benedict, don't thee do that, don't let her go up there--I pray +thee, don't." + +"What she will--she will," said Benedict gloomily. + +"Tell her the mountain's not safe, then she'll remain of herself." + +"Where's the good of lying? She'll not change her mind however long she +stays here, and thou hast nothing to hope, I've told thee that often +enough. An unfledged stripling like thee is not for a maid like Wally! +Now keep thyself quiet." He went into the house, and the tears sprang +into Leander's eyes with anger and pain. + +Wally came with the hayfork out of the stable towards Benedict. + +"Wally," he said, "if it must be so, I'll lead thee up there, I've +found out the way; but it is still dangerous." + +"Thank thee kindly, Benedict," said Wally, "tomorrow, then, we will +go." She hung up the hayfork, and went into the kitchen. Benedict +stamped with his foot, and set his alpenstock in the corner. For a +while he stood reflecting, then he could keep quiet no longer--he +followed her. + +Wally had tucked up her gown and was preparing to wash the kitchen. + +"Wally, leave all that, I want to talk with thee." + +"I cannot, Benedict, I must scour the kitchen. If I go away to-morrow, +I must have the whole house clean. I'll leave no dirt or disorder +behind me." + +"Thou's always worked more by us than thou hast eaten or drunken. Let +be now, the house is clean enough, and if thou goes away--all is one." +He chewed at a piece of wood, then spit out the bitten splinter. Wally +saw the terrible state of excitement he was in, and left off her work +that she might listen to him. + +"Wally," he said, "consider once more whether thou'll not have one of +us. See now, thou'st no need to be so proud. There's such a cry against +thee, that it's through great love only, that one can take thee at +all." + +Wally nodded her head in perfect agreement. + +"Now see, we Rofeners, we are people who may knock at every door, and +there's not a girl but would be glad to get one of us. Thou hast the +choice between two of us brothers, and refusest such a piece of luck. +See, Wally, thou may some day repent of it." + +"Benedict, thou means well, and I care for thee and Leander as one can +care for only one person, but not enough to marry you. And I'll marry +no one that I can't love as a husband, and that thou may know that I +mean it, I once saw one that I can never forget, and till I do forget +him, I'll take no other." + +Benedict grew pale. + +"See, I tell thee that thou may be at peace, and no longer torment +thyself with the thought of me. Only believe, Benedict, I know well +what thou hast done, thou and all of you for me. You saved me from +death, you protected me when my father'd have taken me away by force, +and it was really fine how thou defended me and thy rights. I'd be a +happy girl if I could love thee and forget that other. I'm right +thankful to thee, and if it could help thee, I'd give thee my life--but +tell thyself, what would thee do with a wife who loves some one else? +That were truly a bad return to a man like thee." + +"Yes," said Benedict hoarsely, and wiped his forehead. + +"And thou sees now, that I must go away, that things can't go on as +they are?" + +"Yes," he said again, and left the kitchen. + +Wally looked after him as, full of emotion, he strode away, the brave +and proud man who had offered her all, all that--as he himself had said +in his uncouth fashion--would have made the happiness of any other +girl. And she herself could not understand how it was that she could +not care more for this man, who had done so much for her, than for the +stranger who had never once given her a thought. And yet so it was! +There was not one who could be compared with Joseph for power and +excellence; she saw him always before her as when he had flung the +bloody bear's skin from his shoulder and related how he had wrestled +with the monster, whilst all stood around and admired him, the mighty, +the beautiful, the only one! And then how he had conquered her father, +the strong man who had always appeared to her hitherto so unconquerable +and terrible! And with what goodness and kindness he had spoken to him +afterwards, in spite of her father's hostility! No, there was not one +that could rise up and stand comparison with Joseph. + +She went back to her work. "If only Joseph knew all that I am giving up +for his sake," she thought as she looked out, and saw how in front of +the window Benedict with a red face was talking to Leander, and how +Leander wept. + +Old Stromminger had at first stormed against and cursed his unruly +child, and not even the good pastor of Heiligkreuz had succeeded in +pacifying him. When it was at length rumoured that Wally kept herself +hidden at Rofen, he sent people to fetch her away. But on their own +ground and territory it was easy for no one to move the "Kloetze of +Rofen," and they defended like knights the sacred rights and freedom of +the Rofeners. When Wally however perceived that a passion for her had +taken possession of the brothers, then she made a confidant of the +quiet and prudent Nicodemus, and he understood what was needful to be +done. He went to Stromminger, and his wise eloquence was so far +successful that the old man at last gave up the idea of imprisoning +Wally, and contented himself with banishing her for ever from his +sight. In the summer she should tend the flocks again upon Murzoll, +"because that is the only way in which one can make any use of her." In +the winter she might seek service wherever she liked--only she was not +to venture to come back to her home. + +When Nicodemus returned with this answer, Wally insisted upon going +that moment to await the flocks upon the Ferner, and only Nicodemus' +firm decision prevailed upon her to wait at least till Benedict should +have examined whether the mountain road were passable. + +So the hour came when Wally must once more fly before the winds of +spring on to the mountains, into the desert. It was hard to part with +the brothers, and with good Marianne. They had become dear to her, +these worthy people, who had come so readily to her help. + +Benedict went up the mountain with her; he would not let himself be +deprived of that. "Thou'st been entrusted to us, we will at least hand +thee back again with a whole skin. Whatever may happen to thee then, we +can, alas! do nought to hinder." + +It was a fearful road up which they had to make their way in the midst +of the wild confusion wrought by the spring, and Benedict, acknowledged +far and wide to be the best and surest of guides, said himself he had +never seen so bad a mountain-path. They spoke little, for they were +engaged in a constant, breathless struggle for life, and could look +neither to the right nor to the left. It was hard work. At length, +after fighting half the day with snow and ice and crevasses, they found +themselves on the summit. The old hut still stood there, somewhat more +ruinous than before, and a heavy weight of snow lay on the roof and all +around it. + +"There thou means to house thyself--there! Sooner than become +an honoured wife and lead with us down yonder a respected and +home-sheltered life as a peasant of Rofen?" + +"I can do no other, Benedict," said Wally gently, and looked with sad +eyes at the snow-covered inhospitable hut. "I believe the mountain +spirits have thrown a spell upon me, so that I must needs come back to +them, and never more feel myself at home in the valleys." + +"One might almost believe it! There's something strange about thee. +Thou's quite different from other maids, so that one loves thee in +quite a different way--much, much more dearly, and yet as if thou +didn't belong to us, as if an evil spirit drove thee round." + +He threw down the bundle of provisions that he had brought up with him +for Wally, and began removing the snow from the door of the hut that +she might be able to get into it. + +"Benedict," said Wally softly, as though she could be overheard, "dost +thou believe in the phantom maidens?" + +Benedict looked down meditatively and shrugged his shoulders. "What can +one say? I've never seen any myself--but there are people who'd hold to +it to their last breath." + +"I'd never believed in them--but when I came up here last year, I +had a dream so lifelike, I could almost believe it was no dream, and +since then, whatever happens to me, I can't help thinking of the +phantom-maidens. + +"What sort of a dream?" + +"Thou must know that him whom I love is a chamois-hunter, and it was +because of him my father sent me up last year, and the first hour I was +here I dreamt that the phantom-maidens and Murzoll threatened me that +if I wouldn't leave off thinking of the lad, they'd fling me down into +the abyss!" And she related her whole dream in detail to Benedict. He +shook his head, and became quite melancholy. "Wally, in thy place, I +should be afraid." + +She threw her head back. "Ah well. Thou goes on shooting the chamois, +in spite of the phantom-maidens. One has only got not to be afraid. +I've sprung over many a chasm since then, and I've felt well enough +that there was somewhat that wished to pull me down, but I held myself +firm, and kept the upper hand." + +She raised her strong brown arm defiantly. "So long as I've got two +arms, I've no need to fear whatever it may be." + +This did not please Benedict. In his solitary wanderings over the +terrible Similaun and the wild glacier peaks, he had acquired a taste +for subtle meditations and reflected more deeply on many things than +other people. "Take care, Wally! He who sets himself too high thrusts +his head up easily enough, but that's what those up yonder won't +endure, and they thrust him down again." + +She was silent. + +"It's too early for thee to be up here--" he began again, "no one could +stand it." + +"Oh, it was worse still when I was up here last autumn," said Wally, as +she went into the hut. + +"Who won't be advised, can't be helped. But if _he_ doesn't some time +recompense thee for all thou'rt going through for him, he deserves to +be dragged round by the collar." + +"If he knew of it, for sure he'd recompense me," said Wally reddening +and looking down. + +"He doesn't know of it?" asked Benedict astonished. + +"No, he scarcely knows me." + +"Now may God forgive thee that thou should so set thy heart on a +strange man, and them, them who love thee, and have cherished thee and +tended thee, them thou pushes from thee. That is no love--that is mere +obstinacy." + +Wally was silent, and Benedict also said no more. He did now as old +Klettenmaier had done the year before. He set the hut in order as well +as he could for Wally, and brought her a store of wood. Then he held +out his hand to her in farewell. "May God guard thee up here! And if I +might say one more word to thee, it would be this: Watch over thyself, +and pray that no evil powers may get the better of thee!" + +Wally's heart contracted as his eyes full of deep sadness rested on +her. It seemed to her as though in truth she felt the evil powers +hovering round her, and almost unconsciously she held the hand of her +protector who had watched over her so faithfully, and accompanied him +part of the way back, as though she feared to remain alone. + +"Now then--here the path becomes bad; I thank thee for coming so far," +said Benedict, and parted from her. + +"Farewell, and a safe journey home," cried Wally after him. + +He looked round no more. She turned back to the hut, and was once more +alone with her vulture and her mountain spirits. But the spirits seemed +appeased. Murzoll smiled kindly in the glow of the spring sunshine upon +the returned child, and Wally no longer felt herself a stranger in the +midst of her mighty and sublime surroundings. Each fold on Murzoll's +brow was familiar to her now; she knew his smile and his frown, and it +no longer frightened her when sullen clouds beset his brow, or when he +rolled down avalanches into the abyss. She felt herself secure on his +harsh breast, and the breath of his storms blew away from her heart the +weight that she had brought up with her again from the valley. For a +healing power lies in the storm; it cools the blood, it bears the soul +on its rushing wings far away over the stones and thorns amongst which +it would flutter, painfully entangled. As when a child has hurt itself +and cries, we breathe on the place, saying, "It will soon be well," and +the child smiles back to us again, so Father Murzoll blew away from the +heart of his returned child the dull pain that oppressed it, and she +looked with shining eyes and an uplifted heart out into the wide +world--and hoped and waited. + +So weeks and months passed by. The July sun shone with such power that +the mountain was already completely "ausgeapert"; that is to say, the +lighter winter snow was all melted away to the limits of the eternal +snows where Wally dwelt. Now and then one of the Rofener brothers came +up to enquire whether she had not yet changed her mind. But they came +but seldom, and interrupted Wally's solitude by a few short half-hours +only. + +One day the sun's rays "pricked" with such sharp, unusual heat, that +Wally felt as though she were passing between glowing needles. When the +sun "pricks," it draws the clouds together, and soon, somewhere about +midday, it had gathered about itself a thick tent of clouds behind +which it disappeared, and a leaden twilight was spread heavily over the +earth. A strange disquietude seized the little flock; now and then a +quivering brightness shuddered through the grey cloud-chaos, as a +sleeper's eyelashes quiver in dreams, and gigantic black mourning +clouds waved about Murzoll's head. Now and again they were rent +asunder, affording faint glimpses into the clear distance, but +instantly across these thin places new veils were woven till all was +closed, and no empty space, as it seemed, left between earth and +Heaven. + +Wally well knew what all this foreboded; she had already experienced +plenty of bad weather up here on the mountains, and she drove the flock +together under a projecting rock, where she had herself arranged a fold +in case of need. But a young goat had wandered out of sight, and she +was obliged to go and seek it. No storm had ever yet come on with such +rapidity. Already hollow mutterings could be heard amongst the +mountains, whilst the gusts of wind swept roaring onwards, flinging +down isolated hailstones. Now it was a question of minutes only, and +the kid was nowhere to be seen. Wally extinguished her hearth fire and +stepped out into the conflict of the elements, like an heroic queen +amongst the hosts of her rebellious subjects. And queen-like indeed she +looked, without knowing or caring anything about it. She had set a +little copper milk-can upside down upon her head as a helmet to protect +her from the hailstones, and a thick horse-cloth hung down like a +mantle from her shoulders. Thus equipped, and a shepherd's staff with +its iron hook in her hand in the place of a lance, she threw herself +out into the storm, and fought her way through it till she reached a +point of rock from whence she could look out after the lost animal. But +It was impossible through the mists to distinguish anything. Wally +ascended higher and higher, till she had reached the path that leads +over the Hochjoch into the Schnalser valley; and there, deep below in +the ravine, the kid was clinging to the side of the steep precipice, +trembling with fear and crouching beneath the blows of the heavy +hailstones. The helpless animal moved her to pity--she must have +compassion on it. The hail rattled down thicker and thicker around her, +the wind and rain struck her like whips across the face, there was a +heaving and swelling on every side like the thundering waves of an +approaching deluge, but she paid no heed to it; the mute supplications +of the distressed animal rose above the raging of the storm, and +without a moment's hesitation she let herself down into the misty +depths. With infinite trouble she got far enough down the slippery path +to lay hold of the animal with her crook and draw it towards her, then +throwing it over her shoulder, she climbed upwards again with hands and +feet. Then, all at once, a stream of fire seemed to shoot from the +zenith down into the gulf, a shivered fir-tree crashed beneath her in +the depths, and in one universal roar of heaven and earth together +there came a crackling from above, a rushing, a thundering of hurling +streams and masses below, till to the solitary pilgrim clinging to the +quaking rock it seemed as though the whole world were whirling round +her in wild dissolution. Half-stunned, she swung herself up at last on +to the firm edge of the pathway, then stood a moment to recover breath +and wipe the moisture from her eyes, for she could hardly see, and +the kid too struggled on her shoulder, so that she was obliged to bind +it before carrying it any further. Meanwhile, thunder-clap after +thunder-clap crashed above her, beneath her, and as though heaven had +been a leaking cask filled with fire, the lightning struck downwards in +fiery streams. Hark!--what was that?--a human voice! A cry for help +sounded clearly above the rushing and roaring. Wally who had not +trembled at the fury of the thunder and the hurricane, trembled now. A +human voice--now!--up here with her in this fearful tumult of nature, +in this chaos! It terrified her more than the raging of the elements. +She listened with suspended breath to hear whence the voice came, and +whether she had not deceived herself. Again she heard the cry, and +close behind her. "Hi, thou yonder--help me, then!" And out of the +mists and rain emerged a figure that seemed to drag along a second +form. Wally stood as though suddenly stiffened--what face was that? The +burning eyes, the black moustache, the finely aquiline nose, she looked +and looked and could not stir a limb for the sweet terror that had come +upon her--it was indeed St. George, it was Joseph the bear-hunter. + +He himself was scarcely less startled than Wally when she turned round, +but from another cause. "Jesu Maria--it's a girl," he said almost +timidly, and looked at Wally with astonishment. Seeing her from behind, +he had thought from her height that she was a shepherd--now he saw a +maiden before him. And as she stood there, her long mantle falling +around her in stiff folds, her head protected by its warlike helmet +against the hail, her dark hair, loosened and dripping, hanging about +her face, the crook in her hand and the kid on her broad shoulders, her +great eyes flaming and fastened upon him, he had a weird feeling for a +moment, as though something supernatural stood before him. In his whole +life before he had never seen so powerful a woman, and he had to pause +for a minute before he could clearly make her out. + +"Ah," he said, "thou'rt only old Stromminger's Vulture-Wally?" + +"Yes, that am I," answered the girl breathlessly. + +"So--well, precisely then with thee I have nothing to do." + +"Why not?" asked Wally, turning pale, and a flash of lightning quivered +just over her, so that her copper helmet flashed red in the glare. + +Joseph was obliged to pause, so crashing was the thunder-clap that +followed, and with new fury a shower of hail came rattling down. Joseph +looked at the girl in perplexity as she stood there immovable, whilst +lumps of ice struck against the slight metal can on her head. Then he +bent down over the lifeless form that he was carrying. + +"See here, ever since that affair in Soelden I've been in disgrace with +thy father, and people say that thou also art not one to have dealings +with. But this poor maid can go no further; a flash of lightning struck +close by her and threw her down, and she's quite out of her senses. Go, +lead us to thy hut, that the girl may rest till the storm is over--then +we'll leave again at once; and for certain, such a thing shall never +happen again." + +Wally looked strangely at him during this speech--half in defiance, +half in pain. Her lips trembled as though she would have made some +vehement answer, but she controlled herself, and after a short and +silent struggle, "Come," she said, and strode onwards before him. +Presently she paused and asked, "Who is the maid?" + +"She's a poor girl out of Vintschgau on her way to the Lamb in +Zwieselstein. My mother is dead, and I've had to go over to Vintschgau, +where her home was, to look after the inheritance, and as our roads lay +together, I've brought the girl across the mountains with me," answered +Joseph evasively. + +"Thy mother is dead? Oh, thou poor Joseph--" cried Wally full of +sympathy. + +"Yes--it was a hard blow," said Joseph in deep sadness, "the good +little mother." + +Wally saw that it pained him to speak of her, and was silent. They said +no more till they reached the hut. + +"Here's a horrible hole," said Joseph stooping and yet knocking his +head as he entered. "It's not for nothing that a man sends his child +off to live in a dog-kennel like this. Well, certainly thou'st done +enough to deserve it." + +"Ah!--thou's sure of that?" said Wally, breaking out bitterly now as +she untied the kid and set it down in a corner. Then she shook up her +bed and helped Joseph to lay the stranger on it. Her hands trembled as +she did so. + +"Well," said Joseph indifferently, "everyone knows how wild thou's been +with thy father, and how thou nearly killed Vincenz Gellner dead, and +set fire to thy father's barn in a rage. It seems to me, that with such +a beginning thou may go still further." + +"Dost know why I struck Vincenz, and fired the barn?" asked Wally with +a trembling voice, "Dost know _why_ I am up here in this dog-kennel as +thou calls it? Dost know?" And with her two hands she broke a strong +branch in pieces across her knee, so that the wood cracked and +splintered, and Joseph involuntarily admired her strength. + +"No," he said, "how should I know?" + +"Well then, if thou doesn't know, thou needn't speak of it," she said +low and angrily as she made up the fire that she might warm some milk +for the sick girl. + +"Tell me, then, if thou thinks I'm doing thee a wrong." + +Wally broke out again suddenly into the shrill, bitter laugh peculiar +to her when her heart was secretly bleeding. "Thee I'm to tell--thee?" +she cried, "Yes, truly; thou'rt a fitting person for me to tell!" And +she rinsed out a kettle with feverish haste, poured the milk into it, +and hung it up over the crackling fire. + +Joseph did not discover the pain that lay hidden in this scorn--he only +felt the scorn, and turned away from her offended: "With thee there's +nothing to be said; people are right enough there," he answered, and +thenceforward occupied himself only with the sick girl. + +Wally also was silent, and only now and then as she moved about her +work cast a stolen glance to where Joseph, with the red light of the +fire upon him, sat on a stool not far from the bed. His eyes glowed +like two coals in the reflection of the flames, which shining now +brightly, now faintly, lighted up the strong and handsome face of the +hunter with strange changes, so that it appeared sometimes friendly, +sometimes full of gloom. + +All at once Wally remembered her dream on the first night of her +arrival on the Hochjoch. "If the phantom-maidens could see him now, +they would melt away before him like snow before the fire." Something +of this she thought, and it seemed to her as if only with tears of +blood--as it is said of a heart that it bleeds--could she tear her +glance away from him. Two scalding drops did in truth fall from her +eyes, and though they were not drops of blood, they gave her no less +pain. + +The stranger now recovered consciousness. "What has happened?" she +asked in astonishment. + +"Thou must keep thyself quiet, Afra," said Joseph, "the lightning +nearly struck thee dead, and so Wally Stromminger has brought us to her +hut." + +"Jesu Maria, are we with the Vulture-Wally?" said the girl terrified. + +"Keep thyself still," said Joseph, comforting her, "as soon as thou's +recovered, we'll go on our way again." + +"So over in Vintschgau even thou's heard talk of me? There, take +something to drink against the fright," said Wally quietly and with a +touch of good-humoured sarcasm, as she reached her the warm milk mixed +with some brandy. Joseph had stood up to allow Wally to come to the bed +with the drink. Afra tried to sit up but she could not manage it, and +Wally coming quickly to her aid raised her and held her in her arms +like a child, whilst she gave her the milk with the other hand. Afra +took a thirsty draught out of the wooden bowl, but she was so weak that +her head sank upon Wally's shoulder when she had done drinking, and +Wally, beckoning to Joseph to take the bowl from her hand, remained +sitting patiently so as not to disturb the sick girl. + +Joseph looked at her meditatively, as she sat there on the edge of the +bed with the girl in her arms. "Thou'rt a handsome maid," he said +honestly, "it's a pity only thou should be so bad." + +A slight colour passed over Wally's face at these words. + +"How thy heart beats all at once!" said Afra. "I can feel it on thy +shoulder." And a little stronger now, she raised her head and gazed at +the beautiful tanned face, and the large eyes. Wally also now studied +the girl more attentively. She saw that she had charming features, blue +eyes full of expression, fair hair that looked like floss silk, and a +strange, uneasy feeling of aversion stole over her. She looked at +Joseph, stood up, and began to bustle round again. + +"Is that really the Vulture-Wally?" asked Afra of her guide, as though +she could not understand how the decried Vulture-maiden could be so +kind. + +"One wouldn't suppose it, but she says herself that it's she," answered +Joseph half-aloud. + +"And I'll soon prove to thee that I am," cried Wally proudly, and +opening the door, she cried "Hansl--Hansl, where art thou?" A shrill +scream answered her, and forthwith Hansl came rushing down from the +roof, and in at the door. + +"Heavens, what is that?" screamed Afra, crossing herself; but Joseph +placed himself before her, as a protector. + +"That is the vulture that I took as a child out of its nest--away +yonder on the Burgsteinwand. It is from him I got my name--the +Vulture-maiden!" and her eyes rested proudly on the bird, as a +soldier's eyes rest on the conquered colours. "See, I've tamed him so +that I can let him fly where he likes now--he never flies away from +me." She set him on her shoulder and unfolded his wings, so that Joseph +might see they were not cut. + +"That fellow's a state-prize," said Joseph, his eyes resting with both +longing and hostility on the splendid booty which no hunter will yield +to another, least of all to a girl! There must have been something in +the look that irritated the vulture, for he uttered a peculiar whistle, +bristled up his feathers, and bent his neck forward towards Joseph. +Wally felt the unwonted agitation on her shoulder and tried to quiet +the bird with caresses. "Nay, Hansl, what's come to thee? Thou wert +never so before." + +"Aha!--thou knows the hunter, my fine fellow," said Joseph with a +challenging laugh and snatching violently at the vulture as though to +tear him from Wally's shoulder. Suddenly the irritated bird put forth +all its might, spread out its wings, rose to the ceiling, and thence +swooped with its whole strength down upon the enemy below. A shriek of +terror rang from Wally's lips, Afra saved herself in a corner, the +narrow hut was almost filled with the rushing monster who no longer +heard his mistress's voice, but dashed again and again at Joseph with +his terrible beak striving to strike his talons into the man's side. It +was one wild confusion of fighting fists and wings, in which feathers +flew about, and the walls grew red where Joseph's bleeding hands +touched them. "My knife, if I could only get at my knife," he cried. + +Wally tore the door open. "Out, Joseph, out into the open air; in this +narrow hole thou can do nothing with him." + +But Joseph the bear-slayer had no idea of running away from a vulture. +"The devil take me if I stir from the spot," he said with a groan. For +one moment longer the battle wavered. Then Joseph, his face pressed +against the wall, managed with his iron fists to seize the vulture by +the claws, and with giant strength forced down the struggling animal as +in a trap whilst it hacked at his hands and arms with its beak. "Now my +knife, draw out my knife--I have no hand free," he cried to Wally. + +But Wally used the moment otherwise; she sprang by, and threw a thick +cloth over the vulture's head. It was easy for her now to tie its feet +together with a cord, so as to render it helpless, and Joseph flung it +on the ground. Trembling and without strength the proud animal +exhausted itself in struggles in the cloth on the floor, and Joseph +taking up his gun, began to load it. + +"What art thou doing there?" asked Wally astonished. + +"Loading my gun," he said, setting his teeth with the pain of his torn +hands. When it was loaded, he took the captive bird up from the floor, +and flung it out of the hut into the open air. Then placing himself at +a little distance, he took aim, and said low and imperiously to Wally, +"Now let him loose." + +"_What_ am I to do?" said Wally, who could not believe she had heard +aright. + +"Let him fly!" + +"What for?" + +"That I may shoot him. Doesn't thee know that no true hunter shoots his +game excepting on the spring or on the wing?" + +"For God's sake," cried Wally, "thou wouldn't shoot me my Hansl?" + +Joseph, in his turn, looked at her wonderingly. "Thou'd have me let the +rabid brute live, perhaps?" he said. + +"Joseph," said Wally, stepping resolutely up to him, "leave me my +Hansl untouched. I fought with the old one for the bird at the risk +of my life, I've brought him up from the nest, no one loves me as he +does--he's my only one, all that I have in the world--thou shall do +nothing to my Hansl." + +"Indeed," said Joseph sharply and bitterly, "the devil nearly tore out +my eyes, and I shall do nothing to him?" + +"He didn't know thee. How can a bird help it that he has no more sense? +Thou'll never revenge thyself on a beast without understanding?" + +Joseph stamped his foot. "Unbind him that he may fly," he said, "or +I'll shoot him in a heap, as he is." He took aim again with his rifle. + +All the hot blood flew to Wally's head, and she forgot everything but +her favourite. "That we will see," she cried in flaming anger, "whether +thou'll dare to lay hands on my property. Put down the gun. The bird is +mine! Dost hear? _Mine_. And none shall hurt or harm him when I am by, +come what will. Away with the gun, or thou shall learn to know who _I_ +am!" And she struck the gun out of his hand with a swift blow, so that +the charge went off, rattling against the wall of rock. + +There was something in her demeanour that subdued the strong young +fellow, the mighty bear-hunter, for he picked up his gun with apparent +composure, saying with bitter scorn, "Please thyself for all I care; +I'll not touch thy hook-beaked sweetheart; he's like enough the only +one thou'll ever have in thy life! Thou--thou's nothing but the +Vulture-Wally." + +And without deigning even to look at her again he tore his +pocket-handkerchief into strips, and tried to bind up his torn hands +with it. Wally sprung forward and would have helped him; now for the +first time she saw how severe the wounds were, and it was as if her own +heart were bleeding at the sight. "O Heavens, lad, what hands thou'st +got!" she cried out. "Come, and I'll wash them and dress them for +thee." + +But Joseph shoved her aside. "Let be--Afra can do it," he said. + +He went into the hut. An anguish as of death came over Wally; she +suddenly understood that she had made Joseph her enemy, perhaps for +ever, and she felt as if she must die at the thought. As though +suddenly crushed, she followed him in, and her eye watched the stranger +as she bound up Joseph's hands, with jealous hatred. + +"Joseph," said she in a stifled voice, "thee mustn't think that I don't +care for thy wounds, because I wouldn't let thee shoot my Hansl. If it +could have made thy hands whole, thou might have shot Hansl first, and +me after him; but it would have done thee no good." + +"It's no matter, there's no need to excuse thyself," said Joseph, +turning away. "Afra," he continued to the girl, "can thou go on now?" + +"Yes," she said. + +"Make thyself ready then, we'll go." + +Wally turned pale. "Joseph, thou must rest thyself a little longer. +I've given thee nothing yet to eat; I will cook thee something at once, +or would thou sooner have a draught of milk?" + +"I thank thee kindly; but we must go so as to be home before nightfall. +It no longer rains, and Afra can walk again now." And with these words +he helped the girl to get ready, slung his gun over his shoulder, and +took his alpenstock in his hand. + +Wally picked up one of the feathers which had fallen from Hansl in the +struggle, and stuck it in Joseph's hat. "Thou must wear the feather, +Joseph. Thou ought to wear it, for thou conquered the vulture, and he'd +have been thy booty if thou'd not given him to me." + +But Joseph took the feather out of his hat. "Thou may mean well," he +said, "but the feather I'll not wear. I'm not accustomed to share my +booty with girls." + +"Then take the vulture altogether, I'll give him to thee; only I pray +thee, let him live," urged Wally breathlessly. + +Joseph looked at her in wonder. "What has come to thee?" he said, "I'll +take nothing from thee on which thy heart is so set; one day perhaps I +may take a live bear, and if so I'll bring it up to thee that the party +may be complete. But till then, thou'll see no more of me; I might +happen to shoot the bird yet if I came across him anywhere, so I'd +better keep away from his haunts! God be with thee, and thanks for the +shelter thou's given us." So saying he walked proudly and quietly out +of the hut. + +Afra stooped down and picked up the feather that Joseph had thrown +away. "Give me the feather," she said; "I'll lay it in my prayer-book, +and so often as I see it I will say a Pater Noster for thee."' + +"As thou will," said Wally gloomily; she had scarcely heard what Afra +had said. Her bosom heaved and throbbed, and in her ears there was a +rushing noise as though the tempest was still raging round her. She +followed the departing guests out of the hut. The storm had passed +away; the veil of black clouds hung raggedly down, and through the +rents sparkled the wet, far-gleaming distance. But for the sullen +mutterings of the Thunder-god as he withdrew, and the roar of the +waters as they rushed down the gullies into the depths, all around was +tranquil and silent, and a white shroud of snow and hail stones had +spread itself upon the mountains. + +Wally stood motionless, her hands pressed upon her bosom. "He never +thinks how poor one must be to set one's heart so upon a bird," said +she to herself. Then she stooped down and freed the half-numbed animal +that climbed, staggering, on to her arm and looked at her with +intelligence, as if to ask her forgiveness. "Aye, thou may look at me," +she sobbed; "oh, Hansl, Hansl, what hast thou done for me!" + +She sat down on the door-step of her little hut, and wept from the very +bottom of her heart till she was weary of the sound of her own sobbing. +She looked up to where a high wall of snow rose perpendicularly behind +her, down to where on the right hand and on the left death had prepared +his cold nest in the snowy hollows,--away into the grey distance, where +long streaks of rain cloud hung down from heaven to earth, and suddenly +she felt again as she had felt on the first day, that she was alone in +the wilderness--and must stay there. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + The Mistress of the Sonnenplatte. + + +Again a year had gone by, a hard year for Wally; for when her lonely +summer in the wilds was ended and Stromminger had sent to fetch the +flocks home, she had gone down into the Schnalser valley on the other +side of the Ferner where she was quite a stranger, and there had sought +service. To the Rofeners she would not return, as she must again have +rejected their suit. But it was just as hard to find employment with +the vulture here as it had been in the Oetz valley, and at last she +gave up all thought of remuneration, only to be taken in with Hansl. +Naturally her lot was a forlorn one--for on account of this folly, as +they called it, she was often turned away or scornfully treated by the +women; and often she had to defend herself stoutly against the rude +importunities of the men, who, here as everywhere, admired the +beautiful girl. Nevertheless she bore it all steadfastly, for she was +too proud to lament and complain of a burden she had laid on herself of +her own free will. But she grew hard under it, hard and ever harder, +just as the good pastor had forewarned her. The ghosts of all the +murdered joys of her young life haunted her and cried out for revenge; +in the short spring time of life three lost years count for much. Other +young girls weep and lament over a lost dance. Wally did not weep for +all the lost dances, for all the thousand pleasures of her youth, she +grieved only for her wasted love; and her spirit, on which no ray of +happiness had shone, waxed sour and hard like a fruit that has matured +in the shade. + +Again the spring time came, and again Wally ascended the Ferner. It was +a bitter spring and a stormy summer; rain, snow, and hail succeeded +each other in turns, so that her clothes often did not dry the whole +day through, and for weeks together she breathed the damp atmosphere of +an impenetrable chaos of drizzling clouds, through which, as before the +first day of Creation, no ray of light would dawn. And, in her soul, +the vast outer chaos reproduced itself in little, gloom reflected +gloom. The whole world as yet was but a dark and troubled dream like +the cloud drifts around her--and God came not, who alone could say, +"Let there be Light." + +One day, however, after endless weeks of darkness, He spoke again the +mighty word of creation, and a gleam of sunshine shot through the +clouds and parted them, and gradually there emerged from the chaos a +fair and well-ordered world, with mountains and valleys, pastures and +lakes and forests; it was spread out suddenly complete before her eyes, +and she felt as if she also were now first suddenly roused to life--as +was once the mother of mankind--that she might rejoice in this world +that God had made so beautiful, not for Himself alone, but for those +beings whom He had created to take delight in it with Him. + +Was it possible there should be no happiness in so fair a world? And +wherefore had God set her, this hapless Eve, up here in the desert, +where he for whom she had been born could never find her? "Oh! yonder, +down yonder--enough of these lonely heights!" a voice cried suddenly +within her, and all at once the wild yearning for life, for love, for +happiness broke forth, so that she longingly stretched out her arms +towards the smiling, sunny world that lay below at her feet. + +"Wally, thou must come down at once. Thy father's dead." The shepherd +boy stood before her. + +Wally stared at him as if dreaming. Was it a vision called up by her +own heart, that even now had cried out so rebelliously for happiness? +She grasped the lad by the shoulder as though to assure herself that he +was indeed there, and it was no trick of the imagination. He repeated +the message. "The place in his foot got worse and worse, then it +mortified, and he died this morning. Now thou's mistress at the farm, +and Klettenmaier sends thee greeting." + +Then it was true, really true! the messenger of release, of peace, of +liberty stood before her in the flesh. For this it was that God had +shown her the earth so fair, as though He would say to her beforehand, +"See, this is now thine own, come down and take that which I have given +thee." + +She went silently into the hut and closed the door. Then she knelt down +and thanked God, and prayed--prayed again, for the first time in many +weeks, ardently, from the depth of her soul; and hot tears for the +father who was now for ever gone--whom living she could not and dared +not love as a child--welled up from her released and reconciled heart. + +Then she went down to the home, that now at last was again a home to +her, where her foot once more trod her own soil, her own hearth. Old +Klettenmaier stood at the gate and joyfully waved his cap when she +arrived; the servant-girl who, two years before, had been so rude to +her, came weeping and submissive to give her the keys, and at the +sitting-room door she was received by Vincenz. + +"Wally," he began, "thou'st used me very badly, but--" + +Wally interrupted him quietly but severely. "Vincenz, if I've done thee +any wrong, may God punish me as it shall please Him. I cannot regret it +nor make it good to thee, nor do I ask thee for forgiveness. Now thou +know'st my mind, and all I pray thee is, leave me to myself." + +And without vouchsafing him another glance, she went in to where the +body of her father lay, and locked the door. She stood by it, tearless. +She had been able to weep for the transfigured father, freed from the +"tenement of clay;" but standing by that form of clay itself, which +with a heavy fist had marred her and her life, which had struck her +down and trodden on her--she could shed no tears, she was as if made of +stone. + +Quietly she said a Pater Noster, but she did not kneel to say it. As +she had stood motionless, self-possessed before her living father, so +now she stood before him dead; only without resentment, reconciled by +death. + +Then she went into the kitchen to prepare a supper by the time the +neighbours should come for the night to pray and to watch the dead. It +kept all hands busy, and by midnight the room was so full of watchers +that she could hardly provide enough to eat and to drink. For the +richer a peasant is, the more neighbours come to the watching and +praying by the corpse. + +Wally looked on with silent aversion. Here lay a dead man--and so they +ate and drank like so many flies! The dull hum and bustle were so +strange to her after the sublime stillness of her mountain home, and +struck her as so small and pitiful, that involuntarily she wished +herself back again on the silent heights. Speechless and indifferent +she passed to and fro between the noisy eating and drinking groups, and +people said how much she resembled her dead father. On the third day +was the funeral. From far and near people of the neighbouring hamlets +came to it, partly to pay the last respect to the important and +dreaded chief-peasant, partly to "make all straight" with the wicked +Vulture-maiden, who now was mistress of all the great possessions of +the Strommingers. Hitherto, indeed, she had been only an "incendiary" +and a "ne'er do weel;" but now she was the wealthiest owner in all the +mountain range, and that made all the difference. + +Wally felt the change keenly, and she knew too whence it came. When she +saw now after the funeral the same people stand before her with bent +backs and obsequious grins, who, but one year before, had turned her +from their doors with scorn and flouting when, starving with cold and +hunger, she had asked them for work--then she turned away with +loathing--then, and from that hour she despised mankind. + +The cure of Heiligkreuz came too, and the Kloetze from Rofen. Now was +the moment for making at least an outward return for all their goodness +to her when she had been poor and abandoned, and she distinguished them +from all the others and kept with them only. When the funeral feast was +over and the guests had at last dispersed, the priest of Heiligkreuz +remained with her yet a little while, and spoke many good words to her. +"Now you are mistress over many servants," he said, "but remember that +he who does not know how to govern himself will not know how to govern +others. It is an old saying, that 'he who cannot obey, cannot command'; +learn to obey, my child, that you may be able to command." + +"But, your reverence, whom am I to obey? There's no one here now that +has any orders to give me." + +"God." + +Wally was silent. + +"See here," said the cure, taking something from the pocket of his +wide-skirted coat. "I have long meant this for you, ever since the time +you were with me, but you could not have taken it with you in your +wanderings." He took out of a box a small neatly-carved image of a +saint with a little pedestal of wood. + +"See, this is your patron saint, the holy Wallburga. Do you remember +what I said to you about hard and soft wood, and about the good God who +can carve a saint out of a knotty stick?" + +"Yes, yes," said Wally. + +"Well, you see, in order that you may not forget it, I have had a +little image brought for me from Soelden. Hang it up over your bed, and +pray before it diligently--that will do you good." + +"I thank your reverence very much," said Wally, evidently delighted, as +she took the fragile object carefully in her hard hands. "I will be +sure always to remember when I look at it, how well you explained the +meaning of it all to me. And this is how the holy Wallburga looked! Oh, +she must indeed have been a sweet and lovely woman; but who could be so +good and so pious as that?" + +And as Klettenmaier came towards her across the courtyard, she held the +figure out to him and cried, "See, Klettenmaier, what I have had given +me; it is the holy Wallburga, my patron saint. We will send his +reverence the first fine lamb that is dropped, as a present." + +The good priest put in a sincere protest against this kind of return, +but Wally, in her pleasure, paid no heed. + +When the cure was gone, she went into her room and nailed the carved +figure with the sacred images over her bed, and all round, like a +wreath, she placed the pack of cards that had been old Luckard's. Then +she went to see what there was to do in the farm or in the house. + +"Hansl," she cried as she passed the vulture who was perched on the +wood-shed, "_we_ are the masters now!" And the sense of mastery after +her long servitude pervaded her whole being, as intoxicating wine drunk +in deep draughts fills the veins of an exhausted man. + +In the courtyard the servants hired by Vincenz were all assembled, and +Vincenz himself was amongst them. He had grown haggard, his face was of +a yellow paleness, and on the back of his head in the midst of his +thick black hair he had a bald place like a tonsure; his glaring eyes +lay deep in their sockets, like the eyes of a wolf lurking in a crevice +for his prey. + +"What is it?" asked Wally, standing still. The upper servant, erewhile +so rude, approached with timid subserviency. + +"We only wished to ask thee if thou's meaning to send us away because +we treated thee so badly while the master was alive? Thou knows we +could only do what he would have done." + +"You did only your duty," said Wally quietly. "I send none away unless +I find him dishonest or a bad servant. And if you left off bowing and +bending before me, you'd please me better. Go to your work that I may +see what you can do, that's better worth than fooleries." + +The people separated; Vincenz remained, his eyes fixed glowingly on +Wally; she turned and stretched out her hand against him. "One only I +banish from my hearth and home--thee, Vincenz," she said. + +"Wally!" cried Vincenz, "this--this in return for all I did for thy +father." + +"What thou did for my father as his steward, so long as he was lame, +that thou shall get a return for. I give thee the meadows that adjoin +thy farm and round off thy land; that I think will repay thee thy +time and trouble, and if not, say so--I'll be beholden to thee for +nothing--ask what thou will but get thee from before my eyes." + +"I want nought--I'll have nought but thee, Wally. All is one to me +without thee. Thou'st well nigh murdered me, thou'st ill used me every +time I've ever seen thee--and--the devil's in it--I cannot give thee +up. Look here--I did it all for thee. For thee I'd commit a murder--for +thee I'd sell my soul's salvation--and thou thinks to put me off with a +few meadows? Thou thinks to be free of me so? Thou may offer me all +thou hast--all thy land and the Oetzthal into the bargain--I'd fling it +back to thee if thou didn't give me thyself. Look at me--my very marrow +is wasting away--I don't know how it is, but for one single kiss from +thee, I'd give thee all my lands and goods and starve for the rest of +my days. Now send a clerk to reckon once again with how many pounds and +acres thou'll be rid of me!" And with a glance of the wildest and +bitterest defiance at the astonished Wally he left the farmyard. + +She was awed by him--she had never before seen him thus; she had had a +glimpse into the depths of an unfathomable passion, and she wavered +between horror and pity. + +"What is there in me," she thought, "that the lads are all such fools +about me?" + +Ah, and only one came not; the only one that she would have +had--despised her. And if--if meantime he were already married? The +thought took away her breath. She thought again of the stranger that he +had brought with him across the Hochjoch--but no--she was only a +servant maid! + +And yet something must happen soon! She was rich and important now, she +might venture to take a step towards him! But all her maidenly pride +stood in arms at the thought, and "Wait--wait," was still all that was +left to her. + +She felt driven restlessly through house and fields; soon it was +apparent that she was spoilt for the village life; week followed week, +and she could not accustom herself to it. She was and she remained the +child of Murzoll--the wild Wally. She scorned pitilessly all that +seemed to her petty or foolish, she could bind herself to no +regularity, no customs, no habits. She feared no one--she had forgotten +what fear was, up there on the Ferner, and she met the smaller life +below with the same iron front that had defied the terrors of the +elements. Mighty and strong of body and soul she stood among the +villagers like a being of another world. She had become a stranger in +the boorish herd who stared at her with distrust and dislike--as boors +always stare at that which is unfamiliar--but who nevertheless dared +not approach too near to the great proprietress. But the girl was +sensible of their hostility, as of the mean cowardice which, while it +spoke her fair to her face, betrayed its hatred behind her back. + +"I ask leave of no one," was her haughty motto, and so she did whatever +her wild spirit prompted. When she was in the humour, she would work +all day like a labourer to incite the lazy servants, and if one of them +was not up to the mark in his work, she would impatiently snatch it +from his hand and do it herself. At other times she would spend the +whole day in melancholy dreaming, or she would wander about the +mountains so that people began to think her mind was unsettled. The men +and maids meanwhile did as they pleased, and the neighbours maliciously +whispered to each other that in this fashion she would let everything +go to ruin. + +While she thus set herself against all rule and order, she was on the +other hand stern even to hardness in matters which the other peasants +passed over much less strictly. If she detected a servant in dishonesty +or false dealing she at once gave information to the justices. If any +one ill-used a beast, she would seize him by the collar and shake him, +beside herself with rage. If one of her people came home drunk in the +evening, she would have him ignominiously locked out to pass the night +out-of-doors, whether in rain or snow. If she discovered any +immorality, the culprit that same hour was turned out of the house. For +her spirit was chaste and pure as the glaciers with whom she had so +long dwelt in solitude, and all the lovemaking and whispering, the +meetings and serenadings that went on around her, filled her with +horror. + +All this gained her a reputation for unsparing hardness, and made her +to be feared as her father had been before her. + +Nevertheless she seemed to have bewitched all the young men. Not only +her possessions;--no, she--she herself with all her strangeness was +what the lads desired to win. When she stood before them, tall, as +though standing on higher ground, slim and yet so strongly and +proudly built that her close-laced bodice could hardly contain her +nobly-moulded form, when she raised her arm, strong and nervous as a +youth's, against them threateningly, whilst a lightning flash of scorn +flamed like a challenge from her large black eyes--then a wild fire of +love and strife seized the lads, and they would wrestle with her as if +for life or death only to win a single kiss. But then woe to them, for +they had not the strength to conquer this woman, and must go their way +with scorn and derision. He was yet to come who alone could cope with +her--would he ever come? Enough, she awaited him. + +"He that can say of me I ever gave him a kiss, him will I marry, but he +that's not strong enough to win that kiss by force--Wallburga +Stromminger was not born for him!" she said haughtily one day, and soon +the saying was reported in all the surrounding neighbourhood, and the +young men came from far and near to try their luck and take her at her +word. It became indeed a point of honour to be a suitor of the wild +Wallburga, as any rash adventure is thought honourable by a man of +strength and courage. + +Soon there was not a man of marriageable age in all the three valleys +who had not striven to conquer Wally and to wrest the kiss from her, +but not one had succeeded. And she triumphed in the wild game and in +her mighty strength, for she knew that she was talked of far and near, +and that Joseph would often hear of her; and she thought that now he +must at last think it worth the trouble to come and carry off the +prize, if it were only to prove his strength--as that day when he had +gone to slay the bear. If only he were here, she thought, why should he +not fall in love with her like all the others,--above all, if she +showed to him how sweet and friendly she could be? + +But he never came. Instead, there came one day to the "Stag" which +adjoined Wally's kitchen-garden, the messenger from Vent. Wally, who +was at that moment weeding, heard Joseph's name spoken and listened +behind the hedge to the messenger's narration. + +Since his mother's death Joseph Hagenbach goes oftener to the "Lamb" at +Zwieselstein--was the man's story--and a love affair is talked about +between him and the pretty Afra, the barmaid at the "Lamb." Only +yesterday he was up there, and dined alone with Afra at the guest's +table while the hostess stayed in the kitchen. Suddenly the bull broke +loose, and ran through the village like a whirlwind; a hornet had stung +him in the ear. All fled to their houses and shut to the doors, and the +innkeeper of the "Lamb" is about to do the same, when he sees his +youngest child, a girl of five, lying in the road. She couldn't get up, +for the children had been playing coaches, and the little one was +harnessed to a heavy wheel-barrow when the cry was raised that the bull +was loose; the other children ran off, but little Liese with the heavy +barrow could not so quickly get away; she fell and entangled herself in +the rope, and there she lies right in the middle of the road, and the +brute is snorting quite close to her with his horns lowered. There is +no time to untie the child or to carry it off, barrow and all; the bull +is there; the father and Afra scream so that they can be heard all +through the village,--but all at once Joseph is on the spot, and +thrusts a hay-fork into the side of the beast. The bull bellows +and turns upon Joseph, and out of the windows, every one cries for +help--but no one comes to help him. He seizes the bull by the horns, +and with the strength of a giant forces him back a step or two whilst +the bull struggles with him. Meanwhile the father has had time to fetch +the child, and now the question is what will become of Joseph, whom all +have left in the lurch? Afra wrings her hands and screams for help, the +bull has forced Joseph with his horns to the ground and is about to +trample on him, when from below Joseph strikes him in the neck with his +knife, so that the blood spurts out all over him. The bull now begins +to kick, lifting Joseph who holds tight on to his horns, then rushes +furiously forward a little way, dragging Joseph with him, half in the +air, and half on the ground: Joseph meanwhile, who wants to bring him +to a stand-still again, never losing his hold. By this time the bull is +bleeding from five wounds, and gradually getting weaker; once or twice +Joseph finds his feet again, but each time the brute regains the +mastery, and with desperate leaps hurries him on. The peasants have +recovered themselves now and come out, the host of the "Lamb" at their +head, to help Joseph with hay-forks and knives. But the bull hears the +uproar behind him, and once more lowering his horns flings himself, +with Joseph, against a closed barn door, so that every one thought +Joseph must be crushed; but the door gives way under the blow and +flies open, the bull rushes into the shed, and there wallows in his +death-struggle among ladders, carts, and ploughs, so that all fall in +confusion one over another. Joseph however swings himself up to a beam +and throws the door to, so that the raging animal shall not get out +again; the people outside hear him barricade the door; he is shut up in +that narrow space alone with the brute, and those outside can do +nothing. They hear the stamping and storming, the bellowing and uproar +within, and shudder at the sound. At last all is still. After an +anxious interval, the door is opened, and Joseph comes staggering +forward bathed in blood and sweat. They suppose the bull is dead, but +Joseph says it were a pity to kill so fine a beast, that his wounds +could be healed and were none of them in a vital part. + +In the barn all is in confusion, everything upset, trampled, and +crushed, but the bull lies with all four legs tied and fastened to the +floor; he lies motionless on his side, snorting and gasping, like a +calf in a butcher's cart. Joseph has subdued the bull and bound him, +alive--all by himself. There is no one like him. + +When they came back with Joseph to the "Lamb," Afra fell on his neck +before all the people, crying and sobbing, and the hostess brought +Liese to him in her arms, and would have treated him to the best in the +house--but Joseph was in no mood for any more merry-making. He drank +one draught in his raging thirst, and then went home. The whole village +was full of him, and that evening there was a great drinking-bout in +his honour, that lasted far into the night. + +This was the news the messenger brought from Vent, and again there was +much talking about Joseph Hagenbach, and all the folks wondered that he +should never come up here after Wally. The mistress of the Sonnenplatte +had so many suitors--only Joseph seemed to wish to have nothing to do +with her. + +Wally left her place by the hedge: the words brought a hot blush of +shame to her brow. Thus it was then that people spoke of her,--that +Joseph would have nothing to say to her? And it was Afra that he was +following? That was the same girl that he had brought with him over the +Ferner the year before, and had been so careful of even then. + +She sat down on a stone and covered her face with both hands. A storm +raged within her, a storm of love, admiration, jealousy. Her heart was +as though torn in pieces. She loved him--loved him as she had never +done before, as though the panting breath with which she had followed +the narration of his deed had fanned the glimmering spark into a +glowing flame. Again, then--again he had done what no other could +accomplish, but she had no part in it--for Afra's master it had been +done, for love of Afra! Was it possible? must she give way to a +maid-servant--she, the daughter of the Strommingers? Was not she the +richest, and as all the young men told her, the most beautiful maid in +all the land? Far and wide, was there one that could compare with her +for strength and power? Was not she, and she alone, his equal, and +should they two not come together? There was but the one Joseph in the +world, and should he not belong to her? Should he throw himself away on +Afra, on a miserable beggar girl? No, it could not be, it was +impossible. Why, after all, should he not go to the Lamb, without its +being for Afra's sake? He wandered about so much in the course of +hunting, and the Lamb was at Zwieselstein, exactly where all the cross +roads met. "O Joseph, Joseph, come to me," she moaned aloud, and threw +herself with her face upon the ground, as if to cool its burning heat +in the little dewy leaves. Then all at once she remembered how the +messenger had said that Afra had thrown herself on Joseph's neck when +he came back to the inn. She shuddered at the thought. And suddenly she +pictured to herself how it would be if she were Joseph's wife, and if, +when after such a struggle he came home weary, wounded, and bleeding, +she had the right to receive him in her arms, to refresh him, to +comfort him. How she would wash his hot brow and bind his wounds and +lay him to rest on her heart till he fell asleep under her caresses! +She had never thought of such things before, but now, as they crowded +on her, she was thrilled by a hitherto unknown sense--as an opening +flower trembles when it bursts the encasing bud. + +In this moment she ripened into a woman, but, wild and ungovernable as +all her feelings were, that which made her womanly stirred up all the +hidden and sleeping powers of evil in her soul, and a fearful tempest +raged within her. + +The evening breeze swept coldly over her, she felt it not; night came +on, and the ever-peaceful stars looked down with wondering eyes on the +writhing form, as she lay on the earth in the night dews and tore her +hair. + +"The mistress wasn't in again all last night," said the housekeeper +next morning to the underservants. "What is it, think you, that she +does all night?" And they laid their heads together and whispered to +each other. + +But they all scattered like spray before the wind when Wally came +towards them across the courtyard from the kitchen-garden; she was +pale, and looked prouder and more imperious than ever. And so she +continued; from that day forth she was changed, unjust, capricious, +irritable, so that no one dared speak to her but old Klettenmaier, who +always had more influence with her than any one else. And withal she +carried her haughtiness in everything to the farthest point; her +last word was always "the mistress"--for "the mistress" nothing was +good enough--"the mistress" would not be pleased with this or with +that--"the mistress" might permit herself things which no one else +could venture on, and many another such provocation. + +Every day she dressed herself as if it were Sunday, and had new clothes +made, and even a silver necklace brought from Vent with all sorts of +pendants in filigree-work, so heavy and costly that the like had never +before been seen in the valley. At the feast of Corpus Christi she left +off her mourning for her father and appeared in the procession so +resplendent with silver and velvet and silk that the people could +hardly say their prayers for gazing at her. It was the first time that +she had joined in a procession, and indeed no one knew exactly what +kind of a Christian she might be; but it was clear that she only went +now to show her new clothes and her necklace, because most of the +people of the canton from as far up as Vent, and as far down as +Zwieselstein, were assembled there. + +When she knelt down there was a rustling and jingling of stiff silks +and plaitings and tinkling silver, and it seemed to say, "See, no one +can have all this but the mistress of the Sonnenplatte!" + +It happened that as the last Gospel was being read a slight confusion +arose in the procession, and some people who had been behind were now +walking before her. They were the hostess of the Lamb at Zwieselstein +and the pretty slim Afra; she found herself close to Wally, and nodded +to her, then looked back at Joseph, who was walking behind with the +men--so at least it seemed to Wally. Afra looked so lovely at this +instant, that for sheer jealousy Wally forgot to return her salute. +Then she heard Afra say to her companion, "See there, that is the +Vulture-maiden, that let her vulture tear Joseph to pieces nearly! Now +she'll not even take my good-day--and yet I've said many a Pater Noster +for her." + +"Thou might have spared thyself the trouble then," Wally broke in, "I +want none to pray for me--that I can do for myself." + +"But as it seems to me, thou doesn't do it," retorted Afra. + +"I've no need to pray as much as other folk; I've enough and to spare, +and don't need to pray to God like a poor maid-servant, who must say a +Pater Noster whenever she's in want of a new shoe-ribbon." + +The angry blood mounted in Afra's face. "Oh, for that matter, a +shoe-ribbon that's been prayed for may bring more happiness than a +silver necklace that's been got in a godless way." + +"Yes, yes," said the hostess, putting in her word, "Afra's in the right +there." + +"If my necklace doesn't please thee, walk behind me, then thou'll not +see it; nor does it become the mistress of the Sonnenplatte to walk +behind a servant wench." + +"It'd do thee no harm to tread in Afra's footsteps--that I tell thee +plainly," retorted the innkeeper's wife. + +"Shame on you, hostess, to lower yourself by taking part with your own +maid," cried Wally with flashing eyes. "He who doesn't value himself, +none other will value!" + +"Oh! then a maid-servant's not a human soul!" said Afra, trembling from +head to foot. "A silk gown though, makes no difference to the good God; +He sees what's beneath it, a good heart or a bad!" + +"Yes, truly," cried Wally with an outbreak of hatred, "it's not every +one can have so good a heart as thine--above all towards the lads. Go +to the Devil!" + +"Wally!" exclaimed Afra, and the tears rushed from her eyes. But she +had to be silent, for at this moment the procession had again reached +the church, the last benediction was pronounced, and the procession +broke up. Wally shot by Afra like a queen, so that she had to cling to +her companion; she had almost run over the girl, and every one turned +to look after her. The men said no more beautiful maid was to be found +in all the Tyrol, but the women were bursting with envy. + +"She looks rather different now to what she did up on the Hochjoch, +with a dog's hole to live in and neither combed nor coiffed--like a +wild thing!" said Joseph, who was standing not far off, and looked at +her with wondering eyes; then he nodded a farewell to Afra, and quitted +the crowd; he wanted to be home by midday. + +But Afra hastened after Wally. Her pretty blue eyes sparkled with +tears, like water sprinkled on a fire; she was beside herself with +anger, and so was the innkeeper's wife. They caught up Wally at the +village inn. She too was in the most terrible agitation; she had seen +the affectionate familiar farewell that Joseph had nodded to Afra, and +to her--to her, as she believed--he had not vouchsafed a single glance. +And now he was gone, and all the hopes betrayed that she had set on +this day's doings. This Afra! all her anger was centered on her, she +could have trampled her under foot. And here was Afra standing before +her, stopping her way and speaking to her with angry defiance--she, the +low servant-girl! + +"Mistress" Afra brought out breathlessly, "thou's said a thing that I +cannot let pass, for it touches my character--what did thou mean by +saying I had a good heart towards the lads? I will know what lay behind +those words!" + +"Dost wish to make a quarrel with Wallburga Stromminger," cried Wally, +and her flashing eyes looked straight down upon the girl. "Dost think +I'd enter into strife with such a one as thou?" + +"With such a one as me," cried the girl, "what sort of one am I then? +I'm a poor maid and have had none to care for me, but I've done no one +any harm, nor set fire to any one's house. I've no need to put up with +anything from _thee_--know that." + +Wally started as though stung by a snake. + +"A wench art thou, a shameless servant wench that throws thyself on a +lad's neck before every one," she cried, forgetting herself and every +thing, so that the people crowded round her. + +"What? who? whose neck?" stammered the girl, turning pale. + +"Shall I tell thee? Shall I?" + +"Yes, speak out; I have a good conscience, and the mistress of the Lamb +here, she can testify that it is not true." + +"Indeed--not true! is it not true that two years ago, when thou hardly +knew Joseph, he dragged thee with him over the Hochjoch, and had to +carry thee half the way because thou made as though thou could walk no +farther? Is it not true thou'st never let him be since, so that +everyone names him and thee together? Is it not true thou keeps Joseph +away from other maids that have better right and were better wives for +him than thou--a vagabond serving-girl? Is it not true that only the +other day, when he had fought the bull, thou fell on his neck before +the whole village as if thou'd been his promised wife? Is none of that +true?" + +Afra covered her face with her hands, and wept aloud, "Oh, Joseph, +Joseph, that I should have to put up with this." + +"Be quiet, Afra," said the good natured landlady consolingly, "she has +betrayed herself, it's only her anger because Joseph doesn't run after +her and won't burn his fingers for her like the other lads. If only +Joseph were here he would make her tell a different story." + +"Yes, I can well believe that he wouldn't leave his pretty sweetheart +in the lurch," said Wally, with a laugh so terribly sharp and shrill +that the sound re-echoed from the hills like a cry of pain. "Such a +sweetheart, who hangs about his neck, is no doubt more convenient than +one who must first be won, and with whom it might come to pass that +he'd have to take himself off again with scorn and mockery. The proud +bear-hunter would no doubt sooner mate with such a one than with the +Vulture-Maiden!" + +The innkeeper now stepped forward. "Hearken," he said, "I've had enough +of this; the lass is a good lass--my wife and I, we answer for her, and +we'll let no harm come to her. Do thou take back thy words; I order +it--dost understand?" + +Again Wally laughed aloud, "Landlord," she said. "Did thou ever hear +tell that the Vulture lets itself be ordered by the Lamb?" + +Everyone laughed at the play of words, for the host of the Lamb was +proverbially called a "Lamperl,"[1] because he was a weak good-natured +man who would put up with anything. + +"Aye, thou deserves thy name, thou Vulture-Wally--that thou dost." + +"Make way there," Wally now exclaimed, "I've had enough of this--this +threshing of empty straw. Let me pass!" and she would have pushed Afra +on one side under the doorway. + +But the innkeeper's wife held Afra by the arm. + +"Nay, thou's no call to make way--get thee in first; thou'rt no worse +than she is," she said, as she tried to press through the door with +Afra in front of Wally. + +Wally seized Afra by the waist, lifted her up and flung her from the +door into the arms of the nearest bystander. "First come the +mistresses, and after them the maids," she said; then passing before +everyone into the room she seated herself at the head of the table. + +Everyone chuckled and clapped their hands at the audacious jest. Afra +cried and was so abashed that she would not go in, and the innkeeper +and his wife took her home. + +"Only wait, Afra," said the good woman consolingly on the way home, +"I'll send Joseph to her, and he will take her in hand." But Afra only +shook her head and said no one would do her any good; disgraced she +was, and disgraced she must remain. + +"Well, but why must thou needs begin a quarrel with that bad girl of +Stromminger's," said the landlord, scolding her good-naturedly, "every +one keeps out of her way that can." + +Meanwhile Wally sat within and looked out of window at Afra departing +with her companions; her heart beat so that the silver pendants to her +necklace tinkled softly. + +She was called upon to eat, the vermicelli soup was getting cold; but +she found the soup bad and the mutton as tough as leather; she tossed a +gulden on the table, would take no change, and in the face of all the +astonished peasants rustled out of the house. + +Just as she had done after her confirmation five years before, she tore +off her fine clothes when she got home, and flung them into the chest. +The silver necklace with its filigree work she trampled into a +shapeless mass. What good had her splendour done her? It had not helped +her to please the only one whom she desired to please. And, as once +before, she threw herself on her bed, angrily chafing against the holy +images. A piercing torment tortured her soul as if with knives. Her +eyes fell on the carved image of Wallburga above her, and then she +thought that the pain she was enduring might be the knife of God +working on her, to make out of her a Saint--as the cure had said. But +why should she be made a saint? She would so much rather be a happy +woman. And that might have been done so easily; the good God would not +have needed to carve her out for that--she would already have been +quite right just as she was! + +So she murmured and rebelled against the knife of God. + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + At Last. + + +For some time Wally's moods had been almost unendurable. The whole +night through she would wander about in the open air; by day she was +full of unceasing and indomitable energy, labouring restlessly early +and late, and expecting every one else to do the same--an impossibility +for most people. Vincenz might now venture to call again, for he always +knew the latest news in the valley--and Wallburga had all at once grown +eager for news. When Vincenz perceived this, he made it his express +business to enquire far and near, so as always to have some new thing +to retail to Wally, who thus became gradually accustomed to see him +every day. He soon observed that she always showed more curiosity about +Soelden and Zwieselstein than about any other place, and cunning as he +was, he easily discovered the reason. He constantly brought word of the +continued intimacy between Joseph and Afra; it was news that threw +Wally into the most frightful agitation, but he feigned not to perceive +this, and cautiously avoiding any mention of his own love, succeeded in +making her feel secure and trustful with him. But he was consumed with +jealousy of Joseph; that Hagenbach was the curse of his life. There was +no glory in which he had not anticipated him, no deed of valour in +which he had not stood before him, no match at skittles or at shooting +at which he had not carried off the prize, and now he had taken from +him Wally's heart also--Wally's heart, which his persistent suit might +perhaps have won, had not Joseph been there. "Why does God Almighty +pour everything down on one man and deal so niggardly with another?" +growled Vincenz, and tormented himself secretly as much as Wally did. +If they had only done their lamentations and grumbling together, it +would have been enough to desolate the whole Oetz valley! + +One evening--it was in haytime--Wally was helping to load a large +hay-cart; the load was ready and only the great crossbar had to be set +in its place, but the hay was piled so high that the men could not +throw it across. When they had got it half way up, they let it slip +again, laughing and playing foolish tricks the while. Wally's patience +all at once gave way. "Get out, you blockheads," she exclaimed, and +mounted on the waggon, pushing the men to right and left out of her +way; then drawing in the rope, she pulled up the crosstree, seized hold +of one end of it with both her rounded arms, and with a single jerk +hoisted it on to the waggon. A shout of admiration broke from all; the +girls laughed at the men for not being able to do what a woman had +done, and the men scratched their heads and thought that all could not +be as it should be with the mistress, and that the devil must have a +hand in it. + +Wally stood on the waggon, and looked at the red setting sun. In her +attitude and on her features was an expression of proud satisfaction; +once more she had felt the certainty that not one was her equal, and +strong in her sense of power, she was ready to challenge the whole +world. + +At that moment Vincenz came up. "Wally," he called out to her, "thou +looks like Queen Potiphar on the elephant. If Joseph had seen Potiphar +like that, for certain he'd not have been so bashful." + +Wally turned crimson at these offensive words, and sprang down from the +waggon. "I forbid such jests with me," she said, when she was on the +ground. + +"Nay," disclaimed Vincenz, "I meant no harm; but thou looked so +handsome up there, it came out without thinking: it shall not happen +again." + +They walked on silently together. + +"What news is stirring?" asked Wally at last, according to custom. + +"Not much," said Vincenz; "they say that Hagenbach is going to take the +maid Afra to the dance at Soelden on St. Peter's Day. I heard it from +the messenger who had had to fetch a new pair of shoes from Imst for +Afra, and a silk neckerchief, and Joseph paid for them." Wally bit her +lips and said nothing, but Vincenz saw what was passing in her mind. + +"I tell thee what," said Vincenz, "we also do things in style on St. +Peter's Day, and if the peasant-mistress would come, there would be a +feast to be talked of far and wide; come for once with me to the +dance." + +Wally gave her head a short toss. "I'm the right sort to go to dances," +she said. + +"Nay go, Wally," urged Vincenz, "just for once, if it's only to spite +people." + +"Much I care for them," said Wally, laughing contemptuously. + +"But think a bit, people say--" he paused. + +Wally stood still. "What do they say?" she asked, looking at him +piercingly. + +Vincenz shrank back at the expression on her countenance, "I only mean +that they say thou's got some secret trouble. The upper servant says +thou wast out the whole night, and goes wandering about like a sick +chicken. And folk say thou'st everything heart can desire, and suitors +as many as the sand on the seashore, so if thou's not content with +that, there must be some love-sorrow on thy mind--and ever since what +happened at the Procession--" + +"Well! go on!" said Wally huskily. + +"Since then they say that Joseph is the only lad in the Oetz valley +that thou cares to catch--and that he won't bite." + +He darted a lightning glance at Wally as he said the words; they +touched her to the quick. She had to stand still and lean her forehead +against the trunk of a tree, the blood throbbed so in her temples. + +"And if it is so, if they do say such things behind my back--" she +gasped, but she could not finish; a sudden mist seemed to cloud and +confuse all her thoughts. + +Vincenz gave her time to recover herself; he knew what it must be to +her, for he knew her pride. After a time he said, + +"Look here, it seems to me thou'd best come with me to the dance; that +were the best way to stop peoples' mouths." + +Wally drew herself up. "I go with no lad to the dance that I don't mean +to marry--that I tell thee once for all!" she said. + +"If I was thee, I'd sooner marry Vincenz Gellner than die an old maid +for love of Hagenbach," said Vincenz sneeringly. + +Wally looked at him with newly-awakened aversion. "I wonder thou'rt not +tired of that," she said; "when thou knows well it's all of no good." + +"Wally, I ask thee for the last time, can thou not bring thyself to +think of me as a husband?" + +"Never--never! sooner will I die," she said. + +Vincenz' sharp and prominent cheek bones became white spots on his +yellow face; he looked almost like the vulture, glancing sideways at +Wally, as at some defenceless prey. "I'm sorry, Wally," he said, "but +I've somewhat to say to thee--something that I'd fain have spared thee, +but thou forces me to it. I've given thee a twelvemonth, and now I must +speak." He drew a written sheet of paper from his pocket. "It's nigh +upon a year since thy father died, and if thou doesn't marry me at the +year's end thy right to the farm is over." + +Wally stared at him. + +He unfolded the paper. "Here's thy father's will, by which he appoints +that if thou don't marry me by a twelvemonth after his death, the farm +and all belonging to it is mine, and thou gets no more than he was +bound by law to leave thee. There'll be an end then of the proud +peasant-mistress. As yet, no one knows of this. Thou can turn it over +once more, and in the end I fancy thou'll give in, sooner than go with +me before the justices, and have the will carried out." + +Wally stood still, and measured Vincenz from head to foot with a +single glance of cold contempt, then said with perfect calmness: "Oh +thou pitiful fool! In _this_ net then thou'st thought to catch the +Vulture-maiden? You are a pair, thou and my father, but neither one nor +the other of you knew me. What do I care for money or property? That +which I want cannot be bought with gold, and so I care nothing for it. +On Monday will I pack up my things, and go away again, for thy guest +I'll never be--no, not for an hour. And if it gives me pain to leave +this farm, where I first saw the light--still, I've been no happier as +mistress than when I minded the cattle--and as much a stranger here as +there. So it's all for the best, and I'll leave the place, and go away +as far as I can." + +Calmly she turned towards the house. A wild anguish seized Vincenz; +he threw himself at her feet, and clasped her knees. "I never meant +that," he cried, "thou mustn't go away,--for God's sake, don't serve me +so--what do I want with the farm? I only meant--my God, my God--only to +try everything!" With one hand he held Wally fast, with the other he +thrust the paper into his mouth, and tore it with his teeth. "There, +there, see, there goes the scrawl--I'll have none of the farm, if +thou'll not stay--there--there--" he strewed the fragments to the wind, +"I want nothing--nothing--only don't thou serve me so--don't go away!" + +Wally looked at him in wonder. "I pity thee, Vincenz, but I cannot help +thee--no more than I myself am helped. Keep thou the farm and all that +belongs to it; my father left it to thee, and that remains the same, +although thou hast torn up the will--I'll take nothing as a gift from +thee. Everything here is hateful to me, even now--why should I wait? No +one is any good to me, nor I to any one. I'll take my Hansl, and go up +again to the mountain--that is where I belong. But if I might ask thee +one thing--tell no one till I'm gone that the farm was never mine; for +thou seest--there's one thing I cannot bear--that folk should make fun +of me. That--that drives me mad. Think of the pointing, and the scorn +when they know that the proud Wally Stromminger has been turned out of +house and home like a maidservant--I couldn't live through it. Let me +at least go forth as mistress." + +"Wally," cried Vincenz, "where thou goest, I will go. Thou cannot +hinder me--the roads are free to all, and he who will, may run. If +thou'rt resolved to leave--I go with thee." + +Wally looked at him with amazement, as he stood there raving before +her, and she shuddered as though she had raised some evil spirit. "What +will come of it all?" she murmured helplessly. + +At this moment the messenger from Soelden was seen coming across the +meadows from the house straight towards Wally. He had a big nosegay in +his hat and in his Sunday-coat, like a bridal messenger. + +"He's come to bid thee to Joseph and Afra's wedding," cried Vincenz +with a wild laugh. Wally's foot stumbled against something; she caught +hold of Vincenz, and he seized her round the waist and held her. + +Meanwhile the messenger came up, and took off his hat to Wally. "Good +day to thee, Mistress. Joseph Hagenbach sends thee friendly greeting, +and asks thee to the dance on St. Peter's Day. If it's thy pleasure, he +will come up at noon and fetch thee down to the Stag. Thou'lt send an +answer by me." + +If Heaven itself had opened before Wally, and Hell before Vincenz, it +would have been much the same thing. + +Then it was not true about Afra! He had come to Wally--he had come +after five years of sorrow and suffering--at last, at last! The word +was spoken--the winds bore it triumphantly onwards, the breezes echoed +it back again, the white glaciers smiled at it in the evening sunshine; +Joseph the Bear-hunter bade the Vulture-maiden to the dance! The +labourers in the field shouted, the waggons swayed beneath their loads, +the vulture on the roof flapped his wings for joy--the two who belonged +to one another were come together at last! + +Joy to all mankind: the race of giants would live again in this one +pair. And smiling graciously, like a Queen beneath the myrtle crown, +Wally bowed her beautiful head and told the messenger, half-bashfully, +that she should expect Joseph. + +Vincenz leaned against a tree, distorted, faded, mute--a ghost of the +past. + +Wally threw him a compassionate glance--he was no longer to be dreaded: +she bore a charmed life, none could hurt or harm her more. She hastened +into the house, and the servants looked at her wonderingly, such +rapture lay in her expression. But she could not stay indoors; she took +money, and went through the village like a bliss-bestowing fairy. She +entered all the poorest huts, and gave with liberal hand out of that +which she could rightfully and lawfully call her own,[2] for she had +decided irrevocably that the farm should belong to Vincenz. She was +still rich enough to give to Joseph, and to all around her--even her +rightful share of Stromminger's estate was a fortune. She must do good +to all; she could not bear alone her newly-learnt, immeasurable +happiness. + +The two days before St. Peter's festival were like a fairy tale +to all the villagers. Who could now recognize the morose and bitter +Vulture-maiden in the beatified girl who moved about as though borne on +invisible wings? It had needed but this one ray of sunshine, and the +hail-stricken, frost-bitten blossom had sprung up again. An +inexhaustible power made itself felt in her bosom, a power for love as +for hatred, for joy as for pain, for self-sacrifice as for defiance. +All around her breathed more freely; it was as though a spell had been +taken off them since Wally's dark repining spirit, that had weighed +like a storm-cloud upon everything, had melted away. + +"When one is as happy as I am, every one else should rejoice too," she +said; and soon it was known everywhere that it was because Joseph had +asked her to the dance--which was almost the same as asking her in +marriage--that Wally was so changed. Why should she conceal it, when in +so few days it would be known? why should she deny that she loved him +with all her heart, above everything? he deserved it all, and he loved +her in return, or he would not be coming to fetch her to the dance. It +was well for her that she dared to show all that she felt. If she met a +child she took it in her arms, and told it how, on St. Peter's Day, +Joseph the bear-hunter was coming--Joseph, who had slain the great +bear, and saved the innkeeper's little Lieserl from the mad bull, and +how they would all open their eyes, he was so tall, and so beautiful +to look at--they had never seen such a man, for there was not such +another in all the wide world. The children were quite excited, and +played all day at Bear and Joseph the bear-hunter. Then she joked +with Hansl, threatening him playfully. "Thou'rt to behave thyself +when Joseph comes, else something will happen--that I can tell +thee!" and Klettenmaier and all the best of the servants had new +holiday-clothes--they knew well enough the reason why; but Wally let +them chatter as they would about it, and was not angry. + +Then again she would sit for hours quietly in her room, doing nothing, +wondering only how it had happened that Joseph had so suddenly changed +his mind; but however much she thought and thought she could not +understand why the unhoped-for happiness, so sudden, so full, so +complete, had come upon her; and she looked up at her holy images, no +longer with enmity, but with friendly eyes, and thanked them for all +the good that they had brought to her. But when she looked at the cards +that were nailed up above her bed, she laughed aloud. "Well, what do +you now say? Own that you knew nothing of what was coming!" and like +enchanted spirits that no liberating spell can call forth again into +the light, the secrets of the future stared unintelligibly at her from +these mute tokens. If only old Luckard had been there, she could have +told what it was the cards replied to Wally--but to her they were dumb, +like a cipher of which the key is lost. If Luckard had been alive, how +rejoiced she would have been! Wally would have liked to lie down and +sleep till the day of the festival, so that the time might not appear +so long. But there was no question of sleep; she could not even close +an eye by day or by night for impatience. She was always counting, "Now +so many hours more--now so many--" + +At last the day was come. After breakfast Wally went to her room, and +washed herself, and combed her hair without end. Once more she was a +woman--a girl! Once more she stood before the glass, and adorned +herself, and looked to see if she were fair, if she might hope to find +favour in Joseph's eyes; and once more she had procured a new necklace, +even more beautiful than the first, and filigree pins for her hair as +well. The box was on the table before her, she took out the ornament, +and tied it above her bodice; the bright silver was as white as +the snowy pleated sleeves of her chemise and tinkled like clear +marriage-bells, and through the rose-coloured chintz curtains a dim +rosy light shed a tender mist of bridal-glow over the girl's noble +figure. When she was ready, she took from its case a meerschaum pipe +heavy with silver, such as no peasant of the country had far and +wide--a really splendid pipe--and yet she held it long in her hand, +doubting whether it were good enough for Joseph. And still there was +something else, that she took out slowly, almost timidly, looking at +the door to see if it were securely fastened; it was a small round box, +and in it there lay--a ring. She trembled as she took it out, and a +tear of unutterable joy and thankfulness glistened in her eye. She held +the ring in her folded hands, and for the first time for many days she +knelt down, and she prayed over it that the beloved one might be linked +to her for ever. And she no longer heard the rustle of her silks, and +the tinkle of her silver ornaments; she was lost in the passionate +fervour of her prayers; she pressed forward as it were to the presence +of God with the vehemence of a thankful child whose father has granted +its warmest desire. + +"The mistress will never have done with dressing herself to-day," said +the maids outside, as Wally did not appear. + +Already the peasants were flocking to the Stag. Whoever had feet to go +on, and Sunday-clothes to go in, would be there to-day, for the whole +village was stirred by the great event of the peasant-mistress going to +the dance with Joseph Hagenbach. The road swarmed with people, and the +landlord of the Stag had done his best, and sent for musicians to come +from Imst. + +The upper maid-servant stood at the dormer-window above, and looked +down the road by which Joseph must come. Wally stood ready dressed in +her room; her heart beat like a sledge-hammer, her cheeks glowed, her +hands were icy-cold, she held her white neatly-folded handkerchief +pressed tightly to her heart--it had been her mother's wedding +handkerchief. The pipe and the ring for Joseph she had hidden away in +her pocket; so she waited motionless whilst the minutes passed by, and +this silent pause of expectation, in which her breath almost failed her +for impatience, was certainly one of the hardest experiences of her +life. + +"They're coming, they're coming!" cried the maid at last. "Joseph and a +crowd of other lads from Zwieselstein and Soelden, and the landlord of +the Lamb--it's a regular procession!" + +Everyone ran out into the courtyard; already the noise of the +approaching steps and voices could be heard in Wally's room. She came +out, and a general "Ah!" of admiration broke from all as she appeared. + +At the same moment the procession approached the farm-gate, Joseph at +its head. She went forward to meet him, modestly but with the beaming +loftiness of a bride who is proud of her bridegroom--proud to have been +chosen by such a man. + +"Joseph, art thou there?" she said, and her voice sounded soft and +loving as she had never spoken before. Joseph glanced at her with a +strange, almost a shamefaced look, and then cast his eyes down again. + +Wally was startled--was it on purpose, or was it by accident? Joseph +had placed his black-cock feather upside down, as the young men are in +the habit of doing when they seek a quarrel. It could only have +happened from an oversight today! + +Every one stood round and watched her; she was so anxious that she +could say no more, and he also was silent. She looked at him with eyes +full of fervent moisture, but his avoided hers. He was as much +embarrassed as she was, she thought. + +"Come," he said at last, and offered his hand. She laid hers in it, and +they silently walked as far as the Stag. The strangers and all the +servants closed the procession. + +As, sometimes, when we have gazed at the sun, all grows black before +us, even in full daylight, so now with Wally in the midst of her +happiness, all suddenly grew dark to her soul. She knew not how it was; +she was bewildered and hardly knew herself--it was all so different +from what she had imagined. + +A noisy countrydance was beginning as they entered the Stag, and as +Wally passed down the long rows of dancers with Joseph, she heard the +people say: "There is not a handsomer couple in the whole world." She +now saw for the first time how many strangers had come with Joseph, and +that all her rejected suitors were there also. Once more she silently +compared them with Joseph, and she could truly say there was not one of +them who came up to him for stature and beauty. He was a king among the +peasants, a mortal of quite another stamp to the ordinary men who stood +around him, and her eye rested with silent delight on the tall figure, +from his broad chest down to his slender knees and ankles. Any one +seeing him thus must surely understand that him only would she have, +and none other. + +As she looked round, her glance met two piercing black eyes directed +like daggers at Joseph. It was Vincenz, wedged in among the crowd. And +not far off was another melancholy face--that of Benedict Klotz, who +observed her thoughtfully. As she passed him, he pulled her gently back +by the sleeve. "Mind what thou'rt about, Wally," he whispered, "there's +some plot against thee--I don't know what, but I forebode no good." + +Wally shrugged her shoulders carelessly. What harm could happen to her, +when Joseph was at her side? + +The sets formed for the dance, and Joseph and Wally were to +begin; every one wanted to see them dance together. No couple had +yet been watched with such envious eyes as this well-dressed, +distinguished-looking pair. Joseph, however, moved away from Wally's +side, and stood before her with something of solemnity in his air. + +"Wally," he said aloud, and the music stopped at a sign from the host +of the Lamb, who stood behind them, "I hope that before we dance +together, thou'lt give me the kiss that no one of thy suitors has yet +been able to win from thee?" + +Wally coloured and said softly, "But not here Joseph, not before +everyone." + +"Precisely here, before everyone," said Joseph, with strong emphasis. + +For a moment Wally struggled between desire and sweet embarrassment; to +kiss a man before all these people was to her chaste and half-defiant +spirit a severe humiliation. But there he stood before her, the man so +dear to her heart; the moment for which she would joyfully have given a +year of her life--nay her life itself--was there, and should she reject +it for the sake of a few bystanders who could do her no harm, if she +did kiss her bridegroom? She raised her beautiful face to his, and his +eyes were fixed for a moment on the full and blooming lips that +approached his own. Then with an involuntary movement, he pushed her +gently from him, saying softly, + +"Nay, not so; a true hunter shoots his game only on the spring or on +the wing--that I told thee once before. The kiss I'll wrest from thee, +not take it as a gift. And were I a maid like thee, I'd give myself +away less cheaply. Defend thyself, Wally, that I may win no easier than +the others, else my honour is lost." + +A scarlet blush overspread Wally's face; she could have sunk into the +ground for shame. Had she then so completely forgotten what she owed to +herself, that her lover must remind her of it? She was crimson to her +very eyes--it was as though a wave of blood were surging to her brain. +Drawing herself up to her full height, with one flaming glance she +measured herself with him. "Good," she said, "thou shalt have thy +will--thou also shalt learn to know the Vulture-maiden. Look to +thyself, whether now thou'lt get the kiss!" + +She was almost suffocated. She tore off her neckerchief and stood there +in her silver-clasped velvet bodice and white linen chemise, so that +Joseph's eyes rested in amazement on her beautiful bare neck. "Thou'rt +handsome--as handsome as thou'rt wicked," he muttered, and springing on +her, as a hunter springs on a wild animal to give the death-blow, +he threw his strong arms round her neck. But he did not know the +Vulture-maiden. With one powerful wrench she was free, and there was a +laugh of derision from all those with whom it had fared no better, that +maddened Joseph. He seized her round the waist with arms of iron, but +she struck him such a blow on the heart, that he cried out and +staggered backwards. Renewed laughter! With this blow, of which she +knew the value, she had always defended herself against her importunate +suitors, for none had held out after it. But Joseph smothered his pain, +and with redoubled fury threw himself again on the girl, seized her by +the arms with both hands, and so tried to approach her lips; but in an +instant she bent herself down on one side, and now ensued a breathless +struggle up and down, to and fro, an oppressive silence broken only by +an occasional oath from Joseph. The girl bowed and twisted herself +hither and thither like a snake in his arms, so that he could never +reach her mouth. It was no longer a strife for love--it was a struggle +for life and death. Three times he had got her down to the ground, +three times she sprang up again; he lifted her in his arms, but she +always twisted herself round, and he could not touch her lips. Her fine +linen hung in rags, her silver necklace was all broken to pieces. +Suddenly she freed herself, and flew to the doorway; he overtook her, +and like a stormwind tore her back into his arms. It was a fierce and +glowing embrace. His breath floated round her like hot steam; she lay +on his breast; she felt his heart beat against her own; her strength +left her, she fell on her knees before him, and said, as if fainting +with pain, and shame, and love, "Thou hast me!" + +"Ah!" a heavy sigh broke from Joseph. "You have all of you seen it?" he +asked aloud--he bent down and pressed his mouth upon her hot and +quivering lips. A loud hurrah filled the room. She got up and sank +almost senseless on his breast. + +"Stay!" he said in a hard voice, and stepped back a little, "ONE +kiss is enough--no need of more. Thou'st seen now that I can master +thee--and no further will I go." + +Wally stared at him, as if she could not understand his words. She was +of an ashy paleness. + +"Joseph," she stammered, "why then art thou come?" + +"Didst think I had come to woo thee?" he answered. "Lately at the +procession thou'st said before everyone that Afra was my sweetheart, +because she was so easy to be had,--and that Joseph the bear-slayer had +not the heart to try and win the Vulture-Wally. Didst truly think a lad +with any spirit in him would let such things be said of him and of an +honest girl? I only wished to show thee that I can master thee as I can +a bear, or a mad bull, and the kiss I have won from thee, that will I +take to Afra, as a kiss of atonement for the wrong that thou hast done +her. Now take heed to thyself another time when thy haughty temper +moves thee. Henceforth, perhaps, thou'll forego the pleasure of holding +up a poor and honest girl to scorn and derision--now that thou'st felt +what it is to be a laughing-stock thyself." + +A shout of laughter from all sides closed Joseph's speech, but he +turned with displeasure from the applause. "You have seen that +I've kept my word," he said, "and now I must go to Zwieselstein to +comfort Afra. The good soul wept to think that I should play the +peasant-mistress such a shabby trick. God keep you all." + +He went, but they all ran after him; it had been too good a +joke. Joseph was something like a man. He had shown the proud +peasant-mistress that she had a master. + +"It will do her good!" + +"It will serve her right!" + +"Joseph, that's the best day's work thou's ever done." + +"No one'll have anything to do with her, when this is known." + +Thus laughed the chorus of rejected suitors, as they crowded joyfully +round Joseph. + +The dancing-floor was deserted--only two persons remained with Wally, +Vincenz and Benedict. Wally stood still in the same place and did not +stir; it was as if she were lifeless. + +Vincenz watched her with folded arms. Benedict went up to her and took +her gently by the arm. "Wally, don't take it so to heart--we are here, +and we'll get satisfaction for thee. Wally--speak. What shall we do? we +are all ready, only say what thou'd have us to do." + +Then she turned round, her large eyes had a ghostly gleam in them, her +face was ghastly pale. She opened and closed her lips once or twice, +one word there was she struggled to utter, but it seemed as if the +breath to speak it failed her. At last she brought it out, as from the +very depths of her being,--more a cry than a word: "DEAD would I have +him!" + +Benedict drew back. "God forbid, Wally!" he said. + +But Vincenz stepped forward with flashing eyes. "Wally, art thou in +earnest?" + +"Ay, in bloody earnest!" She lifted her hand at the oath, her hand was +quite stiff and the nails blue, as in one dead. "He who lays him dead +at his Afra's feet--him will I marry, as truly as I am Wallburga +Stromminger." + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + In the Night. + + +All through the night a strange and measured sound was audible +throughout the silent, sleeping farm-house. Now and then the maids +awoke and listened, without knowing what they heard, then turned to +sleep again. The boards cracked and the beams trembled, slightly but +unceasingly. + +It was Wally who paced backwards and forwards with heavy, unpausing +steps, her sinking heart engaged in a death-struggle with herself, with +Fate, with Providence. All around was shattered--her clothes flung +about the room, on the floor the carved St. Wallburga, the crucifix, +the holy images, all broken to fragments in impotent wrath. + +She had half-undressed, and her hair fell loose and disordered on her +bare shoulders. A red gleaming pine-torch flickered in its socket, and +in the trembling shadows the features of the broken figure of Christ +looking distorted and living. She stayed her steps, and looked down on +the fragments. + +"Ay, thou may grin," she said, "thou's always taken me for a fool. +You're of no good, none of you; idols you are of wood and paper, and no +help to any one. Neither prayer nor curse can you hear. And them for +whom you stand, hide themselves, God knows where, and would laugh if +they could see how we kneel down before a piece of wood." And she +pushed the fragments under the bed, that they might not be in her way +as she walked to and fro. + +A shot was heard in the distance. + +Wally stood still and listened; all was silent. She must have fancied +it. Why should the sound have taken her breath away? She was not even +sure that it was a shot. The thought flashed through her like +lightning, "Suppose Vincenz should have shot Joseph!" It was mere +folly, Joseph was safe at home--or perhaps at Zwieselstein with his +Afra! + +She beat her head against the wall in nameless agony at the thought, +and pictures rose before her that drove her frantic. If only he were +dead--dead so that she need never think of him again! She flung the +window open that she might breathe more freely. + +Hansl, who was asleep on a tree outside the window, woke up and +fluttered in half-stupid with sleep. "Ah, thou!" cried Wally, and +stretched out her arms to him; she clasped him to her breast, he was +all--all that was left to her in the world. + +Again--a second shot, and this time distinctly in the direction of +Zwieselstein; she let go of the vulture, and pressed her hand to her +heart, as though she herself had been struck. Why this terror? The +trifling incident had suddenly brought before her the whole terrible +deed which yesterday she had sworn to. She could not help thinking +again and again how it would be if the shot she had just heard had +shattered Joseph's head, and a wild and frenzied joy came upon her. Now +he belonged to her only, now none other could claim his kiss, and as +she thought upon it, it seemed to her as though it had really happened; +she saw him lying on the ground in his blood, she knelt down by him, +she took his head in her lap, she kissed the pale face--the beautiful +pale face--she saw it actually before her. And then suddenly pity +overwhelmed her for the poor, dead man, a burning, unutterable pity; +she called him by every loving name, she shook him, she chafed his +hands--in vain, he was no more. Unspeakable anguish filled her soul; +no, this must not be, he must not die--sooner would she part with her +own life! + +She felt as if an icy cramp had been grasping and crushing her heart, +so that no warm human blood could flow in her veins, and that now the +grip was at last relaxed and the hot flood streaming into her heart +again. She must go out, she must see whether Vincenz was at home, she +must speak to him at once, before daybreak, she must tell him that the +ghastly deed must not be done--she was in a fever, all her pulses +throbbed. She had desired the deed, commanded it, but already the idea +that it might have been done, extinguished her wrath--and she forgave. + +She threw a neckerchief on her shoulders, and hastened across the +courtyard and through the garden to Vincenz' house. What would he, what +would everyone think of her? It was all one--what did it matter now? + +She reached the house. There was a light in Vincenz' room on the +groundfloor; noiselessly she glided up, she could see through the +parted curtains--her heart stood still--the room was empty, the +pine-torch almost burnt away. She went round the house; the door was +unfastened, she opened it softly and went in. All was still as death, +the men and maids fast asleep; she crept through the whole house, +nothing stirred--Vincenz was away! The blood curdled in her veins; she +went into his bedroom, the bed was disturbed--he must have laid himself +down, then risen again; his Sunday clothes were hanging up, but his +work-day clothes were missing, nor was his hat in its place. She looked +into the sitting-room; the nail where his rifle usually hung was empty. + +Wally stood as if paralysed; she never knew how she got outside the +house again. At the door she dropped on to a bench; her feet would +carry her no further. She tried to reassure herself: most likely, +restless as he was, he had gone out after some night game--what could +he do to Joseph, quietly asleep somewhere--she shivered--on a soft +pillow? And by day when everyone was up and about, nobody could touch +or harm him. + +It was her evil conscience that pursued her with these terrors, and she +hid her face in her hands. "Wally, Wally, what art thou become?" +Shamed, scorned, degraded in the eyes of men, and a sinner in the eyes +of God. Where was water enough to purify her? Down below, there rushed +the torrent--that--yes, that would clear her from every stain; if she +threw herself into that cold flood, all would be washed away, her +sorrow and her guilt--the whole unblest existence created only to +horror and to strife at once done away with--annihilated. Yes, that +were redemption--why did she hesitate? Away with the useless shell +that held the soul in fetters of guilt and suffering! She started +up, but she could not move, she fell back upon the bench. Was this +down-trodden, deadened spirit still held to life then by some invisible +thread? + +There, God be praised! a footstep on the grass. There came Vincenz. Now +she could speak with him; all might yet be well. + +"Saints above us!" exclaimed Vincenz, as she went forward to meet him, +"is it thou?" He gazed at her as if she were a spirit. Wally saw in the +morning twilight that he was pale and disturbed. His gun was on his +shoulder. + +"Vincenz," she said in a low voice, "hast thou shot anything?" + +"Aye." + +"What?" She looked at his game-bag, it was empty. + +"Noble game," he whispered. + +Wally shivered. "Where is it?" + +"He lies in the Ache!" + +Wally seized him by the arm, in her eyes was a gleam of frenzy. "Who?" +she said. + +"Dost need to ask?" + +"Joseph!" she cried, and staggered back against the wall. + +"It was a hard job," said Vincenz, wiping his brow; "I never thought +he'd have come so soon within shot. The devil knows what brought him +out and about by night. I thought I'd get up early, so as to be down in +Soelden before he was stirring, and at the first step he walks right +into my hands. But it was still so dark that the first shot missed, and +the second only grazed him, but he must have turned giddy, for he +stumbled on the bridge, and held on by the railing. I made the best of +the chance,--I sprang behind him and pushed him over the rail." + +A groan like a death-rattle burst from Wally, and as a vulture swoops +upon his prey, she flew at Vincenz and seized his throat with both +hands. "Thou liest, Vincenz, thou liest--it is not true, it cannot +be--say it is not true, or I'll murder thee." + +"On my soul, it's true;--didst suppose Vincenz'd think twice when +there was ought to do for thee?" + +"Oh murder! most cruel and dastardly murder," sobbed Wally, trembling +from head to foot, "so underhand, so cowardly, so base--that I never +meant; in fair fight I meant that he should die. Cursed be thou in time +and in eternity!--outcast and accursed now and hereafter. What can I do +to thee? With tooth and nail thou ought to be torn in pieces." + +"So these are the thanks I get?" said Vincenz between his teeth. "Did +not thou bid me do it?" + +"And if I did--what then? Was that a reason?" cried Wally wildly, +"often one says in anger what afterwards one rues in bitterness. Could +thou not wait till I had come to myself again after the awful shock? +Joseph, Joseph!--wild and wicked I may be, but no murderess. Oh, why +could thou not wait, only a few hours? Thy own wickedness it was that +drove thee on, and thou could never rest till thou had worked it out." + +"That's right, lay it all on me," growled Vincenz; "and yet thou's thy +share in the mischief too." + +"Aye," said Wally, "I have--and with thee I'll atone for it. For us two +no mercy remains. Blood cries for blood--" She ground her teeth, and +seizing Vincenz by the collar, dragged him forward with her. + +"Wally, leave go of me!--what dost thou want? My God, are these the +thanks I get? Mercy--Wally, thou'rt choking me--where art thou dragging +me to?" + +"To where we two belong," was the gloomy answer, and on she went as +though borne by a whirlwind, up the ascent, on to the bridge where the +sheer precipice overhangs the torrent--where the deed was done. "Down," +was the one fearful word she thundered in his ear, "we two--together." + +"God above us!" shrieked Vincenz in terror, "thou swore that if I did +the deed thou'd be my wife, and now wilt thou murder me?" + +Wally laughed her fearful laugh of scorn. "Thou fool, when I fling +myself down yonder with thee, shall not we two be together to all +eternity? will thou try to save thy wolfish life?" And with the +strength of a giant she grasped him in her arms, and hurried him +forward to the low parapet that she might throw herself with him into +the twilight gloom of the abyss. + +"Help!" shrieked Vincenz involuntarily, and-- + +"Help!" sounded feebly, ghostly, like an echo from the depths. + +Wally stood as if turned to stone and let go her hold of Vincenz. What +was that? Some mocking goblin? "Did thou hear it?" she said to Vincenz. + +"It was the echo," he said, and his teeth chattered. + +"Hark--again!" + +"Help!" sounded once more like a passing breath from the abyss. + +"All good spirits be praised, it is he--he lives--he is clinging +somewhere--he calls for help! Yes--I am coming, Joseph, only wait, +Joseph--I am coming!" she shouted out with a voice like a trumpet into +the depths, and with a voice like a trumpet-call she hailed the +sleeping village as she flew along the street, knocking at every door. +"Help, help--a man is perishing, save him--help, for God's sake, +help--it's life or death!" And at the cry everyone sprang from his bed, +and threw open the windows. + +"What is it? what's the matter?" + +"It's Joseph Hagenbach--he's fallen into the ravine," cried Wally, +"ropes--bring ropes--only come quick--it may already be too late--it +may perhaps be too late by the time we get there." + +She flew like the wind, home to the farm, into the barn, collected all +the ropes that were there, and knotted them together with trembling +hands; but all she could tie together, ropes and lines and cords, were +still not enough to reach into the depths where he lay--God only knew +where. + +Meanwhile the men came running together half-incredulous, half-amazed +at the terrible news, and brought with them ropes, and hooks and +lanterns--for it seemed as if to-day it would never be light--and there +was questioning and advising and helpless bewilderment, for in the +memory of man no one had ever fallen over the cliff, and here on the +broad Plateau they were not provided with ready means of rescue as they +are in places where the dizzy precipices and yawning clefts and chasms +every year demand their victims. Thus they came at last to the spot, +and a chill terror seized even the most cold-blooded as they bent over +the railing, and looked down into the mysterious depths of the abyss in +which nothing could be seen but the surging mists that rose up from the +water. Vincenz had disappeared; all was solitary and silent as death +far and wide, above and below. Wally gave a halloo so shrill that the +air trembled; all listened with suspended breath--no answer. + +"Joseph--where art thou?" she cried once more with a voice in whose +tone the anguish of all suffering and desperate humanity seemed +concentrated. All was still. + +"He doesn't answer--he is dead!" sobbed Wally, and threw herself in +despair upon the earth. "Now all is over!" + +"Perhaps he's lost his senses, or is too weak to answer," said old +Klettenmaier consolingly, then whispered in her ear. "Mistress, think +of all the people." + +She raised herself and pushed her disordered hair off her forehead. +"Tie the ropes together; don't stand there doing nothing--what are you +waiting for?" The men looked at her doubtingly. "We must at least try +if he's not to be found," said Klettenmaier. + +The men shook their heads, but began to fasten the cords together. "Who +will let himself down by the rope?" they said. + +"Who?" said Wally. Her black eyes flashed out of her pale face. "I +will!" she said. + +"Thou, Wally--thou's out of thy senses--the rope will scarce bear one, +much less two." + +"It need bear only one," said Wally gloomily, and seized the rope that +it might be done quicker. + +"It's impossible, Wally--thou'll have to tie thyself and him to it to +come up again," said the men, dropping their arms helplessly; "the only +thing to do is to send into the villages, and collect more ropes--" + +"And meanwhile he'll fall to the bottom if he's lost his senses, and +all will be too late," cried Wally desperately. "I'll not wait till +more comes--give it me here--unwind the rope, and see how long it +is--go on--unwind!" She shook out the coils of rope, and tried its +length and strength; involuntarily the men took hold of it again, they +unwound the huge coil, the preparations began to take shape and order. +The men stepped out to make a chain. "It may reach far enough, but +it'll never bear two." + +"If it won't bear two, I'll send him up alone. Where he has room to +lie, I shall have room to stand. As soon as I've found a footing, I'll +untie myself, and tie the rope round him; then draw him up, and I can +wait till the rope comes down again--" + +"Nay--that won't do--if he's weak or senseless he can't be pulled up +alone; he'll be dashed and crushed against the cliff if there's no one +with him to hold him off." + +Wally stood as if thunderstruck--she had not thought of that. Again, +then, she was thwarted--she was not to reach him, except down yonder, +perhaps, in the cold bed of the Ache! The rope would not bear two, that +she herself could see. "In the name of God," she said at last, and in +spite of the fever that shook her, she stood there dignified and +commanding in her firm resolve. She tied the rope round her waist, and +took her Alpenstock in her hand. "Let me down, that I may at least seek +him. If I find him, I'll stay with him and support him till you've +brought another rope, and let it down to us. I'll wait patiently down +there, even if I've to wait for hours hanging between earth and heaven +till the other rope can come." + +Old Klettenmaier fell on his knees before her. "Wally, Wally, don't +thou do it, they all say the rope isn't safe. If it must be done, let +me go--what does my old life matter? If I can do no good, at least +thou'll see if the rope holds, and if it breaks, it'll only be me +that's killed--not thee." + +"Aye, Wally, hear him," said another, "he's in the right; don't thou +go. Only wait, bethink thyself a little till help comes from the +villages." + +Wally threw up her arms, so that they all fell back. "When I was but a +child, I did not wait to think before I took the vulture from its nest +down the precipice--and shall I wait now when I go to seek Joseph? +Speak no more to me--I will, I must go to him. Now--step back, unwind, +hold fast!" And even as she spoke, she had sprung over the railing, +whilst the men who formed the chain had to hold back with all their +might, so great was the strain upon the rope. + +"God Almighty help us," said Klettenmaier crossing himself, then ran +off, as if Wally's words had reminded him of something. All gazed after +her with horror as she slowly sank lower and lower into the sea of mist +till it had swallowed her up and closed over her, never perhaps to be +seen again. All stood speechless round the spot where she had +disappeared, as round a grave; the tightly-strained rope alone gave +intelligence of the movements of the death-defying diver in this sea of +clouds, and on it every eye was fixed--would it break?--would it bear? +And each time one of the hastily-tied knots was paid out, every heart +beat louder--"Would it hold?" + +The beads of sweat fell from the brows of the men who formed the chain, +and involuntarily each tried once more the knots on which a human life +depended. So passed minute after minute, heavy as lead,--as if time +also were bound to some rope that dark powers refused to let go. Still +the rope strained and swayed, still she must be hanging to it; she had +not yet found a footing. + +"It's coming to an end," cried the last man of the chain, "it's not +long enough." + +"God help us!" they all cried together, "not long enough!" + +Only a few yards remained, and still no sign from below that Wally's +end was attained. The men pressed together as close as they could to +the edge of the precipice, paying out as much of the rope as they +dared. If it were not long enough;--if all had been in vain;--if they +should be obliged to draw up the hapless Wally, to set forth once more +on the way of death! + +There--there, the rope is suddenly loosened--it is slack--a fearful +moment! Has it given way, or has its burden touched the ground? + +The women pray aloud, the children cry. The men begin slowly to pull +in, but only a little way--the rope is tight again. It is not broken, +Wally has found a footing, and now, listen! An echoing cry rises from +the depths, and a quivering response bursts from every throat. Again +the rope is slack, they wind it in, and again it is loosened once or +twice; it would seem that Wally is climbing up the precipice. Meanwhile +the day has broken, but a fine, cold rain is drizzling down and the +swirl of fog below is thicker than ever. Now the rope sharply jerked to +the right takes a slanting direction; the men follow it and pass from +the left to the right side of the bridge. Wally seems to mount higher +and higher; they continue to haul in. + +"God be praised!" said some, "he cannot have fallen so deep; if he lies +so far up, he may still live." "Perhaps she's only looking for him," +said others. Now another pull at the rope, and then a sudden +slackening, and a soul-piercing scream. + +"It's broken!" shrieked the people. + +No, it is taut again--perhaps it was a scream of joy--perhaps she has +found him. The women fall on their knees, even the men pray, for though +all hated the haughty "peasant-mistress"--still, for the devoted girl +who hangs down there in the chaos between life and death, every one +that has a human heart trembles. If only a ray of sunshine would pierce +the gloom for one single moment! All stand looking down, but they can +distinguish nothing; they must leave it to time that passes with such +slow reluctance, to reveal the event. + +The rope remains immovable, but not another sound reaches them from +below. Is it broken and caught on some point of rock, while Wally lies +dashed to pieces below? Why is there no signal, no call? And hours must +pass before they can get help from the villages round. + +No one dares to speak a word--all stand listening with suspended +breath. Suddenly old Klettenmaier comes running up, beckoning and +shouting. + +"See what I've got," he called out, showing a whole length of stout +rope thrown over his shoulders. "Thank God, when Wally spoke of the +vulture, it all at once struck me that old Luckard had had the rope +laid by that Stromminger let Wally down to the vulture's nest +with;--and there sure enough I found it, in the loft under a heap of +old lumber." + +"That is a find!" "Klettenmaier, that's a real godsend," cried the +people confusedly. "God grant it may yet be of use," said the patriarch +of the village, looking despondingly at the cord of deliverance, "she +gives no farther sign!" + +"The rope is pulled!" shouted the foremost man of the chain, and at the +same moment a cry came up, so close at hand, that when all was silent +they could catch the words: "Is there no more rope?" + +"Ay, ay, plenty!" resounded joyfully from every side. A grappling iron +was fastened for an anchor on to the end of the rope, a fresh chain of +men was formed, and it was cast into the impenetrably shrouded abyss. +The oldest of the peasants gave the word of command--for the ropes must +be paid out exactly together, so that Wally might be close to the +injured man and support him. Not half so far down as Wally had gone at +first, the rope was caught below, and held fast. + +"Let out!" said the leader, in order that Wally might have a few more +yards to fasten round Joseph. "Enough," he called out then, and like +soldiers at the word of command, the men stood awaiting the next order. +Again a few minutes' pause; she must make the loop securely and +carefully, so that the senseless man, now so nearly saved, might not +fall again into the abyss. + +"Tie it fast, Wally," panted Klettenmaier, half beside himself + +"Yes, for God's sake, let her make it fast," echoed the people. + +A thrice-repeated pull at both ropes at once. "Haul in!" commanded the +leader, and his voice trembled as he spoke. The men at both ropes set +their feet firmly in the ground, the veins swell in legs and arms and +brows, sinewy hands are stretched forward to pull, and the lifting of +the heavy loads begins. A fearful and responsible task!--if one fails, +all is lost. + +"Steady," warns the leader, "watch each other." + +It is a solemn moment. Even the children dare not stir; nothing is +audible far or near but the deep breath of the toiling men. + +Now!--now they appear through the mist, more and more +distinctly.--Wally emerges with one arm supporting the lifeless body +that hangs to the saving rope, whilst with the other she powerfully +bears off from the precipice with her Alpenstock, to keep herself and +him from being dashed against it. In this way, as if rowing, she +ascends upwards through the sea of clouds. And at last they are there, +close to the edge,--one pull more, and they can be lifted up. + +"Steady," says the leader--every breath is held--the last moment is the +worst--if the rope were to break now! + +But no, the foremost of the chain stoop and seize them with a firm +grasp, those behind hold fast to the rope. + +"Up!" cry the men in front. They are raised--they are there--they are +on firm ground, and a ringing shout of joy relieves the long-oppressed +hearts of the bystanders. Wally has sunk speechless on the inanimate +body of Joseph. She does not see, she does not hear, how all crowd +round her and praise her--she lies with her face upon his breast--her +strength is gone. + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + Back to her Father. + + +In Wally's room, on Wally's bed, lay Joseph, stretched out, insensible. +All was silent and still around him; she had sent every one away, she +knelt by the bed, she hid her face in her convulsively clasped hands, +and prayed. + +"Oh, Lord God!--my God! my God! have mercy and let him live; take from +me everything--everything--but let him live. I'll ask no more of him, +I'll shun him--I'll leave him to Afra even--only he must not die!" And +then she stood up again and made fresh bandages for his head where the +blood flowed from a gaping wound, and for his breast that had been torn +by the crag, and threw herself upon him as though with her body she +would close those portals through which his life was streaming away. + +"Oh, thou poor lad! thou poor lad! so stricken and brought down--oh, +the sin of it--the sin of it! Wally, Wally, what hast thou done? Should +thou not sooner have struck a knife into thine own heart--sooner have +stood by at Afra's wedding, then gone home quietly and died, than have +laid him there to see him perish like cattle that the butcher has +felled?" + +Thus she lamented out loud whilst she bound his wounds, turning against +herself with the same anger with which she had been used to revenge +herself on others. She would have torn her heart out with her own hands +if she could, in the wild and frenzied remorse that had seized her. +Just then the door opened softly. Wally looked round in astonishment, +for she had forbidden any one to disturb her. It was the cure of +Heiligkreuz. Wally stood before him as before her judge, pale, +trembling in her very soul. + +"God be praised!" cried the old man, "he is here then." He went up to +the bed, looked at Joseph, and felt him. "Poor fellow," he said, "you +have been roughly handled." + +Wally set her teeth to keep herself from crying out at these words. + +"How did they get him up again?" asked the priest, but Wally could not +answer. + +"Well, thank God, He has averted the worst in His mercy," continued the +cure. "Perhaps he will get well, and you will then at least have no +murder on your conscience, though before the eternal judge the +intention is as bad as the deed." + +Wally tried to speak. + +"I know everything," he said with severity; "Vincenz came to me when he +fled, and confessed all--your love and his jealousy. I refused him +absolution, and sent him to join the Papal army; there he may earn +God's forgiveness by good service to the Holy Father, or expiate his +crimes by death. But what shall I say to thee, Wally?" He looked at her +sadly and piercingly with his shrewd eyes. + +Wally clasped her hands before her face. "Oh!" she cried aloud, "none +can punish me with so bitter a punishment as I have brought on myself. +There he lies dying, whom I loved best in all the world, and I have to +tell myself that I did it. Can there be greater misery than that? Needs +there anything more?" + +The priest nodded his head. "This then is what you have done--you have +become a rough piece of wood, fit to slay men with! It has happened as +I told you; you have resisted the knife of God, and now the Lord casts +you on one side and leaves the hard wood to burn in the fire of +repentance." + +"Ay, your reverence, it is so, but I know of water that will quench +that fire. Into the Ache I will fling myself if Joseph dies--then all +will be at an end." + +"Alas, poor fool! do you think that is a flame that earthly water can +quench? Do you really think that, with your earthly body, you can drown +your immortal soul? That would burn in the tormenting flame of eternal +remorse, even if all the seas in the world were poured upon it." + +"What shall I do then?" said Wally gloomily; "what can I do but die?" + +"Live and suffer: that is nobler than death." + +Wally shook her head. Her dark eyes looked vaguely before her. "I +cannot--I feel it--I cannot live, the phantom maidens thrust me +down--all has happened as they threatened me in my dream: there lies +Joseph crushed and broken, and I must follow him; it is fated so, and +it must happen so, none can prevent it." + +"Wally, Wally!" cried the priest, clasping his hands in horror, "what +are you saying? The phantom maidens? What phantom maidens? In Heaven's +name! do we live in the dark heathen times when men believed that evil +spirits made sport of them? I will tell you who the phantom maidens +are:--your own passions. If you had learnt to tame your own wild +unbridled will, Joseph would never have fallen over the precipice. It +is easy to lay the blame of your own evil deeds to the influence of +hostile powers. For that it is that our Lord came to us, to teach us to +acknowledge that we bear the evil in ourselves, and must fight with it. +If we control ourselves, we control the mysterious powers which drove +even the giants of the past to destruction, because with all their +strength they had no moral power to withstand them. And with all your +strength, your hardness and your daring, you are but a pitiful, weak +creature, so long as you do not know what every homely, simple handmaid +of the Lord performs, who, every day in the strict discipline of her +cloister-life, lays on God's altar the dearest wish of her heart, and +esteems herself blessed in the sacrifice! If you had only one glimmer +of such greatness in your soul, you need have no more fear of the +'phantom maidens,' and your foolish dreams would no longer direct your +destiny, but your own clear and conscious will. Reflect for once +whether that were not nobler and happier." + +Wally leaned against the bed-post; she felt as if raised to a +newly-awakened and noble consciousness. "Yes," she said shortly and +decidedly, and crossed her arms on her heaving breast, "your reverence +is right--I understand, and I will try." + +"I will try!" repeated the old priest, "once before you said that to +me--but you did not keep your word." + +"This time, your reverence, I will keep it," said Wally, and the priest +silently admired the expression with which she spoke the simple words. + +"What security will you give me?" he said. + +Wally laid her hand on Joseph's wounded breast, and two large tears +sprang to her eyes; no spoken vow could have said more. The wise priest +was silent also, he knew no more was needed. + +The wounded man turned in his bed and muttered some unintelligible +words. Wally made him a fresh bandage for his head; he half-opened his +eyes, but closed them again and fell back in a death-like slumber. + +"If only the doctor would come!" said Wally, seating herself on a stool +by the bed. "What o'clock may it be?" + +The priest looked at his watch. "What time did you send for him?" he +said. + +"About five o'clock." + +"Then he cannot be here yet. It is only ten o'clock, and it is quite +three hours to Soelden." + +"Only ten o'clock," Wally repeated in a low voice, and the good priest +was filled with pity to see her sit there so quietly, her hands folded +in her lap, whilst her heart beat with anguish so that it could be +heard. + +He bent over the sick man, and felt his head and his hands, "I think +you may be easy, Wally," he said, "he does not appear to me like a +dying man." + +Wally sat motionless, gazing fixedly before her. "If the doctor comes +and says that he'll live, I care for nothing more in this world," she +said. + +"That is right, Wally, I am glad to hear you say that," said the +cure approvingly, "and now relate to me how it was that Joseph was +saved--that will help to shorten the time till the doctor comes." + +"There's not much to tell," answered Wally shortly. + +"Nay, it is a noble deed that does honour to the men of the +Sonnenplatte," said the priest, "were you not there?" + +"Oh yes!" + +"Well then, be less short in your answers. I spoke with no one on the +way, and have heard nothing about it. Who fetched him up from the +ravine?" + +"I!" + +"God be gracious! You, Wally? you yourself?" cried the old man, staring +at her with astonishment. + +"Yes--I!" + +"But how can you have done it?" + +"They let me down by a rope, and I found him fixed between a rock and +the trunk of a fir-tree; if the tree had not been there he must have +fallen into the torrent, and no one'd ever have seen him alive again." + +"Child," cried the old man, "that is a great thing to have done." + +"May be so," she answered quietly, almost hardly, "as I'd had him +thrown yonder, it was for me to fetch him up again." + +"You are right,--that was only fair," said the priest, controlling his +emotion with difficulty. "But it is not the less an act of atonement +that may take some part of the guilt from your hapless soul." + +"That is all nothing," said Wally, shaking her head. "If he dies, it's +I that have murdered him." + +"That is true, but you gave a life for a life. You risked your own to +save his; you have atoned as far as was in your power for the crime you +have committed--the issue is in God's hands." + +Wally heaved a deep sigh; she could not take in the comfort that lay in +the priest's words. "The issue is in God's hand," she repeated out of +the depths of her burdened heart. + +The eye of the priest rested on her with content; God would not reject +this soul, in spite of its great faults and imperfections. Never yet, +old as he was, had he met with her equal in power for good, as for +evil. He looked at the wounded man who unconsciously clenched his fist +in defiance. It almost angered him that he should despise the noblest +gift that earth can offer man--a devoted love; that through his +indifference he should have had it in his power to harden a heart so +noble in its nature and capable of such high-minded sacrifice. "You +stupid peasant-lout," he muttered between his teeth. + +Wally looked at him enquiringly: she had not understood. + +There was a knock at the door, and at the same moment the doctor +entered the room. Wally trembled so that she was obliged to hold by the +bedpost. Here was the man on whose lips hung redemption or +condemnation. A crowd of people pressed in after him to hear what he +would say, but he soon turned them all out again. "This is no place for +curiosity; the sick man must have the most perfect quiet," he said +decidedly, and shut the door. He was a man of few words. Only, when he +took the bandage from the sick man's head, "There has been foul play +again here," he muttered. + +Wally stood white and silent as a statue. The cure purposely avoided +looking at her; he feared to disturb her self-possession. The +examination began; anxious silence reigned in the little chamber. Wally +stood by the window with averted face while the surgeon examined the +wounds and used his probe. She had picked up something from the ground +which she held convulsively clasped between her hands, and pressed +again and again to her lips. It was the thorn-crowned head of the +Redeemer that she had broken in the night. "Forgive, forgive," she +prayed, pale and quivering in her deadly anguish. "Have mercy on me--I +deserve nothing--but let Thy mercy be greater than my sin." + +"None of the wounds are mortal," said the doctor in his dry way. "The +fellow must have joints like an elephant." + +Then Wally's strength went from her. The chord, too long and too highly +strung, gave way, and loudly sobbing she threw herself on her knees by +the bed, and buried her face in Joseph's pillows. "Oh, thank God! Thank +God!" + +"What is the matter with her?" asked the doctor. The priest answered +him by a sign that he understood. + +"Come, collect yourself," he said, "and help me to put on the +bandages." + +Wally sprang up at once, wiped the tears from her eyes, and lent a +helping hand. The priest observed with secret pleasure that she +assisted the doctor as carefully and skilfully as a sister of charity; +she did not tremble, she wept no more, she showed a steady and quiet +self-control--the true self-control of love. And withal there was a +glory on her brow, a glory in the midst of sorrow, so that the priest +hardly knew her. + +"She will do yet--she will do," he said joyfully to himself, like a +gardener who sees some treasured faded plant suddenly put forth new +shoots. + +When the bandages were all fixed and the doctor had given his further +orders, the priest went out with him, and Wally remained alone with +Joseph. She sat down on the stool by the bed and rested her arms on her +knees. He breathed softly and regularly now, his hand lay close to her +on the counterpane--she could have kissed it without moving from her +place. But she did not do it, she felt as if now she dared not touch +even one of his fingers. If he had lain there dying or dead, then she +would have covered him with kisses, as heretofore, when she believed +him lost; the dead would have belonged to her--on the living she had no +claim! He had died to her in the moment when the doctor had said he +would live, and she buried him with anguish as for the dead in her +heart, while the message of his resurrection came to her as the message +of redemption. So she sat long, motionless by the side of the bed with +her eyes fixed on Joseph's beautiful, pale face--suffering to the +utmost what a human soul can suffer--but suffering patiently. She +neither sighed nor lamented now, nor clenched her fist as formerly, in +anger at her own pain; she had in this hour learnt the hardest of all +lessons--she had learnt to endure. What sort of right had she, the +guilty one, to complain--what better did she deserve? How could she +dare still to wish for him, she who had almost been his murderess? How +could she dare even to raise her eyes to him? No, she would bewail +herself no more. "Thou dear God, let me expiate it as Thou will--no +punishment is too great for such as I am--" So she prayed, and bowed +her head humbly on her clasped hands. + +All at once the door was flung open, and with a cry of "Joseph, my own +Joseph!" a girl rushed in, past Wally, and threw herself weeping upon +Joseph; it was Afra. Wally had started up as if a snake had touched +her: for an instant the battle raged within, the last and hardest +fight. She grasped herself, as it were, with her own arms, as though to +keep herself back from falling upon the girl and tearing her away from +the bed--from Joseph. So she stood for a time, while Afra sobbed +violently on Joseph's breast; then her arms fell by her side as if +paralyzed, and beads of cold sweat stood on her brow. What would she +have? Afra was in her rights. + +"Afra," she said in a low voice, "if thou truly loves Joseph, be still +and cease these cries--the doctor says he must have perfect quiet." + +"Who can be still that has a heart, and sees the lad lie there like +that?" lamented Afra, "it's easy for thee to talk, thou doesn't love +him as I do. Joseph is all I have--if Joseph dies I am all alone in the +world! Oh Joseph, dear Joseph--wake up, look at me--only once--only one +word!" and she shook him in her arms. + +A low groan escaped from Joseph's lips and he murmured a few +unintelligible words. + +Then Wally stepped forward and took Afra gently but firmly by the arm; +not a muscle of her pale face moved. + +"I have this to say to thee, Afra: Joseph is here under my protection, +and I am responsible for all being done according to the doctor's +orders; and this is my house that thou'rt in, and if thou will not do +what I tell thee, and leave Joseph in peace, as the doctor wishes, I'll +use my right and put thee out at the door, till thou's come to thy +senses and art fit to take care of him again--then," her voice +trembled, "I'll leave him to thee." + +"Oh, thou wicked thing, thou--" cried Afra passionately, "thou'd turn +me out of the house because I weep for Joseph? Dost think everyone has +so hard a heart as thou, and can stand there looking on like a stone? +Let go my arm! I've a better right than thou to Joseph, and if thou +doesn't like to hear me cry, I'll take him up in my arms and carry him +home--there at least I can weep as much as I please. I'm only a poor +servant-maid, but if I'd to pay for it by serving all my days for +nothing, I'd sooner nurse him in my own little room than let myself be +shown the door by thee--thou haughty peasant-mistress!" + +Wally let go of Afra's arm; she stood before her with a white face, and +with marks of such deadly suffering round her closed lips, that Afra +cast down her eyes in shame, as if she divined how unjust she had been. + +"Afra," said Wally, "thou's no need to show such hatred, I don't +deserve it of thee; for it was for thee I fetched him out of the +abyss--not for me,--and it is for thee he will live, not for me! Look +here, Afra, only an hour ago I'd sooner have throttled thee than have +left thee by his bedside--but now all is broken, my spirit, and my +pride, and--my heart," she added low to herself "And so I'll make way +for thee willingly, for he loves thee, and with me he'll have nought to +do. Stay thou with him in peace--thou need not take away the poor sick +man. Sooner will I go myself. You two can stay at the farm so long as +you will--I will account for it with him to whom it belongs now. And I +will take care of you in everything, for you are both of you poor, and +cannot marry if you have nothing. And so perhaps some day Joseph will +bless the Vulture-maiden--" + +"Wally, Wally," cried Afra. "What art thou thinking of? I pray thee--oh +Joseph, Joseph--if only I might speak!" + +"Let it be," said Wally, "keep thyself quiet--for love of Joseph, keep +thyself quiet. And now let me go in peace; torment me no more, for go I +must. Only one thing I pray thee in return for what I've done for thee, +take good care of him. Promise me thou will, that I may go with an easy +mind." + +"Wally," said Afra entreatingly, "don't thou do that, don't go away! +What will Joseph say when he hears we've driven thee out of thy own +house?" + +"Spare all words, Afra," said Wally firmly, "when once I have said a +thing, it stands, come what may." + +She went to the chest, and took out a change of clothes, which she tied +together in a bundle and threw over her shoulder. Then from a box she +took a bundle of linen. "See, Afra," she said, "here is old and fine +linen that thou'll need for bandages, and here is coarser to make lint, +which the doctor will want when he comes this evening. Look, there are +scissors--thou must cut it into strips the length of my finger. Dost +understand? And every quarter of an hour, thou must put a fresh bandage +on his head to draw the heat out. Tell me, can I trust thee not to +forget? Think what it would be if, after I have fetched him out of the +ravine, I should find that thou--thou had been careless in nursing +him--here, at his bedside. And see, he must always lie with his head +high, that the blood may not go to it--and shake the pillows up often. +That is all, I think, now--I know of nought else. Ah, my God, thou'll +not be able to lift him and lay him down as I do--thou hasn't got the +strength. Get Klettenmaier to help thee; he is trustworthy. Now I leave +him in thy hands--" Her voice failed her, her knees trembled, she could +hardly hold the bundle that she carried. She threw a last glance at the +wounded man: "God keep thee!" she said, and left the room. + +Outside, the priest was talking with Klettenmaier. Wally went up to +them. + +"Klettenmaier," she shouted in the old man's ear, "Go in and help Afra +to mind Joseph; Afra is there now in my place. Joseph will stay at the +farm, and I am going away. You are all to treat Joseph as if he were +the master, and to obey him as if I were by, till I come back; and woe +to you, if he has to complain of ought. Let all the servants know!" + +Klettenmaier had understood, and shook his head, but he did not venture +to make any remark. "Good-bye, mistress," he said, "Come back again +soon." + +"Never!" said Wally softly. + +Klettenmaier went into the house; Wally stood before the priest, and +met his questioning glance. "Now nought is my own that my heart clings +to, but the vulture," she said sadly, as if exhausted. "But him I +cannot give up--he must come with me. Come, Hansl." She beckoned to the +bird, which sat puffed up and drowsy on a railing; he came flying +towards her with difficulty. + +"Thou must learn to fly again now, Hansl," she said, "we're going +away." + +"Wally," said the priest, much concerned, "what do you mean to do?" + +"Your reverence, I must go away--Afra is in there! Is it not plain that +I cannot stay? I will do anything, I will all my life go bare and +homeless, and wander through the country, and leave everything to +him--everything--but I cannot look on at his Afra's love--only that I +cannot--cannot bear!" She set her teeth to keep back the springing +tears. + +"And for his sake you will really give up house and home? Do you know +what you are doing, my child?" + +"The farm no longer belongs to me, your reverence. Since yesterday I've +known that it belongs to Vincenz, whenever he puts in his claim. But my +money, what I have besides, shall be for Joseph. If he is crippled by +my fault, and cannot earn his bread,--it is my accursed guilt, and I +must provide for him." + +"What, is it possible," cried the priest, "that your father +disinherited you of house and home?" + +"What do I care for house and home? The home I belong to is always +ready," said Wally. + +"Child," said the old man, much disturbed, "you would not do yourself +an injury?" + +"No, your reverence, never now. I see now how right you are in +everything, and that God Almighty will not be defied by us. Perhaps, +when He sees that I truly repent, He'll have pity on me and grant peace +to my weary soul." + +"Now blessed be the hour, hard though it may have been, that broke your +proud spirit! Now Wally, you are truly great! But where are you going, +my child? Will you go to some charitable refuge? Shall I take you to +the Carmelites?" + +"No, your reverence, that would never suit the Vulture-maiden. I cannot +be shut up in a cell between walls--under God's free sky, as I have +lived, will I die--I should feel as if God could not come through such +thick walls. I'll repent and pray as if I were in a church, but I must +have the rocks and the clouds about me, and the wind whistling in my +ears, or I couldn't get on at all--you understand, do you not?" + +"Yes, I understand, and it would be folly to try to dissuade you. But +where then are you going?" + +"I'm going back to my father Murzoll--there is now my only home." + +"Do as you will," said the priest. "Go in God's name, my child--I can +part from you in peace, for wherever you go now--it is back to your +Father!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + The Message of Grace. + + +High up on the lonely Ferner, near her stony father, once more sits the +outcast, solitary child of man--spell-bound, as it were, like a part of +the dizzy heights from which she looks down on the little world below, +in which no space could be found for the large and alien heart that had +matured in the wilderness among the glacier-storms. Men have hunted and +driven her forth, and that has been fulfilled that her dream foretold, +the mountain has adopted her as its child. She belongs to the mountain +now; stone and ice are her home--and yet she cannot turn to stone +herself, and the warm and hapless human heart is silently bleeding to +death up here between stone and ice. + +Twice had the moon's disk waxed and waned since the day when Wally +sought this, her last refuge. No familiar face from amongst the +dwellers in the valley had she seen. Only once the priest had dragged +his old and frail body up the mountain to tell her that Joseph was +recovering; further, that news had come from Italy that shortly after +enlisting Vincenz had been shot, and had left to her the whole of his +possessions. Then she had folded her hands on her knees, and said +quietly, "It is well for him--it is soon over," as if she envied him. + +"But what will you do with all this money?" the priest had asked her, +"who will manage your immense property? You must not let it all go to +ruin." + +"Gold and goods plentiful as straw--and no help in them," said Wally, +"they cannot buy for me one short hour of happiness. When time has gone +by, and I can think of things again, I'll go down to Imst and make it +all sure that my property becomes Joseph's. For myself I'll keep only +enough to have a little house built further on, under the mountain, for +the winter--but now I must have peace, I can care for nothing now. +Manage things for me, your reverence, and see that the servants get +their due, and give the poor what they need; there shall be no poor on +the Sonnenplatte from this day forward." + +Thus briefly had she settled her worldly affairs as though on the brink +of the next world: it remained to her only to await her hour--the hour +of deliverance. It seemed to her as if God had said by the mouth of the +priest, "Thou shalt not come to me, till I myself fetch thee." And now +she waited till He should fetch her--but how long, how terribly long +the time might be! She looked at her powerfully-built frame--it was not +planned for an early death, and yet death was her only hope. She knew +and understood that she must not end her days with violence, that her +atonement must be consecrated; but she thought--surely she might +_help_ the good God to set her free when it should please Him! And +so she did everything that might injure the strongest body. It was not +suicide to take only just enough nourishment to keep herself from +starving--fasting is ever a help to penitence--nor to expose herself +day and night to the storm and rain from which even the vulture took +shelter in a cleft of the rock, so that wet, frost, and privation began +gradually to undermine her healthy constitution. It was not self-murder +to climb the cliffs no mortal foot had trodden, it was only to give the +good God the opportunity to fling her down--if He would! And with a +sort of gloomy pleasure she watched her beautiful body waste away, she +felt her strength diminish, often she sank down with fatigue if she had +wandered far, and when she climbed, her knees trembled and her breath +grew short. Thus she sat one day weary on one of Murzoll's highest +peaks. Around her, piled one upon another, rose white pinnacles and +blocks of ice; it looked like a church-yard in winter where the +snow-covered grave-stones stand in rows side by side, no longer +veiled by clinging leaf or blossom. Immediately at her feet lay the +green-gleaming sea of ice with its frozen waves, that flowed onwards as +far as the pass leading over the mountain. Deepest silence as of the +tomb dwelt in this frozen, motionless upper world. The distance with +its endless perspective of mountains lay dreamily veiled in soft +noonday mists. On Similaun, close to the brown Riesenhorn, nestled a +small, bright cloud, that clung to it caressingly and was wafted up to +sink again, till at last, torn on the sharp edges of the frightful +precipices, it disappeared. + +Wally lay supported on her elbow, and her eye mechanically followed the +drift of the tiny cloud. The mid-day sun burned above her head, the +vulture sat not far off, lazily pruning himself and spreading his +wings. Suddenly he became uneasy, turned his head as if listening, +stretched his neck, and flew croaking a short way higher up. Wally +raised herself a little to see what had startled the bird. There, over +the slippery, fissured glacier came a human form straight towards the +rock where Wally sat. She recognized the dark eyes, the short, black +beard, she saw the friendly glance and greeting, she heard the "Jodel" +that he sent up to her--as once years ago, when from the Sonnenplatte +she had seen him pass through the gorge with the stranger--she, an +innocent, hopeful child in those days, not yet cast out and cursed by +her father--not yet an incendiary--not yet a murderess. As a whole +landscape bursts from the darkness with all its heights and depths +revealed, under a flash of lightning--so the whole destined chain of +events passed before her soul, and shuddering, she recognized the depth +to which she was fallen. + +What had she been then--and what was she now? And what did he seek who +had never sought her then, what did he seek now of her, the condemned +one--the dead-alive? + +She gazed downwards in unspeakable terror. "Oh God! he is coming," she +cried aloud, and clung to the rock in mortal anguish as if it were the +hand of her stony father. "Joseph--stay below--not up here--for God's +sake not up here--go--turn back--I cannot, will not see thee--;" but +Joseph, who had mounted the rock at a quick run, was coming towards +her. Wally hid her face against the stone, stretching out her hands, as +if to defend herself against him. "Can one be alone nowhere in this +world?" she cried, trembling from head to foot. "Dost thou not hear? +Leave me. With me thou'st nought to do--I am dead--as good as dead am +I--can I not even die in peace?" + +"Wally, Wally, art thou beside thyself?" cried Joseph, and he pulled +her from the rock with his powerful arms, as one might loosen some +close-growing moss. "Look at me, Wally--for God's sake--why will thou +not look at me? I am Joseph, Joseph whose life thou saved--that's not a +thing one does for those one cannot bear to look at." + +He held her in his arms, she had fallen on one knee, she could not +move, she could not defend herself; she was no longer the Wally of +former days, she was weak and powerless. Like a victim beneath the +sacrificial knife, she bowed her head as if to meet the last stroke. + +"Good Heavens, maiden! thou looks ready to die. Is this the haughty +Wallburga Stromminger? Wally, Wally--speak then--come to thyself. This +comes of living up here in the wilds where one might forget to speak +one's mother-tongue almost. Thou'rt quite fallen away; come, lean on me +and I'll lead thee down to thy hut. I'm no hero myself yet, but even so +I've somewhat more strength than thee. Come--one gets dizzy up here, +and I've much to say to thee, Wally--much to say." + +Almost without will of her own, Wally let herself be led step by step, +as, without speaking, he guided her uncertain footsteps over the +glacier and down to her hut. There however they found the herdsman, and +pausing therefore, Joseph let the girl glide from his support on to a +meadow of mountain grass. She sat silent and resigned with folded +hands; it was God's will to send her this trial also, and she prayed +only that she might remain steadfast. + +Joseph placed himself beside her, rested his chin on his hand, and +looked with glowing eyes into her grief-worn face. + +"I have much to account for to thee, Wally," he said earnestly, "and I +should have come long ago if the doctor and the cure would have let me; +but they said it might cost me my life if I went up the mountain too +soon, and I thought that were a pity--for--now I first rightly value my +life, Wally--" he took her hand, "since thou'st saved it--for when I +heard that, I knew how it stood with thee--and just so it stands with +me, Wally!" He stroked her hand gently. + +Wally snatched it from him in sheer terror; it almost took her breath +away. + +"Joseph, I know now what thou would say! Thou think'st that because I +saved thy life, thou must love me out of gratitude and leave Afra in +the lurch after all. Joseph, that thou need not think, for so sure as +there is a God in Heaven--wretched am I and bad--but not so bad as to +take a reward I don't deserve, nor to let a heart be given me like +wages--a heart too that I must steal from another. Nay, that the +Vulture-maiden will not do--whatever else she may have done! Thank God, +there's still some wickedness even I am not capable of," she added +softly to herself. And collecting all her strength, she stood up and +would have gone to the hut where the herdsman sat whistling a tune. But +Joseph held her fast in both arms. + +"Wally, hear me first," he said. + +"Nay, Joseph!" she said with white lips, but proudly erect, "not +another word. I thank thee for thy good intention--but thou dostn't +know me yet." + +"Wally, I tell thee thou must hear me for a moment--dost understand? +Thou _must_." He laid his hand on her shoulder and fixed his eyes on +her with an expression so imperious that she broke down and gave way. + +"Speak then," she said as if exhausted, and seated herself, far from +him, on a stone. + +"That is right--now I see thou can obey," he said, smiling +good-humouredly. + +He stretched his finely-formed limbs on the grass, laid the jacket he +had thrown off under his elbow and supported himself on it; his warm +breath floated towards Wally as he spoke. She sat motionless with +downcast eyes; the internal struggle gradually brought the hot colour +to her face, but outwardly she was calm, almost indifferent. + +"See, Wally,--I will tell thee exactly how it is," Joseph went on, "I +could never bear thee formerly, because I didn't know thee. I heard so +much of how wild and rough thou wert, and so I took a bad opinion of +thee and would never have to do with thee at all. That thou'rt a fine +and handsome maid I could see all the while--but I didn't want to see! +So I always kept out of thy way, till the quarrel happened between thee +and Afra--but that I could not let pass. For see, Wally--what is done +to Afra is done to me, and when Afra is hurt it cuts me to the heart, +for thou must know--well, it must come out, my mother in her grave will +forgive me--Afra is my sister." + +Wally started back, and stared at him as if in a dream. He was silent +for a moment, and wiped his forehead with his linen sleeve. "It's not +right for me to talk about it," he continued, "but thou must know, and +thou'll let it go no further. My mother told me on her deathbed that +before ever she knew my father, she had a child out there in +Vintschgau, and I solemnly promised her that I would care for the lass +as a sister, and it's for that I fetched her from across the mountains +and brought her to the Lamb so that she might be near me. But we two +promised each other that we'd keep it secret and not bring shame on our +mother in her grave. Now dost thou understand how I couldn't let an +injury to my sister pass unpunished, and stood up for her when she was +wronged?" + +Wally sat like a statue and struggled for breath. She felt as if the +mountains and the whole world were whirling round her. Now all was +clear--now too she understood what Afra had said by Joseph's bedside. +She held her head with both hands, as if she could not grasp the +meaning of it all. If it were indeed true, how gigantic was the wrong +she had done. It was not a heartless man who had scorned her for a +lowly maid-servant--it was a brother fulfilling his duty to a sister +that she would have killed--she would have bereft a poor orphan of her +last remaining stay for the sake of a blind movement of jealousy. "Good +God, if it had been so!" she said to herself. She felt giddy--she +buried her face in her hands, and a dull groan escaped her. Joseph, who +did not observe her agitation, went on. + +"So it came to pass that up at the Lamb I swore before them all that I +would take down thy pride, and do to thee as thou'd done to Afra, and +so we hatched the plot among us, in spite of Afra who'd not have had it +done. And all went well; but when we wrestled with one another, and +when that dear and beautiful bosom lay upon my heart, and when I kissed +thee, it was as if my veins were filled with fire. I'd say no word to +thee, because I'd been thy enemy so long,--but from hour to hour the +fire grew, and in the night I clasped my pillow to me and thought that +it was thou, and when I woke, I cried out loud for thee and sprang out +of bed for the ferment and fever I was in." + +"Stop, stop--thou'rt killing me," cried Wally, with cheeks and brow +aflame; but he went on passionately: "So I went out whilst it was still +night, and wandered up to the Sonnenplatte. I'll tell thee all,--I +meant to knock at thy window before break of day, and I was full of joy +to think how thou'd put out thy sleepy face, and how I'd hold thy head, +and make amends for all, and ask thy pardon a thousand, thousand times. +And then--then a shot whistled past my head, and directly after another +hit my shoulder, and as I stumbled some one sprang on me from behind +and hurled me down from the bridge. And I thought, now all is over with +love and everything else. But thou came, thou angel in maiden's form, +and took pity on me, and saved me, and cared for me--Oh, Wally!" He +threw himself at her feet, "Wally, I cannot thank thee as I ought--but +all the love of all the men in the world put together is not so great +as the love I have for thee." + +Then Wally's strength gave way altogether--with a heart-rending cry she +thrust Joseph from her, and flung herself in wild despair face +downwards on the earth. "Oh, so happy as I might have been--and now all +is over--all, all!" + +"Wally, for God's sake!--I believe thou'rt really mad! What is over? If +thee and me love each other, all is well!" + +"Oh Joseph, Joseph, thou doesn't know--nothing can ever be between us +two; oh, thou doesn't know, I am outcast and condemned--thy wife I can +never be--trample on me, strike me dead--me it was that had thee flung +down yonder." + +Joseph shrank back at the awful words--he was not yet sure that Wally +was not mad. He had sprung up, and was looking down at her in horror. + +"Joseph," whispered Wally, and clasped his knees, "I've loved thee ever +since I've known thee, and it was because of thee that my father sent +me up to the Hochjoch, because of thee that I set fire to his house, +because of thee that for three years I wandered lonely in the wilds, +and was hungry and frozen and would have died sooner than be married to +another man. And out of pure jealousy I treated Afra as I did, because +I thought she was thy love and would take thee from me. And thou came +at last after long, long years that I had waited for thee, and thou +asked me to the dance like a bridegroom--and I believed it, my heart +was bursting for joy, and I let thee kiss me as a bride, but thou--thou +mocked me before everyone--mocked me!--for all the true love with which +I had longed for thee--for all the sore trouble that I had borne for +thee--then all at once everything was changed, and I bade Vincenz kill +thee." + +Joseph covered his face with his hands. "That is horrible," he said in +an undertone. + +"Then in the night I repented," Wally went on, "and I went out, and +would have hindered it--but it was too late. And now thou'st come to +tell me that thou loves me, and all would be well if I could stand +before thee with a clear conscience. And I have brought it all on +myself with my blind rage and wickedness. I thought no wrong could be +so great as that thou did to me, and it is all nothing to what I have +done to myself--but it serves me right--it serves me quite right." + +There was a long silence. Wally had pressed her damp brow against +Joseph's knee, her whole body shook as in a death-agony. An agonizing +minute passed by. Then she felt a hand gently raise her face, and +Joseph's large eyes looked down on her with a wonderful expression. + +"Thou poor Wally!" he said softly. + +"Joseph, Joseph, thou mustn't be so good to me," cried Wally trembling, +"take thy gun and kill me dead--I'll hold still and never shrink, but +bless thee for the deed." + +He raised her from the ground, he took her in his arms, he laid her +head on his breast and smoothed her disordered hair, then kissed her +passionately. "And STILL I love thee!" he cried in a voice like a +shout, so that the words rang back exultingly from the desert walls of +ice. + +Wally stood there hardly conscious, motionless, almost sinking under +the flood of happiness that flowed over her. "Joseph, is it possible? +Can thou really forgive me--can the great God forgive me?" she +whispered breathlessly. + +"Wally! He who could listen to thy words and look in thy wasted face, +and could yet be hard to thee--that man would have a stone in the place +of a heart. I'm a hard fellow, but I could not do that." + +"Oh God!" said Wally, and the tears rushed to her eyes, "when I think +that I would have stilled _that_ heart for ever--!" She wrung her hands +in despair: "Oh thou good lad--the better and the dearer thou art to +me, so much the more terrible is my remorse. Oh, my peace is gone, for +ever gone, in earth and in Heaven. Thy servant will I be, not thy +wife--on thy door-step will I sleep, not at thy side--I'll serve thee, +and work for thee, and do all thy will before thou can speak the word. +And if thou strike me, I'll kiss thy hand, and if thou tread on me, +I'll clasp thy knee--and beg and pray till thou'rt good to me again. +And if thou grant me nought but the breath of thy lips, and a glance +and a word--still I'll be content--it'll still be more than I deserve." + +"And dost think that I should be content?" said Joseph hotly, "dost +think a glance and a breath are enough for me? Dost think I'd suffer +that thou should lie on the doorstep, and me inside? Dost think I would +not open the door and fetch thee in? Dost think perhaps that thou would +stay outside, when I called to thee to come?" + +Wally tried to free herself from his grasp; she hid her glowing face in +her clasped hands. + +"Be at peace, sweet soul," Joseph went on in his deep, harmonious +voice, and drew her towards him. "Be at peace, and take that which our +Lord God sends thee--thou mayst, for thou hast atoned nobly. Torment +thyself no more with self-reproach, for I also have sinned heavily +towards thee, and provoked thee cruelly and rewarded thy long love and +faith with mockery and scorn. No wonder that thy patience gave way at +last--what else could one expect?--thou'rt only the Vulture Wally! But +thou's quickly repented thee, and despised death itself to bring me +from the depths where no man would have had the heart to go, and had me +carried to thy room, and laid upon thy bed, and thyself hast tended me, +till that foolish Afra came and drove thee away, because thou thought +she was my love. And thou wished to give us all thy property that I +might be able to marry Afra--as thou thought! And then came away to +the wilderness with thy heavy sorrow! Oh, thou poor soul, nought but +heart-ache hast thou had for my sake since thou's known me, and shall I +not love thee now and shall we know no happiness together? Nay, Wally, +and if the whole world were hard to thee--it's all one to me, I take +thee in my arms, and none shall do thee an injury." + +"Is it really true that out of all my shame and misery thou'll take me +to thy heart, thy great and noble heart? Thou'll have no fear of the +wild Vulture-maiden that's done so many wicked things?" + +"I fear the Vulture-maiden--I, Joseph the Bear-slayer? No, thou dear +child, and were thou still wilder than thou art, I fear thee not, I'll +conquer thee, that I told thee once before in hatred--I tell it thee +now in love. And even if I could not tame thee, if I knew that within a +fortnight thou'd murder me, I would not leave thee--I could not leave +thee. A hundred times have I climbed after a chamois when I knew that +each step might cost me my life--and yet would never leave it, and +thou--art thou not worth far, more to me than any chamois? See +Wally--for a single hour of thee as thou art to-day, to see thee look +at me and cling to me as now, will I gladly die." He pressed her to him +in a breathless embrace. "A fortnight hence thou'll be my wife, and +have no thought of killing me--I know it, for now I know thy heart." + +Then Wally sprang up, and raised her arms towards heaven. "Oh, Thou +great and merciful God," she cried, "I will praise Thee and bless Thee +my whole life long, for it is more than earthly happiness that Thou +hast sent me--it is a message of Grace!" + +It was now evening; a mild countenance looked down on them as in +friendly greeting; the full moon stood above the mountain. On the +valleys lay the shades of evening--it was too late now to descend the +mountain-side. They went into the hut, kindled a fire and sat down on +the hearth. It was an hour of sweet confidence after long years of +silence. On the roof sat the Vulture and dreamed that he was building +himself a nest, the rush of the night-wind round the hut was like the +sound of harps, and through the little window shone a star. + +Next morning Wally and Joseph stood at the door of the hut ready to set +out homewards. + +"Farewell, God keep thee, Father Murzoll," said Wally, and the first +gleam of morning showed a tear glittering in her eye, "I shall never +come back to thee more. My happiness lies down yonder now, but yet I +thank thee for giving me a home so long, when I was homeless. And thou, +old hut, thou'll be empty now, but when I sit with my dearest husband +down there in a warm room, I'll still think of thee, and how long +nights through I've shivered and wept beneath thy roof, and will always +be humble and thankful." + +She turned and laid her hand on Joseph's arm. "Come, Joseph, that we +may be at the good priest's at Heiligkreuz before mid-day." + +"Aye, come--I'm taking thee home, my beautiful bride! You see, you +phantom maidens, I've won her, and she belongs to me--in spite of you +and all bad spirits." + +And he threw out a "Jodel" into the blue distance, that sounded like a +hymn of rejoicing on the day of resurrection. + +"Be quiet," said Wally, laying her hand on his mouth in alarm, "thou +mustn't defy them." But then she smiled with a serene look. "Ah no," +she said, "there's no more 'phantom maidens' and no more bad +spirits--there is only God." + +She looked back once more. The snowy peaks of the Ferner glowed around +in the morning light. "Still it is beautiful up here," she said with +lingering footsteps. + +"Art sorry to come down yonder with me?" asked Joseph. + +"If thou wast to lead me into the deepest pit under the earth where no +gleam of day ever shone, still I'd go with thee and never question nor +complain," she said, and her voice sounded so wonderfully soft that +Joseph's eyes were moist. + +There was a sudden rush down from the roof of the hut. "Oh, my +Hansl--I'd almost forgotten thee!" cried Wally. "And thou--?" she said +smiling at Joseph, "thou must make friends with him, for now you two +are brothers in fate. I fetched thee from the precipice as well as +him." + +So they went down the mountain side. It was a modest wedding +procession, no splendour but the golden crown that the morning sunshine +wove around the bride's head--no follower but the vulture that circled +high in the air above them--but in their hearts was hardly-won, +deeply-felt, unspeakable joy. + + * * * * * + +Up yonder on the giddy height of the Sonnenplatte where once "the wild +Highland maid looked dreaming down," where later on she let herself +into the depths of the gloomy abyss to rescue the beloved one, a simple +cross stands out against the blue sky. It was erected there by the +village community in memory of Wallburga the Vulture-maiden and Joseph +the Bear-hunter--the benefactors of the whole neighbourhood. + +Wally and Joseph died early, but their name lives and will be praised +so long and so far as the Ache flows. The traveller who passes through +the gorge late in the evening when the bell rings for vespers and the +silver crescent of the moon stands above the mountains, may see an aged +couple kneeling up yonder. They are Afra and Benedict Klotz, who often +come down from Rofen to pray by this cross. Wally herself it was who +brought their hearts together, and to-day on the brink of the grave +they still bless her memory. + +Below in the gorge, white, misty forms hover around the traveller and +remind him of the "phantom maidens." Down from the cross there is +wafted to him a lament as it were out of long-forgotten heroic legends, +a lament that the mighty as well as the feeble must fade and pass away. +Still this one thought may comfort him--the heroic may die, but it +cannot perish from off the earth. Under the splendid coat of mail +of the Nibelungen hero, beneath the coarse peasant frocks of a +Vulture-maiden and a Bear-hunter--still we meet with it again and +again. + + + + FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: Lamb.] + +[Footnote 2: In most foreign countries the law provides that a certain +portion of a man's estate is inalienable from his natural heirs.] + + + + THE END. + + + + + + + * * * * * + PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER. + * * * * * + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Vulture Maiden, by Wilhelmine von Hillern + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VULTURE MAIDEN *** + +***** This file should be named 36827.txt or 36827.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/8/2/36827/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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