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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Danes Sketched by Themselves. Vol. III
+(of 3), by Various
+
+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 Danes Sketched by Themselves. Vol. III (of 3)
+       A Series of Popular Stories by the Best Danish Authors
+
+Author: Various
+
+Translator: Mrs. (Anna S.) Bushby
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2011 [EBook #37833]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANES SKETCHED BY THEMSELVES, VOL III ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+   1. Page scan source:
+      http://www.archive.org/details/danessketchedbyt02bush
+
+   2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].
+
+
+
+
+
+                               THE DANES
+
+                        Sketched by Themselves.
+
+                A SERIES OF POPULAR STORIES BY THE BEST
+                            DANISH AUTHORS,
+
+
+
+                       TRANSLATED BY MRS. BUSHBY.
+
+
+
+                     _IN THREE VOLUMES.--VOL. III_.
+
+
+
+                                LONDON:
+                RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+                                 1864.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+               [_The right of Translation is reserved_.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+        LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
+                           AND CHARING CROSS.
+
+
+
+
+
+                         CONTENTS OF VOL. III.
+
+
+   The Fair Prospect.
+   Death and his Victims.--By Adam Oehlenschl[oe]ger.
+   All Souls' Day.--By B. S. Ingemann.
+   Lisette's Castles in the Air.--By H. V. Holst.
+   Twice Sacrificed.--By Carit Etlar.
+   Herr Sinclair.--By E. Storm.
+   The Aged Rabbi.--By B. S. Ingemann.
+   The Bankrupt.--By Carl Bernhard.
+   The Hereditary Goblet.--From the Swedish of Uncle Adam.
+   The Death Ship.--By B. S. Ingemann.
+   The Brothers; or, A Good Conscience.
+   Esben.--By S. S. Blicher.
+
+
+
+
+                               THE DANES
+
+                        Sketched by Themselves.
+
+                           *   *   *   *   *
+
+                           THE FAIR PROSPECT.
+
+
+From his infancy he had loved the sea, with its restless waves; the
+dark blue ocean, with its white sails; and the idea of a sailor's
+pleasant life pervaded his very dreams. During the winter months he was
+satisfied to go to school, and learn to read and write; but in summer,
+when the soft wind stole with its balmy breath through the windows of
+the schoolroom, he used to fancy that it brought him greetings from the
+adjacent sea--that it came fraught with the odour of the sun-bleached
+deck, of the tarry rope, of the swelling sail--and then the schoolroom
+became too confined for him, and his little breast heaved with a
+longing which he could not repress.
+
+All his holidays were spent at the quays, or on the seashore. When a
+ship arrived from some foreign land, he would gaze at it with longing
+eyes, and he would wish it were not speechless, that it might tell him
+of the magnificent clear moonlights on which the tropical skies and the
+dreamy ocean seemed to unite, and form one wide and bland expanse, or
+of the dark stormy night on which the tempest, resting on its breezy
+pinions, broods over the foaming sea. Oh! how he envied the careless,
+sunburnt sailors, who looked down from the gunwale, or hung, apparently
+in frolic mood, amid the yards above! Who could be so happy as they, to
+skim over the sea with only a slender plank beneath their feet, with
+the white sails outstretched like wings above their heads!
+
+When it became late in the evening, he would saunter slowly and
+sorrowfully homewards to the small, confined house in the suburbs of
+the town, where his mother, who had, perhaps, just finished her day's
+hard work, would meet him with gentle reproaches for staying out so
+long. When he had then assisted her to bring in the heavy pail of
+water, to stretch the somewhat blackened ropes in the court, and prop
+them up with long sticks; to water the flowers in the little garden,
+and the pots of balsam and geranium in the window; and when their
+simple supper was finished, it was his delight to place himself on a
+low wooden stool at his mother's feet, while she knitted, and listened
+to the stories she told him of his poor father, who had gone far away
+and had never returned. Vivid were the pictures the good woman drew
+from the magic-lantern of her memory. Now, it was of her maritime
+wedding, with the two waving Dannebrog flags, the numerous
+smartly-dressed sailors, with their short jackets, white hats, and red
+pocket-handkerchiefs, each with his sweetheart on his arm; now, of the
+day when his father came home from a voyage, and found him--the boy--in
+the cradle, a welcome gift on his arrival; now, of the dreadful hour
+when the owner of the ship sent for her, and she was informed, in a few
+cold words, that her husband had died out on the wide ocean, had been
+wrapped in his hammock, and lowered into the deep. The stories always
+ended here with the widow's tears; but the boy would sit lost in deep
+thought, and would follow in his imagination the sinking hammock, with
+his father's corpse, down beneath the blue, blue waves, lower and
+lower, into the darkening abyss, until he became giddy from his own
+fancies.
+
+Sometimes his mother was not at home; then he always fixed his gaze
+upon a miserable little picture which hung against the wall, and which
+represented a brig in full sail. He would fancy himself standing
+beneath its broad canvas, and waving his farewell to the land; or he
+would steal into the recess of the window, and please himself by
+imagining that he was in the cabin of a ship, and that the white
+curtain which hung in the window, and was slightly agitated by the
+wind, was the flapping of the sails in a storm. His little head would
+at length droop and rest against the window-sill, whilst sleep closed
+his eyes, and permitted him to continue in dreams his fancied voyage.
+
+One day--a bright sunshiny day--he was strolling along the edge of the
+harbour wall, gazing at the ships, and chattering now and then with the
+seafaring people. His little white hat had fallen back, and rested awry
+upon his curly head, as the poor boy jumped and played about, his shirt
+sleeves tucked up, and without any jacket. How happy he was when the
+sailors bade him run an errand for them, or what was better still, help
+them to move or lift anything. As he wandered farther and farther on,
+he came upon a large ship that was lying close to a wharf, and taking
+in its cargo. The boy stood long opposite to it, and looked attentively
+upon it.
+
+That strange, mysterious feeling in the human mind, which arises at the
+sight of the place where our death-bed is to be, or our coffin is to
+rest, prompted him to exclaim, 'How quiet; how peaceful it is here.'
+Though he thought--unknowing of the future--that his grave would be
+under some shady tree, yet in contemplating the scene before him, he
+felt that it was cool, and fresh, and inviting to repose. It was with a
+peculiar and undefinable sensation that his eye wandered over the
+newly-tarred hull of the ship--around which the glancing waves were
+lightly sporting--up the supple mast, till it rested on the pennon at
+its top. The busy crew went backwards and forwards, to and from the
+vessel, which appeared to be nearly ready for its approaching voyage,
+and the master stood upon the deck, issuing commands, and
+superintending everything.
+
+The boy ventured nearer and nearer; with earnest looks he watched
+everything on board, and everything seemed to have been familiar
+to him in some dream of the past--everything, from the nicely-painted
+half-open cabin-door, to the dog that rattled its chains whenever any
+of the sailors passed it. The captain at length came forward, and, as
+he leaned over the gunwale, his scrutinizing eye fell upon the boy, who
+as steadily gazed at him. For a time they stood thus--both silent. At
+last the captain said:
+
+'What do you want here, boy? Are you waiting for anyone?'
+
+'No; I am only fond of seeing ships, sir,' was the boy's answer; as he
+took off his little white hat, and twirled it about in his hand.
+
+'To whom do you belong?' asked the skipper.
+
+'My mother supports herself by her labour, sir,' replied the boy, 'and
+my father lies out yonder;' he pointed towards the ocean. 'I also
+should like to go to sea; but my mother says I am too little yet. Do
+you think, sir, I am _really_ too little?' he added, with an arch,
+insinuating smile, as he looked up into the captain's eyes.
+
+'Well, well, perhaps not,' said the master of the vessel. 'Do you know
+anything about a ship?'
+
+How happy was the boy at that moment; with one bound he was at the side
+of the captain, and he proceeded with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks
+to name to him all parts of the ship; there was not a sail, not a rope,
+not a topmast unknown to him, and the master's looks followed him with
+approbation and goodwill.
+
+'I am bound to the Brazils,' said he; 'would you like to go with me?
+But it is a long voyage, and the weather is not always good.'
+
+The boy's answer was a cry of joy; he seized the skipper's hard hand
+and pressed it to his soft cheek, but suddenly his gladness was
+checked.
+
+'My mother!' he exclaimed, sorrowfully.
+
+'We will go to her,' said the captain, as he laid aside his pipe and
+took his hat.
+
+Next day there was a fresh and stiff breeze, but the wind was fair,
+and the good ship 'The Fair Prospect' bent its way out of the harbour
+under full sail; it was going to the Brazils, far away beyond the
+wide, wide ocean, and many a month must pass before its anchor
+would again drop amidst the waters that laved the shores of the
+dear native land. But--'Away, into the world--away!' came wafted
+on the joyous breeze;--'Be of good cheer!' smiled the gay, bright
+sun;--'Farewell--forget me not!' whispered the rolling waves; and high
+up amidst the masts hung the exulting ship-boy, while he waved his
+little red cap, and wept from mingled feelings of grief and joy.
+
+How many remained upon that shore in unruffled tranquillity! They only
+felt that they were obliged to be stationary, and would never see all
+the beautiful, the grand, and the wonderful things that the vast world
+has to display. But among them stood the loving mother, who had no joy
+on earth but him who had just left her--and in deep sorrow she
+concealed her tearful countenance. 'Dear mother, farewell!' he breathed
+upon the air; but she could not hear these, his parting words. Yet he
+felt as if his heart would have burst from his breast, and flown to
+her. And surely she knew this. Did she not feel that there were some
+sad, tender, affectionate thoughts from him who was gone, following her
+to her humble home, to her deserted rooms, to the empty little couch,
+on which she cast herself in an agony of grief? Alas! how many anxious
+nights would she not have to pass in that lonely cottage, now terrified
+by frightful dreams, now startled from her troubled sleep by the
+howling and uproar of the midnight storm!
+
+_One_ was terrible to listen to. It was a night in spring; but the
+heavens were black and threatening, so that all was darkness around.
+The tempestuous clouds chased each other wildly through the skies, and
+cast their gloomy masses from one part of the heavens to another; the
+moon shone forth every now and then for a moment, as if in derision of
+its own impotence, and when its straggling beams then glanced in
+through the small windows, they seemed for one second to gleam upon the
+floor, merely to vanish again. The low house shook; the tiles fell from
+the roof with a loud crash into the little court below; the doors
+swayed backwards and forwards as if moved by invisible hands; and the
+wind absolutely roared in the chimney.
+
+The mother lay awake in her little chamber: she sat up in her bed,
+clasped her hands, and cried in her agony of spirit, 'Oh, my dear, dear
+child! where are you this fearful night?' Then she looked at his bed,
+which had so long stood empty. How willingly she would have cheated
+herself into the idea that all was a dream, and that it _really_ was
+his fair little head she saw resting on his pillow; but it was
+fancy--only fancy--for no living form was there! There was none to
+speak one word of comfort to her; no human being near to console her;
+she raised her thoughts to heaven, and prayed to God to spare the life
+of her child in that terrific night; she prayed that she might once
+more be allowed to fold him in her arms, and earnestly did she
+further pray--alas! for a mother's heart--that if he _must_ die, the
+death-struggle might be brief!
+
+And where was the boy while these anxious prayers were ascending to
+Heaven on his behalf? Behold! Yonder on the vast wild sea, where the
+tempest is lashing the waves into mountains, flies the slight bark with
+the lightning's speed! The subordinate has become the master: the wind,
+that but lately, managed by the sailors' art, wafted their vessel
+gently along, has suddenly burst forth in its might, and in its wanton
+fury assails them from every point. Now the ship seems engulfed by the
+raging waters; now borne aloft as if it were about to career in the
+air. Yet on these frail planks, which seem to be but as a toy to the
+elements, there is a will stronger than theirs. See how every stitch of
+canvas disappears from the towering masts! Look at the fearless,
+determined countenance of the man who holds the rudder in his strong
+grasp! See how boldly, how firmly, yon sailors tread upon and hang
+among the swaying yards above! Oh slip not, slip not! for ye hold life
+and death in your hands; place cautiously the searching foot; turn the
+swimming eye from yonder raging deep. Hark! what a frightful blast of
+wind! It seems to come howling from afar, then rolls with a hollow
+sound over the foaming waves. The ship trembles from stem to stern;
+and, as if battling with the ocean, it swings first to one side, then
+to the other, and then it seems to rise and ride triumphant over the
+heaving billows. In its lightness lies its only hope of safety.
+
+But what is that which has fallen from the main-topsail-yard down into
+the sea beneath? The bubbling foam conceals it for a moment, but it
+rises to the surface. From a break between the dark heavy clouds the
+moon casts a solitary ray, mild as a compassionate smile. It is the
+boy--the boy who loved the blue billows so much--he has fallen into
+their wild embrace, and they like him too well to give him up again. In
+vain do anxious faces bend over the side of the ship; in vain are ropes
+cast out; the small hands fight but a feeble battle for life; the fair
+curly head, over which his unseen mother's prayers and blessings are at
+that moment hovering, raises itself once more in the pale moonshine;
+but the struggle is soon over. Some few undefined thoughts flit through
+his soul: he fancies that he hears his mother's voice. Yes, peace be
+with you, child! She is praying with you at your hour of death. And he
+sinks down--down--calmly beneath the waves. The subsiding tempest
+chants his requiem; the moon sheds a farewell ray upon the spot where
+he sank; and the grave has closed over the sea-boy's corpse! The war of
+the elements is over, and the ship glides peacefully into its destined
+harbour.
+
+
+
+
+                         DEATH AND HIS VICTIMS.
+
+                       BY ADAM OEHLENSCHL[OE]GER.
+
+
+      Though I am feeble, yet, dear Death,
+         Awhile let me remain!
+      'Old man--thy locks are white as snow--
+      Still thou art loth with me to go:
+         But come--thy pray'r is vain!'
+
+      I am in manhood's prime--wouldst thou
+         Then break my staff to-day?--
+      'The tall pine on the mountain's side,
+      By lightning struck, falls in its pride,
+         My call thou must obey!'
+
+      I am a maiden--beauteous, young,
+         Wouldst hide me in the tomb?
+      'Thou, for this world, art all too fair,
+      The bright rose never withers where
+         Thou soon again shalt bloom!'
+
+      So soon, a hero canst thou snatch
+         From glory's high career?
+      'I come, clad as a warrior proud--
+      What wouldst thou? 'neath my mailed shroud
+         No fleshless bones appear.'
+
+      Extinguish not--oh yet--dear Death!
+         Love's fire--that burns so bright!
+      'Oh! I can hold in close embrace,
+      And though my mouth no warm lips grace,
+         Behold--my teeth are white!'
+
+      Wouldst tear me from my golden hoard
+         With merciless commands?
+      'Follow! beneath the earth's black mould
+      Gold never rusts--and thy dear gold
+         Shall shine in others' hands!'
+
+      What! from his country's councils drag
+         The statesman proud? away!--
+      'I call thee to a court more high,
+      Where angel-forms, above the sky,
+         Throng round God's throne alway!
+
+      Against my ancient 'scutcheon--ha!--
+         To raise thy scythe dar'st thou?
+      'Adam--the noblest of thy race--
+      Was made to bow before my face,
+         Thy farce is ended now.'
+
+      Thy vengeance wreck not thou on me.
+         Behold--this brow a crown adorns!
+      'Vain is thy claim--thy power is o'er--
+      Death on the cross God's own Son bore;
+         Think on His crown of thorns!'
+
+      We are so little--us at least
+         From the dark grave--oh, spare!
+      'Does not your Heav'nly Father love
+      Young children? Ye shall sport above
+         With winged cherubs there.'
+
+      Call not the anxious mother hence
+         From those her cares employ!
+      'Come--at Heaven's window thou shalt stand
+      And gaze on the beloved band,
+         And thou shalt weep with joy!
+
+      'For though my form is frightful--I
+         Am less your foe than friend,
+      I bring ye all but transient woe;
+      Your souls my scythe may never mow,
+         These shall to God ascend!'
+
+
+
+
+                            ALL SOULS' DAY.
+
+                           BY B. S. INGEMANN.
+
+
+It was a stormy autumn evening; the last yellow leaves of the
+beech-trees were whirling through the forest near Soröe, and the
+usually calm lake was lashed into wild waves like those of the open
+sea.
+
+'Does Italian Franz reside in this wood?' asked a clear, manly voice
+from the road, as Count Otto stopped his grey steed close to a
+peasant's cottage, and knocked at the little window with his
+riding-whip.
+
+'You can't lose your way,' replied an old woman, opening the window a
+very little. 'If you take the path on the left, alongside of the lake,
+the first house you will come to is where the under-ranger lives.'
+
+The young count thanked her and proceeded on. When he turned into the
+path by the left, where the moon shone full through the trees, and cast
+its silver rays upon the agitated lake, his horse shied, and sprang to
+one side; at the same moment the count's eyes fell upon the trunk of a
+hollow oak-tree by the side of the road, against which a figure
+appeared to be leaning. It was that of a man in the garb of a hunter he
+saw; his rifle lay at his feet; his horse, bound to the old tree, stood
+by his side, and, as a moonbeam fell on his face, lighting up his
+features, the young count felt, for the first time in his life, a
+strange sensation of terror--it was as if he beheld before him a
+well-known countenance, but terribly changed and distorted. He gave
+himself no time to examine into the cause of this fear, a feeling which
+he had never before experienced in any of his numerous journeys, not
+even when he had fallen in with highwaymen and robbers, with whom he
+had often had desperate encounters, but without reasoning one moment
+with himself, or taking time to think why he felt such sudden dread, he
+plunged his spurs into his horse's sides, and galloped on as fast as
+possible. The solitary hunter leaning against the decayed tree was
+Italian Franz. This name had been bestowed on him on account of his
+having been in the employment of a noble family, with whom he had
+resided for several years in Italy, and who, as a reward for his
+faithful services to them, had obtained for him the rangership he now
+held near Soröe. He was born in this part of the country, where his
+father had been the owner of a mill. But his long residence in a
+southern climate had tanned his originally fair northern complexion,
+and imparted a swarthy, sunburnt hue to his cheek, while his light hair
+had also become darker in these remote lands. He was a man somewhere
+about forty years of age, and when he was in good spirits, or in a gay
+humour, he might have passed for much younger, especially when he
+indulged in the vivacity of manners he had acquired in the South. But
+when his fierce and gloomy fits came over him, he looked so old, and
+also so wild and formidable, that no one would willingly have met him
+alone in the woods. He would often remain whole nights in the forest,
+with his gun over his shoulder, whistling or singing Italian airs in
+the moonlight, especially when autumnal gales whirled the leaves around
+him, and the lake was dark and agitated.
+
+While he thus wandered in the deep woods or by the lonely lake, his
+only child, the beautiful Giuliana, who was born in Italy, sat, a
+solitary being in the forest lodge, and gazed at the charming pictures
+of Capri, Torrento, and Ischia, and many other lovely spots, views of
+which her father had brought with him from her enchanting native land,
+and which she in vain tried to recall to memory, for she had left it at
+so early an age that she retained but a very faint recollection of it,
+and to her its beauties were almost ideal. She did not remember her
+mother at all; her father could never be induced to speak of her; and
+from the time she first began to notice what was going on around her,
+she had always felt inclined to cry when other children spoke of their
+mothers, because she had none herself.
+
+She was about three years of age when the Countess R. took her from
+Salerno on her journey home from Italy, accompanied by her father, who
+had attended the noble family on a previous journey; and thenceforth
+Giuliana had never seen her beautiful unknown native land. During the
+two years, over which period their travels had extended, her infantine
+mind had opened considerably; and of that time she preserved many
+reminiscences. She had always been a pet of the beautiful countess, and
+had travelled in the inside of the carriage with her and the two young
+counts Otto and Wilhelm, while her father went outside with the
+servants, though he was by no means always their companion, for when
+the party arrived at inns in towns where they knew no one, it was
+always Jæger Franzesco who enlivened them, and amused the whole party.
+Giuliana well remembered how the countess and both her sons had wept
+when her father, ten years back, took leave of them, and carried her,
+then only five years of age, to the forest lodge at Soröe, while the
+young counts, who were then nearly grown up, accompanied their invalid
+and melancholy mother to some German watering-place.
+
+From that time, no year had passed over Giuliana's head without her
+having received several kind and costly souvenirs--dresses, and other
+gifts--from the countess. She always wore, however, the simple dress of
+a peasant girl, not to seem peculiar or arrogant amongst her
+neighbours; and she looked much prettier on Sundays, in her knitted red
+sleeves and flowered bodice, than the smartest country girls, who,
+instead of appearing in their national costume, awkwardly attempted to
+sport what they thought fashionable attire. It was only at weddings,
+and on other great occasions, that she drew forth from her stores some
+pearls, or other precious stones, to adorn herself; and occasionally
+when she was alone, or on her father's or her own birthday, she could
+not resist the childish temptation to put on the pretty foreign garb
+which she knew was worn in her native country, and which, copying from
+her father's Italian pictures, she had amused herself by making up out
+of the foreign silks and other materials the bountiful countess had
+sent her.
+
+Jæger Franz bad acquired more knowledge from his foreign travels than
+was usually possessed by men in his situation of life. He had been a
+great favourite of the deceased count, and had been treated by him more
+as a friend than as a servant. Being the companion of so superior and
+well-informed a man as the count, had improved him greatly. Up to the
+last hour of the count's life, Franz had been, next to the countess and
+their two children, his chosen associate; and when, on his return from
+a scientific tour in Sicily and the coasts of Barbary, he was attacked
+by a fever at Naples, which put an end to his life, the countess, being
+at that time confined to her bed by illness, Franz was the only one
+from whose hands he would take the medicines prescribed for him; and
+his last request to his wife was, that she would provide for the future
+days of his faithful Franz.
+
+The many foreign countries Franz had visited, and the intercourse in
+which he had so long lived with his superiors, had much improved his
+mind and tastes, and he was able to give his daughter a much better
+education than the generality of country girls could aspire to. Italian
+Franz's pretty daughter was, therefore, well known over the whole
+district of Soröe, and the daughters of the principal burghers in the
+town did not think it beneath them to visit her. If ever they took upon
+themselves the least airs of superiority, she soon put them down in a
+gay and seemingly whimsical manner. She was a favourite, also, among
+the peasant girls, and they were not a little proud that she generally
+classed herself amongst them, notwithstanding her intimacy with the
+daughters of the clergyman and other young ladies in the neighbourhood.
+Within the last few months, however, her numerous young female friends
+had evinced some lukewarmness towards her, and she was left more to
+solitude in her father's somewhat lonely house; but if those of her own
+sex partly deserted her, the young gentlemen of the neighbourhood, both
+those who belonged to town and country, began to pay much attention to
+the little Italian, who was now fifteen years of age, and had been
+confirmed the last Easter.
+
+Franz had secretly embraced Roman Catholicism in Italy, but had not
+found it possible to avoid letting his daughter be brought up in the
+Lutheran religion, although in her early childhood she had learnt the
+Ave Maria, and treasured the Holy Virgin and all the saints in her
+heart.
+
+In a small side-chamber in the forest lodge, into which no one entered
+but the father and daughter, there hung over a little domestic altar,
+made of oak-tree, a beautiful picture of the Queen of Heaven, before
+which a lamp burned day and night, and Giuliana never forgot to keep
+the lamp always trimmed, and to ornament the little altar with fresh
+flowers on every festival day. Her father often retired to solitary
+meditation, or prayer, in this little oratory; but on one particular
+day every year he locked himself in there for twenty-four hours, and
+always issued from it in a state of great agitation, and as pale as a
+corpse, exhausted by fasting and earnest prayer. This was always on the
+2nd of November, _All Souls' Day_.
+
+Giuliana had once asked her father why he kept that particular day so
+strictly, but she never ventured to repeat the inquiry, she had been so
+frightened by the terribly withering look he cast upon her. There also
+lay an impenetrable veil of mystery over her mother's fate, and the
+history of her own childish years, which she never dared to attempt to
+raise. She was always glad when her moody father seemed for a little
+while to forget the past and the future. He also appeared to enjoy
+these short intervals of forgetfulness, and many people thought him the
+gayest and happiest man breathing. However, whenever All Souls' Day
+approached, he avoided the society of his fellow-beings, and plunged
+into the depths of the forest night and day, apparently in quest of
+game; but he frequently returned on these occasions without having shot
+anything, and often without having once discharged his gun.
+
+It was on just such an evening in the beginning of October that
+Giuliana, in her loneliness, had taken out her dear Italian costume, to
+please herself by putting it on, and perhaps amuse her father when he
+came home. She was sitting with the silver ornaments in her dark hair,
+with the rose-coloured bodice and skirt of which she had read, and with
+the little pictures she loved so much before her, fancying herself
+amidst the charming scenes her imagination so often portrayed. It was
+late in the evening when she heard the sound of a horse's feet
+approaching, and observed that it had stopped at the paved pathway
+which led to the house. She concluded it was her father, and rose to
+meet him, when the door opened, and the young Count Otto entered,
+starting with astonishment at seeing the beautiful Italian girl in a
+Danish forester's house. He did not know if he was dreaming or awake,
+for never before had he beheld any one so lovely, and the Southern
+costume gave to the charming figure which stood before him an air
+strangely fanciful and romantic.
+
+'Giuliana!' he exclaimed, after a moment's reflection. 'Yes, you must
+be Giuliana herself; and I am Otto,' he added--'the frolicsome little
+Otto, who teazed you with bitter oranges in the corner of the carriage
+ten years ago.'
+
+'Otto!' cried Giuliana, calling to mind the half-grown boy who used to
+be her playfellow, as she had often seen him in her dreams of
+childhood. In her joy she had almost thrown her arms round his neck,
+but she beheld a handsome young man before her, and drew back,
+blushing. 'You have taken me by surprise, count,' she said, colouring
+still more deeply. 'I was only a very little child when you last saw
+me, and now you find in me but a big child. I expected no one but my
+father this evening, and this dress--'
+
+'Becomes you admirably,' interrupted the count, 'and transports me
+back, as if by magic, to fair Italy. Do not thus cast your eyes down;
+let me see if I can recognize my little pet of five years old again.
+Yes, the eyes are the same; but I must not now speak so familiarly to
+you, or call you "my Giuliana," as I did then.'
+
+'And my little knight Otto, with his wooden sword, which was to protect
+me from the brigands, has also disappeared,' said Giuliana. 'But tell
+me, count, what fortunate circumstance has recalled us to your
+recollection, that you should surprise us with a visit here, in our
+remote hermitage?'
+
+'I shall tell that to your father,' replied Otto, gravely. 'He is not
+at home, I find: but do you not expect him back this evening?'
+
+'He is out hunting in the forest,' said Giuliana. 'However, I hope he
+will come home this evening; I have seen very little of him for some
+days past. But you must be tired after your long journey, and must
+require some refreshment. Please to make yourself at home here, Herr
+Count, and excuse my absence for a few minutes; I will soon return.'
+
+So saying, Giuliana tripped out of the room, and Count Otto sat down
+near the table. At first he observed nothing around him; he could see
+nothing but the image of the beautiful Giuliana, who had made a sudden
+and strong impression upon him, which, however, he chose to ascribe to
+her fanciful attire, and the surprise of their first meeting.
+
+Nevertheless, he almost forgot why he had come, and that his visit was
+more to the father than to the daughter. But he now decided on
+remaining a little time at Soröe. Carelessly glancing over the table,
+he observed some of the best travels in Italy that had ever been
+published, and lying near them, collections of engravings of the
+most remarkable places, and of national costumes. He also saw some
+nicely-bound volumes, containing Tasso and Aristo in their original
+language, and, on a shelf against the wall, handsome copies of the old
+Danish tragedies, with selections from the best Danish and foreign
+poets.
+
+A small wooden crucifix, on which was placed a wreath of _immortelles_,
+stood on a chest of drawers in an alcove, and at its feet lay an open
+Bible. The count rose, and, approaching the recess, he saw a curtain,
+which he drew aside, when a small bed on a pretty oaken bedstead in a
+corner became visible.
+
+'Here, then, that lovely creature sleeps,' thought he, 'happy in her
+sweet, innocent dreams: and she has chosen very intellectual and
+refined company for her solitude. Who would have expected to find such
+a girl in an abode like this?'
+
+At that moment a nice-looking peasant girl entered, and began to
+arrange the table for supper--it was Giuliana, who had laid aside the
+foreign costume in which she had felt so embarrassed before the
+stranger. He thought she looked still more charming in the simple,
+unpretending peasant dress, but he did not wish to make her feel
+bashful by letting her see how much he admired her. He questioned her
+about her father's circumstances, and her own position; and then
+informed her of his mother's death, a piece of intelligence which made
+a much deeper impression on Giuliana's feeling heart than he could have
+anticipated.
+
+He himself was much affected when he told of his bereavement; but his
+extreme grief seemed to be caused by something more than even sorrow
+for her loss. As soon as they had recovered themselves a little, the
+count took pains to avoid entering further on a subject so distressing
+to them both, and led the conversation towards those topics on which
+the various books of travels scattered about made him think he could
+venture. He soon perceived how the dim, childish recollections in
+Giuliana's excitable mind had been revived, and kept from fading away,
+by the beautiful engravings and interesting works depicting the
+enchanting land of her birth, and how it was that she felt herself such
+a stranger in the bleak North, and longed so much to return to the
+sunny South. To her it appeared like a wonderful fairyland, where her
+brightest dreams and hopes were centred. Her father's fits of deep
+melancholy, and his frequent uncontrollable bursts of agony of
+soul--the cause of which she could not fathom, and which she had no
+means of alleviating--often grieved her extremely. The constraint under
+which she generally felt with him, even when he was in good spirits,
+and unusually cheerful, contributed much to increase her longing for a
+change to a brighter land, and also to make her contrast in her young
+mind the peace and happiness entwined amidst her childish
+recollections, with her gloomy life in the lonely forest lodge.
+
+She did not, however, express these sentiments to the young count, or
+dwell upon her own feelings, but they were soon perceived by her
+observant guest. He had begun to place before her some pleasanter
+prospects for the future, and had just mentioned that he knew a
+family who were soon going to Italy, and that they were in want of a
+lady-companion, who would take charge of two little girls. He was just
+speaking of this, and feeling in his own secret soul some dim,
+undefined hopes of agreeable days to come, when the neighing of a horse
+was heard close by. Suddenly the door was opened, and a man entered, in
+whom the count recognized the solitary hunter he had seen near the old
+tree in the forest, whose countenance had appeared so dreadful to him
+in the pale moonlight.
+
+'My dear father,' cried Giuliana, springing forward to meet him, 'guess
+whom I have to present to you! Hush!' said she to Otto, 'let us see if
+he can find out who you are.'
+
+Otto, who had been standing in the shade, now came forward towards the
+light which Giuliana held up near his face, and looked earnestly and in
+silence at Italian Franz.
+
+'What is the matter, father?' exclaimed Giuliana. 'You have turned
+deadly pale--you seem to be seized with giddiness!'
+
+'Who art thou?' cried Franz, starting back from Otto as if struck with
+sudden insanity. 'If thou art a living being, speak!--speak, and do not
+thus gaze like a spectre at me!'
+
+'Good Heavens, father! it is only Otto!' said Giuliana, anxiously, yet
+soothingly.
+
+'We take turns in being afraid of each other this evening,' said the
+count. 'For as I rode past you in the forest, Franz, I took _you_ for a
+spectre, or some awful apparition, and now you pay me the same
+compliment, I see. But how goes it, old Franz, and how are you?'
+
+'Very well, Herr Count--very well, thank you,' said Franz. 'I recognize
+you now by your voice, though it has, of course, become much deeper
+than when I heard it last. So it was you who rode past me down yonder,
+near the lake, upon that fiery horse? I was standing wrapt up in my own
+thoughts, when suddenly a horseman sprang forward from among the trees,
+and, passing me in wild haste, vanished speedily from my sight. By the
+glimpse I had of him, I thought his face was not altogether unknown to
+me, but I should as soon have expected to have seen the Wild Huntsman,
+or a ghost, as you, Herr Count.'
+
+'Am I so much changed?' asked the count. 'I can now quite recognize you
+again, Franz, although you certainly look a little older. And
+Giuliana's eyes shine like a pair of well-remembered stars from my
+childhood's heaven. I believe I am as tall as my father was, and I am
+thought very like him.'
+
+'I can't see any very strong resemblance,' said Franz, turning away
+from him. 'But has the count had no refreshment, Giuliana? Move that
+light a little farther off, it hurts my eyes; sit down, Herr Count, and
+let us be merry. I have still a flask of old Syracuse--we shall empty
+that together to the health of your mother, the noble countess.'
+
+'I wear this mourning for her,' said Otto, suppressing his emotion.
+'Three months ago, at Toplitz, she was released from her long-continued
+sufferings.'
+
+'Dead!' exclaimed Franz, and covered his face with his hands. 'You
+come, perhaps, Herr Count, as the envoy of the dead, and bring me a
+word of farewell; or, more probably, she has latterly forgotten Jæger
+Franz. She has had no communication with me for ten long years.'
+
+'My dying mother sent this ring to your daughter, said Otto, handing to
+Giuliana a gold ring, with a little diamond cross on it. On the inside
+of the ring was engraved, 'Keep watch over your soul, and pray for the
+dead.'
+
+'I have a few words to say to you, Franz, when we are alone.'
+
+'Go, my daughter, and fetch us some wine,' said Franz, bending the
+while a scrutinizing look upon Otto, yet trying to appear quite at his
+ease, though a degree of nervousness and anxiety in his countenance and
+demeanour proved that he was not so.
+
+Giuliana left the room; and after a moment's silence, which seemed
+embarrassing to them both, Otto took Italian Franz's hand, and said:
+
+'You must solve an enigma for me, which embitters my remembrance of my
+mother's last hours. She suffered exceedingly, but I think not so much
+from bodily as from mental pain. In the last interview I had with her,
+when I hoped she would have opened her mind to me, and have cast off
+the burden of some secret which seemed to oppress her heart, it was
+almost too late; she could scarcely speak, but she pronounced your
+name, and said, in a trembling voice, "Go to him, and ask him if _that_
+be true about which I have never ventured to ask him, and which, for
+full fifteen years past, like a frightful suspicion, has haunted my
+soul--ask him, for the sake of my eternal salvation, if--"'
+
+'If what?' demanded Franz, springing up from his seat.
+
+'I could not understand another word; she was dying, and her speech was
+very imperfect. Suddenly a convulsive fit came on, and in a moment she
+was gone. It is now, alas! too late to obtain, for _her_ peace, an
+answer to the mysterious question; but for the sake of my own peace, I
+would claim it. Tell me, Franz, what is it you know which made my
+mother so miserable on her death-bed?'
+
+'And did she really and truly say nothing more?' asked Franz, with a
+relieved look.
+
+'Not another word. But you must tell me the rest.'
+
+'Thank your God that you have escaped hearing more, Herr Count! I will
+carry to my grave what I know; it would be good neither for you nor for
+myself, were I to disclose it.'
+
+'You shall, though,' cried the count, grasping his short sword. 'I will
+know it, or--'
+
+'Act as you please, Herr Count,' said Franz, coldly, and without
+appearing to be in the least intimidated by the threat. 'You would be
+doing me a service by putting an end to a life which I care not to
+hold; but no power on earth shall wring from me one word I do not
+choose to utter.'
+
+The coolness of Franz checked the rising anger of the young man.
+
+'Forgive my impetuosity, Franz,' he said, in a lower tone; 'your
+firmness and your calm demeanour put me to shame; I have no right to
+insist on any explanation from you. But I shall remain for a little
+while in this neighbourhood; we shall probably meet often, and when you
+are convinced of the great importance it is to me to discover what you
+now think advisable to conceal, perhaps you will change your
+determination.'
+
+'I doubt that,' replied Franz. 'If you were a holy priest, Herr Count,
+and belonged to the true church, in which alone salvation can be found,
+but which is proscribed hereabouts, it would be another thing.'
+
+'It is, then, a matter of conscience, Franz, about which my mother--'
+
+'Think what you will of me, Herr Count, but do not implicate your
+mother! Whatever she may have fancied, and whatever account I may have
+to render to Him who will judge every soul, and the actions of every
+being, at the great day of doom--for the sake of your own peace of mind
+seek not to dive into the mystery of my gloomy fate; enough that it
+casts a dark shadow over my life. For Giuliana's sake, let me also
+entreat of you to keep this conversation secret from her, and if you do
+not wish to destroy the childish simplicity and peace of that
+unfortunate girl, leave us as soon as you possibly can, that she may
+not witness such scenes between you and myself.'
+
+'I have a plan in regard to Giuliana, Franz, which I shall tell you
+to-morrow. To-night I do not feel in spirits to enter on the subject.
+Farewell!'
+
+So saying, the young count left him, and when Giuliana entered shortly
+after with the wine, she found her father alone, and asked why Count
+Otto had gone away in such a hurry, and without even bidding her
+farewell.
+
+'He had business to attend to, my child,' replied her father; 'but he
+intends to remain at Soröe to-night, and he will pay us another visit
+before he goes away.'
+
+'What! is he going away so soon?' sighed Giuliana. 'I thought he meant
+to have stayed some time among us.'
+
+'Have you, then, much pleasure in the thought of seeing him, my
+daughter?' asked Franz.
+
+'Oh yes, yes! he is my dear old playfellow, and it seems to me as if we
+had always known each other. If he had not been so tall, and also a
+count, a nobleman of high rank, I would actually have embraced him when
+he came in so suddenly, and told me he was little Otto.'
+
+'Never forget, my child, to behave to him with the respectful distance
+which becomes the difference between his situation and ours,' said
+Franz gravely, and fell into a gloomy mood.
+
+In the hope of enlivening him, Giuliana took up the little Italian
+mandolin which her father had brought from her native land, and sang,
+in the language of that foreign country, Franz's favourite song, which
+ran as follows:--
+
+
+                 'If life's joys thou wouldst find,
+                  'Twere well oft to be blind,
+              Let the changeful hours roll as they may.
+                  The stranger who goes,
+                  Where the summer wind blows,
+              Dreads to think of a dark wintry day.
+
+                 'The stranger who goes,
+                  Where the summer wind blows,
+              Dreams that brightness and beauty shall last.
+                  But too oft as he strays,
+                  Where life's fountain plays,
+              He turns with regret to the past.
+
+                 'Yet sometimes he strays,
+                  Where life's fountain plays,
+              And pleasures unfading are met.
+                  Where the balmy breeze sighs,
+                  'Neath the soft Southern skies,
+              His soul can all sorrow forget!'
+
+
+The next day Count Otto came again. Contrary to his usual custom, Franz
+remained at home, and he sought, by lively conversation and jovial
+manners, to efface the remembrance of the painful scene of the previous
+evening. He seemed determined to entertain his guest himself without
+any assistance from Giuliana, with whom Otto had, therefore, very
+little communication. Thus several days passed, yet the young count did
+not seem to think of his departure, although Franz often reminded him
+of it by drinking to his safe journey home.
+
+Otto no longer doubted that Franz had observed the impression which the
+beautiful Giuliana had made upon him, and at the same time he became
+more watchful of his own feelings. Upon reflection, he allowed to
+himself that the father was acting wisely in wishing to check a passion
+which, if it were implanted and nourished in the heart of the lovely
+Giuliana, might cause, on account of the difference in their rank and
+station in life, great unhappiness to both. For several days he battled
+with himself, and several times he resolved to go away at once, and to
+give up the plan about Giuliana, which he had not yet communicated to
+her father. This plan would indeed gratify her long-cherished desire to
+visit her dear native land, but it would necessarily place her and him
+in a position which might be dangerous to the peace of both, unless he
+could sacrifice for her the opinions of his family, and the prejudices
+inherent to his standing in life. The longer he considered the matter,
+the more he felt convinced that the situation he proposed her filling
+was far beneath Giuliana. After all, he was his own master, and _he_
+valued mind, beauty, and amiable disposition more than all the
+genealogical trees and worm-eaten patents of nobility that ever
+existed.
+
+Notwithstanding all her father's efforts to prevent Giuliana from being
+much with the count, he met her frequently by accident, and often saw
+her when Franz's occupations obliged him to be absent, and it was not
+long before he perceived that the interest she took in him, and the
+attention she paid him, sprang from something more than mere good will,
+or simple childish affection. She tried, indeed, to obey her father's
+directions, and to be distant and respectful; she called him, as she
+had been desired, 'Herr Count,' and always corrected herself when the
+familiar 'Otto' trembled on her lips. Yet, from a thousand little
+circumstances, the said Otto could not fail to see that he was very
+dear to her, and when his departure was mentioned, it was evident that
+she tried in vain to conceal her distress at the idea of his going.
+
+One evening, on returning home, Franz found Count Otto at the forest
+lodge, where he was sitting close to Giuliana, reading some beautiful
+old ballads to her; the sight of their intimacy displeased him, and by
+way of reminding the count of his long-delayed journey, he asked what
+day of the month it was.
+
+'It is the second of November,' replied Otto; whereupon Franz, who for
+some weeks past seemed to have dismissed all his old sad thoughts, and
+had been always cheerful, often in a gay humour, became suddenly silent
+and gloomy. In a minute or two he rose with a grave air, and entering
+the little side-room, which he had fitted up as an oratory, he locked
+himself in. As he did not come back, Otto asked Giuliana what could
+detain him so long there.
+
+'This is All Souls' Day,' she replied; 'my father did not remember it
+until you mentioned the day of the month. He keeps _this_ day more
+strictly than any of the other fasts or festivals of the Church. He
+always passes it in fasting and prayer. I shall not see him again until
+about this time tomorrow evening.'
+
+'Who would have thought that Jæger Franz was so pious?' said Otto. 'For
+some days after my arrival he scarcely gave me an opportunity of saying
+one serious word, he was so full of mirth and pleasantry.'
+
+'My father's humours are very changeable now-a-days,' sighed Giuliana,
+'and I am certain he would be happier if he did not get into such wild
+spirits sometimes. These strange fits of gaiety are generally succeeded
+by moods of deep dejection. Do you remember,' she continued, 'the
+evening that you arrived--'
+
+'Let us not think of that evening,' cried Otto, interrupting her, while
+his countenance darkened at the recollection of the dreadful secret
+which he had come on purpose to discover, but his anxiety about which
+had given way to the new and softer feelings which his daily
+intercourse with the beautiful Giuliana had awakened in his heart. He
+tried in vain to recover his equanimity of manner, and finding that
+even _her_ society could not, that evening, chase away the gloom that
+was stealing over his mind, he took his leave earlier than usual.
+
+When Count Otto returned the next evening, he found that Franz had not
+yet made his appearance, and that Giuliana was very uneasy at his long
+self-imprisonment; but she did not dare to knock at the door, or in any
+way to intrude on his solitude. At length the door of the oratory was
+slowly opened, and Franz came out of it, but so altered in appearance
+as scarcely to be recognized. There was such agony in the expression of
+his wild, almost livid face, that he looked like one who might be
+supposed to have died in a state of despair, and arisen from the grave
+because he could find no rest there.
+
+'But, dear Franz, what strange whim induces you to do such terrible
+penance?' asked Otto, with a mixed feeling in his own mind of horror
+and compassion.
+
+Giuliana made a sign to him to be silent, while she quickly, yet
+quietly, set about getting something to revive and strengthen her
+father. It was not until he had drunk a whole flask of wine that he
+seemed to recover his consciousness, and to observe who was in the
+room.
+
+'What, you still here, Herr Count?' he said, turning to Otto. 'I
+thought you had gone long ago. I have been ill, as you may perceive,
+and my memory is not quite clear yet, but I shall soon be better. Some
+good wine and the fresh air will speedily set me to rights. Will you
+hunt with me to-morrow?'
+
+'Oh yes, with pleasure,' replied Otto, who treated him almost as if he
+were a lunatic, who must be coaxed and humoured. Before he left the
+lodge, however, that evening, Franz had quite recovered himself, and
+was as talkative and lively as usual.
+
+'I have done penance long enough,' said he, as he emptied glass after
+glass of wine. 'Let us be merry now, as long as we can.'
+
+The next day they rode out hunting together. On their way homewards
+Giuliana became the subject of their conversation, and Otto praised her
+warmly, and commended Franz for the care he had taken in educating her
+so well, and in cultivating her natural taste for all that was grand
+and beautiful. 'But,' he added, 'what sort of abode is a forester's
+lonely cottage for such a superior girl? Such a jewel would adorn a
+crown, and is too good to be thrown away among low people, or hidden in
+obscurity. She is fitted to shine in a much higher station of life.'
+
+'I pray you not to put any such nonsense into the girl's head, count,'
+replied Franz. 'I see that you like her, but she can never be a
+countess; and if you say one syllable to her touching upon love or
+admiration, I shall be compelled to make it my earnest request to you
+to give up coming to my house.'
+
+'But if I now ask her hand, Franz--'
+
+'Are you mad, Herr Count?' said Franz, stopping his horse, and looking
+inquiringly at him. 'If things have really come to this pass, I must
+only warn you, Herr Count, that you will have to put up with my society
+alone for the future, should you continue to honour us with your
+visits, for hereafter I shall lock Giuliana up out of your way.'
+
+'But if she herself, as I hope--'
+
+'So much the worse,' cried Franz, interrupting him. 'She shall _never_
+be yours, Herr Count; rather than that, I would bury her in a convent,
+if I could find one here.'
+
+'But what are your reasons?'
+
+'I am the girl's father, and do not choose to give my consent; if that
+is not a sufficient reason, fancy any one you please. Cast a glance at
+your genealogy, and see how well a woodman's daughter would look among
+such a noble assemblage. Doves may not mate with eagles--that is _my_
+opinion. Breathe not a single word about love to Giuliana, Herr Count;
+not a single whisper. Promise me this, upon your honour, or you shall
+never see her again.'
+
+'Well,' replied Otto, 'for the present I cannot escape giving you the
+promise you require; but you must, and shall, withdraw your
+unreasonable objections.'
+
+'Never, as long as I live. Nothing can make me alter my decision while
+I have life; and when I am dead, perhaps you will change your mind
+yourself.'
+
+After this conversation, Otto determined, as soon as possible, to tear
+himself away from the vicinity of the beautiful Giuliana, that he might
+not be tempted to break the promise her singular father had wrung from
+him; but he also resolved, in the course of a very few years--under, he
+hoped, more propitious circumstances--to return, and seek future
+happiness in a marriage with the beautiful girl, to whom, he now felt
+convinced, his whole soul was bound by the most delightful and
+indissoluble of chains, and from whom, he thought, that only an absurd
+and obstinate whim was the cause of his present needless separation. He
+had not, as yet, said a single syllable to Giuliana of his feelings for
+her; but she had not failed to read them in his amorous glances, and
+perceived them in the warm interest he took in her, and in his pleasure
+at the congeniality of their minds and tastes. That she seemed to find
+new life in his society, that he had made a deep impression on her
+heart, and that her sentiments were an echo of his, were evident to him
+also; he saw that a word, a breath from his lips, of love, would
+develop the sweet feeling of affection, which she scarcely understood
+herself, and cause the opening rosebud to burst into the full-blown
+charming flower. If that word were not to be spoken, Otto knew that he
+must fly from the lovely girl. But he was angry at himself for not
+having resisted the opposition he had encountered from selfish tyranny,
+and for having bound himself by a promise, which he could not break
+without creating disunion and unhappiness in a family circle; a
+proceeding from which he shrank, even though he believed that despotic
+and unjust authority was exercised on one side. He determined, however,
+once more to endeavour to make Franz yield to his wishes; and while
+waiting for an opportunity of doing this, an event occurred which
+materially changed the face of affairs.
+
+The celebrated painter, Carl van Mander, who was invited by Christian
+IV. from the Netherlands, to improve the arts in Denmark, resided for
+some time at Soröe, where he painted an altar-piece for the church. He
+was an ardent lover and studier of nature, and was anxious always to
+give truthful design and colouring to his pictures. This caused him
+often to introduce real portraits into his historical or Scripture
+pieces, and whenever he beheld a striking countenance he hastened to
+make a sketch of it, which he afterwards worked up to suit different
+subjects.
+
+Thus the countenance of Italian Franz had often almost terrified him
+when he met him accidentally in the woods, and on one occasion he had
+seized an opportunity of sketching him while they were both sitting,
+among other chance visitors, in a little tavern to which the painter
+sometimes resorted for the purpose of seeing a variety of faces.
+Without considering that there might be any harm in so doing, the
+painter transferred the likeness of Franz to his altar-piece for the
+church of Soröe. The artist had gone, and the picture was put up in its
+proper place in church. Everyone, from far and near, hastened to see
+it, and Carl van Mander's 'Last Supper' was pronounced a masterpiece.
+
+Italian Franz seldom attended church; he liked the doctrine of
+absolution, and the rites of the Roman Catholic Church, which he had
+joined in Italy; and there being none within reach of his residence, he
+had fitted up an oratory in his own house. When he felt indisposed, or
+his gloomy fits came on, he often lamented that no Catholic priest was
+near to give him absolution, or to administer extreme unction to him
+when he should be at the point of death. At such periods of excited
+feelings he would lock himself into his oratory, and, as he had no
+priest to whom to make his shrift, he would write his confessions in
+secret, with injunctions that the document should not be opened until
+after his death. He had often thought of taking a journey to the
+capital to see a priest, but had always put it off, and sometimes he
+seemed to forget altogether that he had anything to confess.
+
+Franz had acquired in Italy a taste for the arts--he had become fond of
+paintings; therefore, when he heard that the new altar-piece was
+finished and hung up in the church, he felt a wish to see it, and
+agreed to accompany Count Otto to the morning service one Sunday. They
+entered just as the clergyman was finishing his sermon. He had been
+endeavouring to awaken to a sense of their sins the souls around him;
+and with fervent eloquence was likening those careless Christians, who
+heard the Word but did not obey it--who acknowledged Christ with their
+lips, but denied him in their actions--to Judas Iscariot, who, with a
+kiss, betrayed his kind Lord and Master.
+
+Franz started at these last words. At that very moment his eyes fell on
+the altar-piece, in which he instantly beheld his own likeness in the
+face of Judas Iscariot, who sat like a traitor amidst the holy group.
+
+'Yes, I am Judas!' he shrieked, in accents of agonized despair. 'Do you
+not all see that I am Judas? Why do ye not curse me? Why do ye not
+stone me? I am Judas--the execrable Judas!
+
+The entire congregation turned and looked with horror at the frantic
+being, who stood like a maniac, his whole countenance fearfully
+distorted, gazing wildly at the picture over the altar, and who, at the
+first sound of the organ, rushed out of the church with a piercing cry,
+as if its deep tones had sounded on his ear like the last trumpet's
+blast.
+
+Otto was so overwhelmed with astonishment at this extraordinary scene,
+that he stood for a time as if nailed to the floor of the church. When
+he remembered himself, and hastened after the unfortunate Franz, whom
+he now sincerely believed to be deranged in his intellects, and who, he
+feared, might commit self-destruction in his access of insanity, that
+individual was nowhere to be found. After he had in vain sought for him
+in the town, he decided on taking the road to the forest lodge, to see
+if he were there, and to prepare Giuliana to hear of the calamity, the
+existence of which he thought could no longer be doubted. As he pursued
+his way in much anxiety, a terrible suspicion crossed his mind--a
+dread, which Franz's strange conduct, and his last astounding outbreak,
+rendered but too likely to be realized. When, on following the path to
+the left through the wood, he approached the shores of the lake, he
+beheld a crowd of peasants gathering round a tree, on which some
+miserable person had hanged himself, but whom, in their terror at the
+sight, and their horror of a suicide, they had not attempted to cut
+down.
+
+It was Italian Franz, who thus fearfully had carried out his insane
+fancy that he was Judas, and who had put an end to himself in this
+dreadful manner. Count Otto had the body cut down instantly, and he
+resorted to every means of restoring animation, but in vain, for life
+was quite extinct. With many entreaties, and considerable bribes, Otto
+at length prevailed on some of the peasants to remove the corpse, at
+dusk, to the town, where it was quietly buried in the churchyard, and
+the affair was hushed up as much as possible.
+
+Giuliana was sitting alone at the forest lodge when Count Otto entered,
+and broke to her, cautiously and kindly, the sad intelligence of her
+father's sudden death; but he considerately withheld from her the
+knowledge of the mode of his death, as well as the strange scene in the
+church. But when she insisted on seeing the body, and was told that it
+was already consigned to the grave, she herself suspected what Otto had
+taken such pains to conceal from her. Her tears then flowed in silence,
+and in silence she prayed, with her whole soul, to the Almighty for the
+salvation in eternity of her unhappy parent.
+
+While Giuliana sat absorbed in her sorrow, Otto, who had constituted
+himself the guardian and adviser of the orphan girl, undertook the duty
+of looking through the papers of her late father. During his search
+among them, he found, in a hidden drawer, the secret confession, which
+the unfortunate deceased had written in his moments of wretchedness and
+self-upbraiding. He carried it privately away with him, and read it
+when quite alone.
+
+When Giuliana met Otto again, she almost forgot her own grief in her
+distress at the deep affliction which she saw in his countenance. She
+anxiously inquired if he were ill, and she forced herself to battle
+against her own dejection in order to cheer him, and restore peace and
+happiness to his heart. But the more warmly and affectionately she
+showed him her sympathy and solicitude--the nearer their common sorrow
+seemed to bring their hearts, and to accelerate the moment, when their
+deep, though unconfessed mutual attachment need no longer be pent up,
+but all, of which neither could doubt, might be openly admitted--the
+more unaccountable became Otto's melancholy and singular conduct. He
+avoided all intimate conversation. He assumed a measured calmness of
+manner, and a degree of distance in his communication with her, which
+she would have believed to arise from coldness, indifference, or a
+narrow-minded regard to their different positions in life, had she not
+before observed such unmistakable marks of his love for her, and known
+how little he cared for the distinctions of rank, and how capable he
+was of overcoming all such obstacles if he pleased.
+
+'I can no longer delay my departure,' he said to her one day, when the
+constraint which prevailed between them was most painful to both; 'but
+I am not now going to Italy--America is my destination.' He then
+entreated the astonished Giuliana to accept of a large portion of his
+fortune, in order to secure her from all pecuniary adversity in the
+future, and which would enable her to purchase a small property in the
+country, or to reside in the capital with a respectable family, to whom
+she was related, and who would receive her kindly.
+
+Giuliana could hardly suppress her tears, but she forced herself to
+smile, while she declined any assistance.
+
+'I thank you, Herr Count,' she said, with composure--'I thank you much
+for the sympathizing kindness you, unasked, have shown me. I have but
+one wish in this world, and that is to see my native country again.
+Here I cannot live, and if you have any benevolent desire to benefit
+me, Herr Count, have the goodness to procure for me a situation as
+waiting-maid, or in some other capacity, in a family who are going to
+Italy. You once yourself proposed this; and I venture to hope that
+perhaps you will, if possible, indulge me in my dearest wish, now that
+I am left a solitary being in the world.'
+
+'Well, then,' said the count, after a moment's reflection, 'since your
+longing to revisit your native country is so strong that you cannot
+live happily anywhere else, I will myself accompany you thither, and we
+shall adopt my original plan. You shall travel as companion to my aunt,
+and go with her and her children to Rome and Naples, where I shall see
+you safely settled in some agreeable family circle before I set off on
+my more distant voyage.'
+
+Giuliana's childish delight at the hope of seeing the much-loved land
+of her birth could not, however, overcome her deep, secret sorrow at
+the alteration which had taken place in Count Otto; and her wounded
+feelings would not permit her to accept of his offer, for her sake, to
+relinquish for a time the visit to another continent, on which he had
+so recently determined. She entreated him, therefore, earnestly not to
+delay his voyage, but allow her to attend his aunt and her children,
+without himself accompanying them.
+
+But he had made up his mind to go, and he told her that, without _his_
+escort, his aunt would not undertake to travel so far as Italy.
+
+All was soon prepared for the journey. The aunt was informed of the
+count's plan for Giuliana, to which, fortunately, she was willing to
+agree. In a few days afterwards she made her appearance in her
+travelling carriage at the door of the principal hotel at Soröe; the
+count met her there, and took her and her children to the forest lodge,
+where they were introduced to their travelling companion, who
+immediately joined them, and who soon made a favourable impression on
+them all by her beauty and sweetness of manners.
+
+The aunt had conjectured that there was some love affair between the
+young count and the pretty daughter of the sub-ranger, in whose
+neighbourhood he had remained so long, and she fancied that, in order
+to escape the taunts and gibes of the other members of his family, her
+nephew intended to marry Giuliana in a foreign country. Rumour had not
+failed to busy itself in the capital, by assigning a reason for the
+count's stay at Soröe. Poor Giuliana had been described sometimes as a
+simple peasant girl, who had allowed herself to be deluded by the gay
+count, and who believed his fine speeches, mistaking them for more
+honest ware; sometimes as an artful, half-Italian wood-nymph, who,
+under the mask of modesty and virtue, had enticed the hoodwinked young
+count into a snare, from which he could not escape.
+
+His aunt had not troubled herself much about all this gossip; she
+educated her children herself, and had only accepted Giuliana's
+companionship because the count had made _that_ the condition of his
+escort, without which she would not have liked to have ventured on so
+long a journey.
+
+Now, however, she was very curious to ascertain the exact nature of
+their connection, and found, to her great surprise, that they
+themselves avoided that degree of intimacy and freedom in behaviour
+which travelling together almost rendered necessary; and that, far from
+seeking each other, they rather seemed to shun every opportunity of
+being near each other, even though these often occurred by accident. On
+the other hand, she could not but remark the anxious attention, nay,
+even devotion, with which the count forestalled every wish of Giuliana;
+and the quiet, retiring manner in which she sought to take her place as
+an inferior among the travelling party, although in mind and manners
+fitted to be their equal. The expression of patient sadness in her
+countenance, which neither her youthful pleasure at approaching
+Italy, nor the enlivening effect of the frequent changes of scene
+during a long journey, seemed to chase away, soon won the heart of the
+good-natured baroness; and she was pleased to see that Giuliana had
+also become a favourite with her children. The young girl seemed to be
+always more at ease and more cheerful in the count's absence than when
+he was present. Giuliana had taken her mandolin with her in the
+carriage, and she often amused the children by playing on it, and
+singing for them. When they stopped at the different inns, and she was
+alone in her own room in the evening, the baroness sometimes heard her
+playing and singing there also, but not the lively airs she sang in the
+carriage. Her songs were all expressive of deep sadness, and if the
+baroness entered her room unexpectedly, she generally found the sweet
+songstress with tears in her eyes.
+
+The count's melancholy surprised his aunt still more, as he had always
+been remarkable for his gaiety and high spirits. He would now sit for
+hours in the carriage without uttering a syllable, and when they were
+all enjoying themselves at the evening's repast, after the fatigues of
+the day, he would often start up and leave them, complaining of a
+violent headache.
+
+However, when they had crossed the Simplon, and were descending into
+the paradise of Giuliana's dreams--when they beheld the rich plains
+where the vines festooned themselves gracefully around the elms--where
+the lovely lakes were studded with beautifully wooded islets, and the
+lofty hills reared their blue summits to the skies, all gloomy thoughts
+seemed to have vanished, and everyone gazed with delight on the
+enchanting view. Giuliana clapped her hands in her transport of joy,
+and seizing Otto's hand, she pressed it to her heart, while she
+exclaimed:
+
+'May God bless and reward you, dear count! I shall never cease to thank
+you for affording me yonder sight, and this happy moment!'
+
+Tears sprang to Otto's eyes, and throwing his arm round her, he pressed
+her suddenly with impetuosity to his heart; but as if frightened at
+this unpremeditated act, he immediately afterwards got out of the
+carriage, and thenceforth took a seat on the outside, where, he said,
+he could have a better view of the country.
+
+This scene in the carriage, of which the baroness had been a witness,
+fully convinced her of Otto's suppressed passion for Giuliana; and soon
+after their arrival at Florence, some words spoken to herself in her
+own apartment by Giuliana, in which Otto was named in terms of deep
+attachment--and the words of a song which she sang in her solitude, all
+of which had been overheard by the baroness--proved to her that the
+same sentiments pervaded both their hearts, though both seemed to wish
+to conceal their feelings.
+
+She had, in consequence, a serious conversation with Otto, and urged
+him to explain what was the reason of his conduct, and why he seemed
+thus to seek and to repress the poor girl's affection.
+
+In reply, he placed before her the confession of Italian Franz, and
+then hastened out to order post-horses for Leghorn, where the American
+ship, by which he had engaged a passage, was lying almost ready to
+sail.
+
+The baroness shut herself up in her own chamber, and read:
+
+'I, Franz Ebbeson, born September--, anno Domini 1--, and, when this
+shall be read, dead, as I hope, in sincere repentance, and trusting to
+mercy hereafter, confess and make known, that in my irregular youthful
+days I burdened my soul with fearful sins, for which I pray that the
+mediation and 'good offices of the Holy Church may be granted,
+therewith to obtain pardon for me at the great day of judgment.
+
+'For some years I attended the noble family of R--ske while they were
+travelling and residing in Italy. The count was very kind to me, and
+raised me from the situation of his servant to that almost of a friend.
+But, notwithstanding his goodness, I betrayed and wronged him, out of a
+criminal love for his beautiful wife. In his absence on a scientific
+tour in Sicily and the coast of Barbary, which lasted nearly two years,
+during which he had left his family to my care at Naples, T took
+advantage of the weakness and the kind condescension of the young
+countess. At the time of the count's return, the consequences of the
+countess's and my faithlessness were too evident; and she pretended
+illness to screen herself. The count, almost immediately after his
+arrival, was taken ill, and I was the only one whom he would allow to
+attend him. In my wretchedness at having plunged myself and the
+countess into a misfortune which would lead to inevitable disgrace, the
+Wicked One inspired me with a horrible thought--a dreadful temptation
+that my sinful soul could not chase away; and when I ought to have
+mixed a few drops of laudanum with the medicine the poor count was to
+take, my hand trembled, and more than a hundred drops fell into it. I
+was going to throw the medicine away, but it seemed as if Satan seized
+my hand, and--I carried the deadly mixture to my unfortunate master.
+
+'"God reward you for your kind attention to me, Franz," he exclaimed;
+and he speedily fell into that deep sleep from which he never more was
+to awaken. For fifteen years I have borne alone the burden of this
+guilty secret, of which neither the repentant countess, nor her and my
+daughter Giuliana, had the slightest knowledge, though perhaps during
+our last journey together, the countess might have suspected it. On All
+Souls' Day--the day of my ill-requited master's death--I have for ten
+years past devoted myself to praying for his eternal salvation. On that
+solemn day may some purer spirit pray for me, and may God have mercy on
+my sinful soul!'
+
+The paper fell from the hands of the baroness, but she instantly caught
+it up, and destroyed it.
+
+'Then they are half-sister and brother!' she exclaimed. And she
+understood what had seemed poor Otto's strange conduct.
+
+But did Giuliana know it also?
+
+At that moment a letter was brought to her from the young count, in
+which he entreated her to conceal from Giuliana what it would be better
+she should never know, and to treat her with motherly kindness for his
+sake. He added, that he had himself provided for her future comfort in
+pecuniary matters. There was, however, a little note addressed to
+Giuliana enclosed, which he requested should only be given to her if it
+were necessary to calm her grief for his departure.
+
+A few days after he had left them, Giuliana became extremely ill and
+the baroness, thinking it was better she should know the truth, handed
+her Otto's farewell letter, which ran as follows:
+
+
+'EVER-BELOVED SISTER,--In this world we must separate, but yonder,
+where bride and bridegroom are as sister and brother, where there are
+no ties of blood, you will find the fond and faithful spirit, which is
+eternally bound to you, before Him who is Lord of the living and the
+dead.'
+
+
+Giuliana outlived her grief for being separated from Otto, and learned
+to love him as an angel whom she would meet in future at the holy gates
+of the heavenly paradise. She retired into a convent dedicated to the
+Virgin Mary, and never forgot, on All Souls' Day, to pray for the
+repose of her unhappy father's spirit.
+
+Count Otto returned no more to Europe. He died in a skirmish with some
+savage Indians. But by his papers which were sent to his family, it was
+evident that, unlike the more tranquil Giuliana, he had never overcome
+his unfortunate passion, but had carried that fatal attachment in its
+full force to his distant grave.
+
+
+
+
+                     LISETTE'S CASTLES IN THE AIR.
+
+                    FROM THE DANISH OF H. P. HOLST.
+
+
+I have always considered a garret as one of the most poetical abodes on
+earth. Ye happy beings who, from that lofty altitude, can look down
+upon the paltry bustle of the world, do ye not also appreciate the
+advantages which ye possess? Envy not those whose cradles were rocked
+in palaces or gilded saloons, for their good fortune cannot be compared
+to yours. In these airy regions peace and freedom reign. Ye are
+surrounded with the purest atmosphere--ye have but to throw open your
+elevated casements to inhale the clear, fresh air, whilst the rich
+beneath you, in their close chambers, seek eagerly for one breath of it
+to refresh them, and assist their stifled respiration. No prying
+opposite neighbour watches you, or disturbs your peace: there is
+nothing except the swallow which builds its nest upon the roof, or the
+linnet that flutters before your window, and greets you with its song.
+Ye are raised far above all human misery, for none of it is apparent to
+your eye; the manifold sounds of the busy street--the itinerant
+vendor's varied cries--the rumbling of carriages and carts, scarcely
+reach your ears. Ah, happy tenants of those lofty regions! how
+frequently, and with what magnetic power, do ye not draw my glances
+upwards towards you!
+
+Far up yonder--high--high--mounting towards the clouds--where the
+rosebush and the white curtains adorn the window, lives a little
+milliner girl, about seventeen years of age. Courteous reader, if you
+are not shocked at the idea of ascending that steep staircase, and
+these innumerable steps, we will visit her together. Be not afraid!
+Your reputation shall not suffer--I shall cast Peter Schlemil's cap
+over you--you shall see all, and be yourself unseen. You will! Then
+follow me, but be silent and discreet; it is a charming girl whom we
+are going to see.
+
+We enter--hush! Make no noise, for Heaven's sake; Lisette is occupied.
+At this moment she is busy trying on, before the mirror, a bonnet of
+the newest fashion, which she has just finished making. This is one of
+the most important incidents in a milliner's life. It is to her of as
+much consequence as his pieces are to a dramatic writer; with every new
+bonnet which _she_ has constructed--with every new play which _he_ has
+composed--comes the deep anxiety, whether the work shall add another
+blossom to the garland of their fame, or shall despoil them of their
+_renommée_. Let us not disturb her, but rather let us take a survey of
+the little apartment which contains all her treasures.
+
+If your eye be accustomed to rest on silken tapestry, rich carpets,
+elegant toilet, and costly work-tables, these principal embellishments
+of a young lady's boudoir, I would advise you somewhat to lower your
+ideas, for Lisette possesses none of these, nor does she feel the want
+of them. All that belongs to her is simple and frugal, but scrupulously
+clean and neat. The ceiling and the walls rival in whiteness the snowy
+coverlet which is spread over her couch. Near this stands a wardrobe,
+in which hang two dresses and a shawl; and on a chair close by lie a
+couple of caps and a straw hat, trimmed with gay ribbons. These form
+her little stock of habiliments. A large oaken table occupies the
+centre of the room; it is covered with pieces of _crêpe_, silk, satin,
+artificial flowers, plaits of straw, patterns, a knife, and a pair of
+scissors. These are all her store, and all her apparatus. On a plain
+chiffonier lie a Psalm-book, a well-worn romance of Sir Walter Scott,
+some songs, and a little pamphlet, entitled 'The Ladies' Magic and
+Dream Book.' These comprise her whole library. I had nearly forgotten
+the most valuable article among her furniture--yon old lounging-chair,
+covered with morocco leather: I call it the most valuable, for _it_ was
+her only heirloom from her forefathers. A mirror is suspended over the
+chiffonier, before which Lisette is standing, fully engaged in taking a
+survey of herself. There is no mistaking the smile that is playing
+around her lips--the light that is beaming from her eyes. The critical
+examination has been satisfactory, and she is pleased with her own
+handiwork. And well may she be so; for the tasteful white silk bonnet
+casts a soft shade over her brow of ivory, and the rose-coloured
+_crêpe_ with which it is trimmed seems pale when compared to her
+blooming cheek. I could venture to wager a thousand to one that
+Lisette's face is a hundred times prettier than that of the fair dame
+or damsel for whom this bonnet is intended. Doubtless this idea has
+struck _her_ also; see, she hastens to her wardrobe, and takes from it
+her light green shawl. She throws it around her shoulders, arranges it
+in graceful folds over her slender throat and fairy form, turns to the
+glass and contemplates herself, first on one side, then on the other,
+and laughs in the glee of her heart.
+
+Brava, Lisette--brava! Hark! she sings--
+
+
+           'For a country girl I surely may
+              Look on myself with some small pride;
+            Alonzo--yes! all the world will say,
+              Thou hast chosen a nice little bride.'
+
+
+At that moment she fancies she hears some one knock at her door. In the
+twinkling of an eye everything is put in due order; the shawl is hung
+on the peg in its proper place, the bonnet laid conspicuously on the
+table, and 'Come in' is answered to the summons. 'Come in, Ludvig,' she
+repeats in a clearer voice; but Lisette must surely have been mistaken,
+for no one enters at her bidding. She goes towards the door and
+listens, she peeps through the keyhole, and finally opens the door and
+looks out, but no mortal is there.
+
+The foregoing scene is resumed: the shawl is taken again from its
+sanctum, the bonnet is replaced on her rich glossy brown hair; again
+her dark eyes shine, and again she smiles in the most captivating
+manner. Happy little Lisette! How unpretending must be her claims to
+the joys of life! A bonnet is sufficient to minister to her happiness.
+She parades up and down the room. How proudly she carries her little
+head; what fascination in her air and figure! She has that grace which
+is neither acquired nor affected; that untaught grace which nature, in
+its caprice, sometimes bestows on a milliner's girl, and denies to a
+lady of the court, or to a princess!
+
+At that moment her glance falls on the forgotten common straw hat with
+its pink ribbons, and the sight of it instantly dispels all her gaiety.
+Who now wears such a bonnet? It is quite, quite out of fashion,
+unfortunate Lisette! You--you alone are born to hide your lovely
+countenance under such a hideous shade; and not one single male being
+may behold how charmingly the modern little silk bonnet becomes you.
+Another is to enjoy the fruit of your labour, to sport the work of your
+hands, and the production of your taste and skill! Poor girl! It is
+hard, it is unjust, your sad fate is really to be pitied.
+
+With the slightest look in the world of chagrin she has cast herself
+into the leather arm-chair to take some rest after her fatigues. The
+clock has struck half-past seven, and she has been working since four
+in the morning. She can hardly repress her impatience. 'What can have
+become of Ludvig!' she exclaims to herself. 'Everything seems to
+conspire against me to-day; surely he cannot have taken it into his
+head to visit me in the forenoon, when he knows that _this_ is my
+leisure time? Why does he not come? For though he plagues me sometimes,
+and he is often vexed with me, he knows very well how glad I am to see
+him.'
+
+Lisette becomes thoughtful, and begins to meditate upon the future. Her
+position is trying enough. What signifies it to her that her
+embroidery, her flounces, her caps, are always beautiful; that her
+bonnets look quite as fashionable as those of the court milliners? She
+barely makes a maintenance, and she has an invalid mother to support.
+What prospect is there of any change in her circumstances? What good
+fortune has she to hope for in the future? She throws herself back in
+the lounging-chair, closes her eyes, and begins--_to dream_.
+
+Ah! who does not know what happy miracles take place in dreams? Real
+joys are seldom the growth of this world, and are only found by a few,
+but to compensate for their absence, by the bounty of Providence, a
+reflection of them is permitted to all mankind; for _fancy_ may, for an
+instant, bestow that happiness which never can be realized. The
+pleasures of imagination are open to all; in dreams we may taste of
+felicity, and surely none are so wretched as never in fancy to have
+known a moment of consolation and comfort.
+
+Lisette is smiling; she is not asleep, but she has closed her eyes, the
+better to enjoy her little world of phantasies and dreams. Her
+situation in life is altered. She is no longer the poor Lisette who
+must toil from day to day to supply her urgent wants, and whose
+wardrobe consists only of two or three dresses, a shawl, and a coarse
+straw hat. Oh, no; it is far different! She need no longer exert
+herself so much, and is no longer obliged to rise with the swallow,
+whose nest is near her window. She has bought silk dresses, a pretty
+bonnet, and a fashionable shawl. She has been to Charlottenlund; has
+heard the band at Frederiksberg; and wandered in the woods with her
+young friends. What magic has suddenly wrought this change in her
+destiny? She dreams it; and who would recall her from the harmless
+enjoyment of her vivid waking visions? Lisette delights in the theatre;
+she has been there twice in her life, and has seen the 'Elverhöi' and
+'King Solomon;' but she knows all the opera and vaudeville airs by
+heart, and sings them like an angel. She has just settled that she will
+take a box for the season, when she hears a knock at the door. 'Come
+in!' she exclaims, languidly; and this time it is no false alarm, for a
+waiting-maid walks in with a parcel and a bandbox. Lisette is somewhat
+annoyed at the interruption; however, she rises and asks what is
+wanted. The maid brings an old bonnet to be retrimmed for her mistress,
+and orders a new one for herself, which she desires may be ready by the
+next Sunday, when she is going out, and will call for it. She dares not
+let her mistress see it; but her lover, the mate of a ship trading to
+China, insists on her being nicely dressed. He has presented her with a
+China-crape shawl, which she begs may be allowed to remain at Lisette's
+until the important Sunday.
+
+As she is leaving the room the clock strikes eight, and Lisette
+suddenly remembers that she has not watered the rosebush, which was
+given her by Ludvig. What shameful carelessness! She hastens to perform
+the pleasing task: that in doing this her glance falls upon the
+pavement below, and that at the same moment the handsome hussar
+officer, Lieutenant W----, is passing by--surely must be the work of
+chance. He bows--it must be to the family of the Councillor of State in
+the lower story, not to the inhabitant of the poor garret up at the
+roof of the house. He casts a look up towards heaven, and sees a heaven
+in Lisette's beautiful eyes. Perhaps he was watching the clouds, and
+thinking of the weather; but his eyes sparkled like the beam of the
+noonday sun, or like two very bright stars. He lifts his hand to his
+military cap--how elegant are his movements! What a pretty compliment
+to pass unnoticed! Unnoticed? If so, what means that deep blush on
+Lisette's cheek? Is it the blush of triumphant beauty, or is it merely
+a passing tint, cast by the roses over which she is bending?
+
+Lisette busies herself with the plant, and trains its branches with
+more than usual assiduity. It would seem that she redoubled her care of
+the rosebush, by way of making up to its donor for her momentary
+faithlessness. 'I will never see him more,' said Lisette to herself; 'I
+will never come near the window again at eight o'clock. To-day I have
+done so for the last time. But why so? I am guilty of nothing--I have
+never once spoken to him; all I know is, that he always passes this way
+precisely at eight o'clock; but I have no right to think that it is on
+my account. Perhaps it is not good for my rosebush to be watered so
+late; and Ludvig is so jealous--oh, _so_ jealous! I can't imagine why;
+I am sure he has no cause for jealousy. It is too bad. Ah--these men!
+these men! They expect from us one sacrifice after another, but not the
+slightest pleasure will they allow to us.'
+
+During this monologue her eye had fallen on the parcel left by the
+waiting-maid. Her curiosity became excited to see what is in it, and
+especially what sort of a shawl the mate had bestowed upon 'that stupid
+Lena.' She stands for some time debating with herself, her eye riveted
+on the parcel; at length she determines to open it. What a beauty it
+is! No countess could have a handsomer shawl. Lisette wraps it round
+her, and betakes herself again to the glass, where she gazes at it with
+the utmost admiration, slightly tinctured perhaps with a _little_ dash
+of envy. Taking it off, and laying it on her table, she places herself
+a second time in the old leather arm-chair, and sinks back into the
+world of dreams. But it is no longer the box at the theatre that
+occupies her imagination; her head is full of the charming shawl. She
+fancies that she has one as pretty; that her plain dress is exchanged
+for another of splendid materials; that she is surrounded by admirers,
+and--little coquette that she is--that she gives them no hope, for she
+loves only Ludvig: but still, she does not quite discard them.
+
+But where is Ludvig himself all this time? Look round, and you will
+behold him now!
+
+Do you see that young man with an intelligent countenance, with bright
+speaking eyes and dark curly hair, who at this moment has entered the
+room. That is Ludvig. His open collar exhibiting his throat, and the
+rest of his somewhat fantastic costume, at once evince that he is an
+artist: but we must add that he is an artist of no ordinary talent, and
+that as a portrait-painter he is admired and sought after, he has
+closed the door softly, and stealing forward on tiptoe, he approaches
+Lisette, who, lost in her magic world of dreams, is not at all aware of
+his presence. She is leaning gracefully back in the large easy-chair,
+her eyes closed, their long dark lashes reposing on her fair soft
+cheeks, and an enchanting smile, caused by the drama of her
+imagination, playing around her rosy lips. He bends over her as if he
+would fain, from the expression of her countenance, read her unspoken
+thoughts. What a study for a painter! What an exquisite pleasure for an
+ardent lover! Ludvig can no longer merely _look_--he snatches up her
+hands, and covers them with kisses. Lisette opens her eyes. At that
+very moment she had been dreaming of him; she had refused all her other
+suitors for his sake; she had forgotten the caprice, the jealousy, the
+absurdities of which she had often accused him, and only remembered how
+happy she was to be beloved by him. Ludvig could not have arrived more
+opportunely. She reproaches him playfully for being so late, scolds him
+for keeping her waiting so long, but soon allows herself to be
+appeased. She tells him how industrious she has been, shows him the
+newly-finished bonnet, and does not omit to try it on before him--for
+she must have _his_ opinion to confirm her own. Perhaps all this may be
+called coquetry; well, allowing it to be coquetry, there is no guile or
+deceit in it. Poor Ludvig is over head and ears in love; therefore he
+is charmed with Lisette, with the bonnet, with everything. His warm
+feelings find expression in compliments such as Lisette is not
+accustomed to hear from him, and she naturally thinks him more than
+usually agreeable. They chat about their first acquaintance, the simple
+incidents of their love history, and '_Do you remember when?_'--'_Do
+you recollect that time?_'--these phrases, so often introduced into the
+colloquies of lovers, pass and repass from their lips; they dwell, not
+only on their past reminiscences, but on their future hopes, and above
+all, on their mutual affection, that theme which never seems to become
+wearisome, and the variations to which appear to be endless. Lisette
+then relates her day-dreams and her castles in the air--at least a part
+of them, as much as she thinks Ludvig can bear to hear, but even that
+part seems to displease him, for an ominous shake of his head, as he
+listens to her, does not escape her observation.
+
+'Good Heavens!' she exclaimed, 'how have I sinned now? What does that
+grave look portend? It is really very tiresome. Two minutes ago you
+were so lively and so good-humoured. Is there any harm in my building
+castles in the air to amuse my leisure moments, and laying plans in
+fancy which I know can never come to pass?'
+
+'And how can _you_ be so hasty, and seem so vexed about nothing? I am
+not at all displeased, my dear girl. I do not deny that these dreams of
+yours are quite innocent; but I do say this, that if your head be
+filled with all these romantic schemes and ideas, and you encourage
+yourself in cherishing them, by-and-by you will be so led away by the
+vagaries of your own imagination, that you will be discontented with
+the humble lot which, alas! I have but the means of offering you.'
+
+'Oh! you have no need to entertain such a fear. Am I not happy in the
+thought that the time may come when we shall share each other's
+destiny? or have I ever regretted that my fate is to be united to
+yours? What care I for wealth, or for all those fictions which it
+pleases the world to call good fortune? It is your affection alone
+which can make me rich; without that, I should value nothing.'
+
+Who could withstand such words from the beautiful mouth of a charming
+young girl? Ludvig has already in his own mind owned he was wrong, and
+now he hastens to beg a thousand pardons. He presses her to his heart,
+and is about to assure her of his entire confidence in her, when he
+suddenly perceives the costly shawl that is lying, half folded, on the
+table, and the words die away upon his lips. Suspicion has darted
+across his mind. 'Where could that expensive shawl have come from?' he
+asks himself. 'She could not afford to buy it. Does she receive
+presents from anyone but me? Can she be faithless--false?' His
+easily-aroused jealousy speedily got the better of him, and her guilt
+was no longer to be doubted.
+
+Lisette had not in the slightest degree observed this sudden change;
+she permitted her head to rest affectionately on his shoulder--but he
+quickly disengaged himself, and pushed her coldly from him.
+
+'What is the matter, Ludvig?' she asked, in much surprise. 'Are you out
+of humour again? What is wrong now?'
+
+'Oh! nothing, nothing! at least, nothing of consequence enough for you
+to care about.'
+
+'What can you mean? Am I not privileged to share your sorrows and
+annoyances, whether they are great or small? You know you are sure of
+my sympathy; why, then, should you conceal anything from me? But you
+have no longer any confidence in me; you love me no longer as you used
+to do, or you would not treat me thus.'
+
+'These reproaches come well from your lips, indeed, Miss Lisette.
+Certainly you have much to complain of.'
+
+Lisette became angry, for she knew that she was innocent of all evil.
+Had she not, a few minutes before, vowed not to go so often to the
+window, when the handsome hussar officer passed? And had she not
+recently, in fancy, discarded all her suitors, determining to admit and
+to listen only to Ludvig? And now to be treated so by him! Was her
+fidelity to be thus rewarded? 'Fie, Ludvig!' she exclaimed, with some
+vehemence. 'You are too tyrannical; you have often been hasty,
+irritable, nay, unkind to me; but I have borne it all patiently, for I
+knew your unreasonable jealousy; but you are too sharp with me--too
+cruelly sharp--I have not deserved this from you, and I will not put up
+with it.'
+
+'Well said! You speak out, at any rate. You won't "_put up with it_,"
+Lisette? Of course you have no need to put up with _me_ any longer.
+There are plenty, I know, who will flatter you, and make a fool of you:
+but you will not find one who loves you as sincerely as I do.'
+
+'And why not, pray? Perhaps I may though.'
+
+'What do you say, Lisette? Ah! now I see I have been mistaken in you.
+Farewell! You shall never behold me more. I will not stand in the way
+of your good fortune. My presence shall never again irritate you for a
+moment. Farewell!'
+
+He rushed from the room, and Lisette had already the handle of the door
+in her hand, intending to run after him and call him back; but she
+stopped a moment to reflect. 'No!' she exclaimed to herself, 'I will
+not afford him such a triumph. Let him go. Is he not clearly in the
+wrong; and must I invariably give in? No; this time he shall wait
+awhile.'
+
+Lisette is very angry; she paces up and down her room, without so much
+as casting one look down towards the street to see where he is going.
+'It is quite unbearable,' she cries. 'He teazes me out of my life with
+his ridiculous jealousy. It is a proof of his love, he says.... Ah,
+dear! I am sure I would much rather dispense with such love tokens.'
+Lisette throws herself into the easy-chair, and commences humming an
+opera air. Then she begins to rack her brains to discover what on earth
+could have caused Ludvig's sudden transition from good-humour to anger
+and jealousy; but she vainly tries to find a reason for his strange
+conduct. 'I will think no more about him! He does not deserve the
+affection I waste upon him, nor that I should take his folly so much to
+heart. Is this love? Not the slightest indulgence will he permit to me;
+he cannot endure that I should be happy even in dreams! It is my only,
+only comfort, and he shall _not_ deprive me of it.' So saying, she lets
+herself fall back in her lounging-chair: at that moment she feels a
+kind of perverse satisfaction in doing what Ludvig disapproved of.
+
+The force of habit is strong, and she soon fails into her day-dreams
+again. She fancies she has dismissed all her admirers, and now stands
+alone in the world. She invests herself with astonishing talents; no
+longer wastes her energies in making bonnets and taking in sewing. She
+has had first-rate masters for every accomplishment under heaven,
+and every possible branch of education, from moral philosophy down
+to--hair-dressing. She dances like Vestris--sings like Catalani--and
+plays like Moschelles. With youth, beauty, and shining talents, she is
+received into the highest society, and the mystery which hangs over her
+early days but adds a piquancy to the charm of her numerous
+fascinations: for the great world, so monotonous in itself, loves the
+excitement of curiosity. She soon becomes the cynosure of fashion,
+adored by all the gentlemen--envied by all the ladies. Still she is not
+satisfied with mere drawing-room admiration. She will go upon the
+stage. She comes out in an opera of Scribe, composed by Auber, and
+arranged by Heiberg. The theatre rings with applause; bouquets are
+showered at her feet; the bright stars of Copenhagen--Madame H----, and
+Mademoiselle W----, have, at length, found a rival, and to this rival a
+large salary is offered by the manager of the theatre. She has scarcely
+finished reading his highly complimentary letter, when another is
+brought to her. In haste she opens it, and, casting her eyes on the
+signature, she sees, 'Sigismund Frederick, Count of R.' She starts with
+surprise; the young, the rich, the distinguished count, assuring her
+that he cannot live without her, offers her his heart, his fortune, and
+his hand! But, just then, amidst the glow of her gratified vanity and
+ambition, a small voice whispers the name of--_Ludvig_. He has been
+rough and rude to her; he left her in anger; he deserves no remembrance
+from her; yet--her heart yearns towards him--she feels that she can
+forgive and forget; that she can repay good for evil, and can sacrifice
+everything for him she loves.
+
+Poor Lisette passes into a state of great excitement between the
+phantasms of her imagination and the real feelings of her soul; she
+actually rises to answer the visionary letter, and she writes as
+follows:--
+
+
+'NOBLE COUNT,--I should be very ungrateful if I did not highly value
+the honour which you have conferred upon me, in condescending to make
+me the offer which I had not the slightest claim to expect. I will not
+repay your goodness by any want of candour, and am, therefore, obliged
+to confess to you that _that_ heart for which you ask is no longer
+free; and that love with which you would honour me I am unable to
+return as it deserves. From my earliest youth I have been attached to a
+poor artist; he was my first love, and will be my last. I will venture
+to indulge the hope that you will receive this open admission as a
+proof of my sincere regard and high esteem for you, which forbid me to
+accept the happy fortune that destiny, doubtless, reserves for one more
+worthy of it than myself.'
+
+
+Lisette was mightily pleased with this billet, which she considered a
+_chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of the romantico-literary style. She had conned it
+over several times, and was about to fold and seal it, when the
+striking of a neighbouring clock awoke her to the realities of life,
+reminded her that she had some work to finish, and at once demolished
+all her _castles in the air_.
+
+The horn inkstand is put away, the letter is left lying forgotten
+amidst the shreds of silk; and the scissors and the needles are once
+more in full activity. In the meantime Ludvig has returned, and stands
+by Lisette's side, in a repentant mood. He has come back to try to
+obtain some explanation about the unfortunate shawl, and to throw
+himself at her feet, and beg her forgiveness that he had again offended
+her by his suspicions. But Lisette is angry, and she will scarcely take
+the least notice of him. She does not, however, hold out long, her
+naturally kind heart soon becomes softened, she sets his mind at ease
+by enlightening him on the affair of the shawl; but, very properly,
+takes him well to task. Ludvig is in the seventh heaven. He blames
+himself severely, calls Lisette by all the tender names that language
+can suggest; he swears never more to torment her by his suspicions and
+jealousy, and seizes her hands to kiss them, in ratification of his
+vow, but, at that moment, he espies some stains of ink on her delicate
+fingers. 'You have been writing! To whom were you writing?' he abruptly
+asks, in a hoarse voice, while his countenance gradually darkens.
+Lisette colours, and looks perplexed. She is unwilling to confess that
+she has again been building castles in the air, knowing, as she does,
+that he has an objection to them; she stammers, and is at a loss for an
+answer.
+
+Her embarrassment adds fuel to the flames; the demon of jealousy is
+again at work in Ludvig's mind, he utters not a syllable, but darting
+at her a glance that, if looks could kill, would have annihilated her
+on the spot, he seizes his hat and is about to leave her. Lisette is in
+the greatest consternation. She tries to detain him. 'Ludvig--dear
+Ludvig!--I have--can you forgive ...?'
+
+'What have you done? What am I called on to forgive? you false,
+deceitful one!' he cries, passionately interrupting her, while he
+endeavours to break away from her.
+
+'Oh, do not be so violent, Ludvig! I have been amusing myself with my
+dreams again. I have again been building castles in the air. Forgive me
+this once more! _There_ is what I have been writing.'
+
+She hands him the letter, and, as he reads it, his stormy brow clears,
+and his features relax. 'From my earliest youth I have been attached to
+a poor artist, he was my first love, and will be my last.' These words,
+which he reads, and re-reads, several times, quickly appease his wrath.
+'And this is what you were writing!' he exclaims, in a tone of joy. Oh!
+I am so happy! Now I cast suspicion to the winds; from this time,
+henceforth, I bid adieu to all jealousy.' In the delight of the moment
+he communicates to Lisette what had before been hovering on his lips,
+the unexpected good fortune which had fallen to his share. An uncle,
+whom he had never seen, had bequeathed him a little fortune, which was
+large enough to place them in easy circumstances. Lisette is in
+raptures, and, mingling their joy, they lay plans together for their
+future life. It is not Lisette alone who now _builds castles in the
+air_, for Ludvig joins her in this pleasing occupation with all his
+might; and yon humble garret becomes, at that moment, a heaven of love
+and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+                          TWICE SACRIFICED.[1]
+
+                    FROM THE DANISH OF CARIT ETLAR.
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+                                   I.
+
+                          THE DREAMS OF YOUTH.
+
+About three miles from Viborg lies the celebrated Hald. The palace upon
+the high hill, the lake slumbering beneath the ruins of the old
+baronial castle upon the island, the fresh luxuriant forest, make in
+combination a charming and romantic picture, which, placed as it were
+in a frame of dark-brown heath-clad hills, forms a strong contrast to
+the monotonous, melancholy-looking plain, in the centre of which it
+appears like a beautiful flower in the dreary desert, suddenly and
+unexpectedly seen, and therefore the more highly appreciated.
+
+One afternoon, in the spring of the year 1705, three persons were
+riding through the wood not far from Viborg. One was a young lady, by
+her side rode a gentleman who did not look much older than herself, and
+at some distance behind them a servant in a rich livery, embroidered
+according to the fashion of the time.
+
+The young lady was very beautiful; the mild, calm, expression of her
+countenance, the sweet, trusting glances from her large dark-blue eyes,
+disclosed one of those soft, feminine natures for which life should be
+all quiet and sunshine, because they bend and break beneath its storms.
+
+The gentleman who rode by her side, as near as the horses could
+approach each other, wore the uniform of an officer. His features were
+expressive of courage and talent, and all that freedom from care which
+is the happiest endowment of youth and inexperience.
+
+The young lady was Jeanné Rysé, a daughter of the Baroness Rysensteen,
+in the district of Rive. The gentleman was her cousin, Captain Krusé.
+They were both returning from a visit to Major-General Gregers Daa, who
+two years before had purchased Hald, and built the handsome house upon
+the hill.
+
+There was evidently a deeper feeling between Jeanné and the captain
+than merely cousinly regard; this was betrayed both by their very
+confidential conversation, by Jeanné's smile, and by the endearing
+glances that seemed to meet and answer each other. They loved each
+other; and they were laying plans for the future, as that afternoon
+they rode together through the wood. It was not of the present moment
+they were thinking--no, none but children and old people, the two at
+the extreme points of life--take pleasure in the present moment. Around
+them everything reposed in a deep and serene tranquillity; the clear,
+transparent air, the sun's rays gleaming through the foliage of the
+trees, the perfume of the flowers, the blackbird's flute-like song, all
+tended to increase the sense of happiness which pervaded both their
+hearts, that fresh young love that causes all the blossoms of the soul
+to expand.
+
+'This evening,' said Jeanné, 'I will tell all to my mother; it appears
+to me that it would be wrong to conceal our wishes longer.'
+
+'Oh, let us wait,' said he. 'The confession will not augment our
+happiness.'
+
+'But it will indeed!' replied Jeanné. 'My mother has hitherto always
+been my confidante in everything; it will distress her when she finds
+that I am concealing our attachment from her. Do not be afraid,
+dearest. She is so good, she has never thought of anything but my
+happiness, and she will undoubtedly give her consent to our engagement.
+I know perfectly well that my mother will refuse me nothing,' she added
+with a gay smile.
+
+Krusé made no reply; they rode on for some time in silence side by
+side, while the same subject engrossed the minds of both, but there was
+a difference in the way they thought of it. He was thinking, as it is
+natural for men to do, only of his own happiness; Jeanné, on the
+contrary, of that which she hoped to be able to bestow upon him.
+
+'What if your mother should disapprove of our marriage?' exclaimed
+Krusé, at length, after they had left the wood, and were riding towards
+Viborg, which was to be seen at a little distance.
+
+'But she will not disapprove,' replied Jeanné, decisively. 'I know her
+too well. Still, happen what may, my friend,' she said, as she
+stretched out to him a small, well-shaped hand, 'we love each other,
+and we will never cease to do so. Is not this knowledge enough to
+induce you to overcome every obstacle?'
+
+Krusé's answer was the same as has been given in similar cases from
+the time of the Deluge. Both forgot at that moment how long it is
+to--never!
+
+On the same evening, about two hours later, Jeanné sat alone with the
+Baroness in her private apartment, and confided to her the whole story
+of the attachment--indeed, the engagement between herself and Krusé.
+The elder lady listened patiently and attentively to the tale; her face
+wore its usual bland smile, her voice had its accustomed sweet and
+affectionate tone.
+
+'I have long suspected these feelings on your cousin's side, my dear
+child,' she said quietly, 'but I did not suppose that you would admit
+having returned them without first making some communication to me.'
+
+'Oh, my own dearest mother!' cried Jeanné, in the most caressing
+manner, and in a beseeching tone, 'you must forgive me!'
+
+'There is nothing to forgive,' replied the Baroness. 'What has happened
+has happened, and it appears to me there is nothing more to be said on
+the subject. I have known Krusé since he was a child; he is of a very
+amiable disposition and noble character, most gentlemanly and chivalric
+in all his actions. I also truly believe that he loves you, my darling
+Jeanné; who could do otherwise?'
+
+And the mother leaned over the kneeling daughter, who had placed her
+hands upon her lap, and kissed her fair brow.
+
+'But Krusé, notwithstanding all these excellent qualities, can never be
+your husband.'
+
+Jeanné uttered a faint shriek.
+
+'Oh, mother, mother! What do you say?' she cried, in the greatest
+consternation.
+
+'Listen to what I have got to say,' continued the Baroness, 'and listen
+calmly. Krusé is poor; he has nothing except his pay as an officer,
+which is scarcely enough to meet the daily expenses of a gentleman.
+You, my dear child, are not rich either, as after my death your
+brother will inherit the property. It is only, therefore, by marriage
+that your future comfort can be secured. You have, naturally, never
+thought of all these circumstances. At your age the heart is swayed by
+happier interests; it is not until later that the prosaic part of life
+forces itself upon us, and awakens us from our dreams. But I--your
+mother--have well considered all this. While you have engaged yourself
+to your cousin, I have fixed upon another for you--another who, with
+the same chivalric character, unites better prospects for your future
+life. Yes, weep on, my darling girl! I understand your tears, for I
+have felt as you do, for I have loved as you do. When I was about your
+age I was much attached to a young nobleman, who was as poor as Krusé.
+My parents chose another for me, and I acknowledge now how fortunate it
+was that they were not influenced by my wishes. I judge by this--that
+the woman whom he afterwards married has led a very unhappy life.'
+
+Jeanné's face expressed the deepest grief while her mother was
+speaking; she wept, she wrung her hands, and at length she exclaimed:
+
+'Oh, my dear mother! If you have considered what is best for me, have
+you not remembered that the fate for which you destine me will render
+me utterly miserable? It will be my death!'
+
+'No, it will not, Jeanné! That is merely an idea peculiar to your age;
+people don't die so easily. Time is an excellent doctor for such
+wounds.'
+
+'Who, then, have you chosen for me?'
+
+'Major-General Gregers Daa, of Hald. He was with me to-day when you
+were out riding with your cousin; he asked for your hand, and obtained
+my consent to your marrying him.'
+
+Major-General Gregers Daa was a tall, thin man, with a pallid face and
+very grave expression of countenance. His hair was beginning to turn
+grey, the numerous wrinkles on his expansive brow-were perhaps as much
+the consequence of deep thought as of advanced age, for both of these
+despots impose their marks in the same mode.
+
+Gregers had held an important post, and had won many laurels in the
+last war. At the cessation of hostilities which followed the peace of
+Travendal, he returned to Jutland, purchased Hald, and had the palace
+rebuilt. When these two events were completed, he had nothing before
+him but a quiet, monotonous life, without interest to himself, and
+without affording happiness to any one. The landed proprietors who were
+his neighbours found no pleasure in his society, for he was cold and
+reserved in manners. The poor lauded his charity and his munificent
+donations; but these, in accordance with the nature of the donor, were
+dictated more by a sense of duty than by any positive satisfaction he
+had in relieving distress. No one sought his friendship; indeed, it was
+rather avoided. In the lonely situation in which he was placed, he was
+poor--for even fortune becomes a burden in utter solitude. The present
+time offered nothing, the future seemed to promise nothing, and the
+past was the repository of no cherished recollections for him.
+
+When Gregers returned from the war, and had ceased to fight foreign
+foes, he found at home a still more obstinate foe to battle with, and
+that was _ennui_. A sister, much younger than himself, who had resided
+with him, and taken charge of his house, had died a few years before
+the date of the commencement of this story. He regretted her loss very
+much, and day by day he missed more and more the comforts a lady's
+taste and society had spread around him. It was about this time that he
+first met Jeanné Rysé, and the sight of her awakened emotions in his
+mind which he had never before known. He wished to have her in his lost
+sister's place; he wished to be her confidential friend, her
+counsellor, her companion, and, yielding to these growing wishes, he
+determined on asking from the Baroness the hand of her daughter. He
+had, however, not the most remote idea of the wretchedness with which
+his proposals were to blast Jeanné's hitherto tranquil and happy
+existence.
+
+He was wealthy; he was the last--the only survivor of his race. Both of
+these considerations had also some weight in Gregers's resolution, and
+had not less influence on that of the Baroness Rysé. But expediency and
+good intentions sometimes merge into wrong, especially when they forget
+to take into account the passions and the heart. This fault was
+committed both by Gregers and the Baroness.
+
+Eight days after her conversation with Jeanné, the Baroness Rysé's
+carriage was seen going towards the Hald, with running footmen before
+the horses, a coachman, and another servant, with powdered perukes; in
+short, with all that show and affectation of state which might lead the
+beholder to forget the Dutch plebeian Henrik Rysé, to whom the family
+owed their patent of nobility. The Baroness herself was elegantly
+dressed; she was one of those old beauties on whose exterior the hand
+of taste must replace what time has stolen away.
+
+Gregers Daa received the lady at the foot of the outside stairs in a
+garb which plainly showed he had not expected her visit at that moment.
+He led her with a bewildered air into his study, where, before her
+arrival, he had been occupied. Everything in this room bore witness to
+an old bachelor's uncomfortable home. An ancient-looking hound was
+stretched on the sofa, and gazed in evident astonishment at the
+intruder without vacating his place. The dust lay thick on the sills of
+the window, on the chairs, tables, and bookcases; the air was redolent
+of tobacco-smoke; books, plants, and weapons were lying in dire
+confusion about the room.
+
+The Baroness's ironical smile, and the somewhat sneering manner in
+which she glanced round at the various articles in the study, seemed to
+open Gregers's eyes to its untidy condition. He stammered an apology,
+and opened a door leading to a large room close by, but the lady
+declined entering it.
+
+'Let us stay here,' she exclaimed. 'The one room is as good as the
+other for what we have to talk about.'
+
+She removed a bundle of papers from a high-backed easy-chair, placed
+herself in it, and motioned to Gregers to sit down also.
+
+The sun was shining brightly through the window, the soft breeze was
+swaying the branches of a large elm-tree, with their fresh light-green
+leaves, backwards and forwards outside, the sparrows were chirping
+under the roof; farther off was heard the song of the larks as they
+soared over old Buggé's Hald,[2] the ruins of which were to be seen
+from the window, and were glittering in the sun.
+
+Presently the lady spoke.
+
+'I come to you, general, on the same errand, relative to which you
+lately called on me, and I bring you my entire acceptance of the
+proposal you did me the honour to make respecting a marriage between
+you and my daughter.
+
+Gregers Daa's tall figure drew itself up in military style; he bowed,
+and said:
+
+'You have, then, communicated my wishes to your daughter, dear madam?'
+
+'I did so on the very same day that you called on us.'
+
+'And she has no objection to pass her future life with an old man such
+as I am?'
+
+'On the contrary,' replied the Baroness, quietly, and without the
+slightest hesitation, 'she has many objections to it.'
+
+Gregers looked thunderstruck; he fancied he had not heard aright.
+
+'My dear general!' said the Baroness, with an insinuating smile,
+'the principal duty you and I owe to each other is sincerity, and I
+shall, therefore, venture to speak candidly to you. My daughter likes
+another--stay, do not interrupt me--I mean that she feels a great
+kindness for, and much interest in, a poor relation, who, so to speak,
+has grown up with her, and who has been the only one, until now, who
+could realize the visions every young girl's fancy is prone to create.
+But, good Heavens! what does that signify? At her age one loves the
+whole world, or rather, we really love only our own selves in every
+object which pleases our inclination. I have impressed on my daughter
+the necessity of giving up her foolish dreams, and of forsaking the
+world in which she has hitherto lived, to enter into another by your
+side.
+
+'And was she willing to obey you?' asked Gregers, anxiously.
+
+The Baroness's cheerful smile partially chased away his fears:
+
+'Willing!' she exclaimed. 'Do you really think, my dear general, that I
+would wish to see you united to a lady who could not prove, by her
+obedience to her parent, that she would be able to obey her husband?'
+
+'But as she already loves another, a younger man than I am, who,
+doubtless, is more able than I to comprehend and to share her
+sympathies, how can I expect her to love me?'
+
+'Love you!' exclaimed the Baroness, in evident surprise. 'No--at least
+not at the present moment; she cannot be expected to do so, since she
+has, as yet, hardly the honour of knowing you. In regard to the future,
+it will altogether rest with yourself to call forth this love. Your
+superior character, and the mildness of manners I have remarked in you,
+will indubitably lead the dear child to the goal you desire. I say
+lead, not mould, because I know that a husband may easily lead his
+wife, but not easily gain his wishes by coercion. From my experience of
+the feelings of my own sex, I can affirm that, in most cases, gentlemen
+may obtain as much affection as they can desire; but they understand
+less how to awaken this affection than to retain it when once bestowed.
+It is an acknowledged fact, that though the man begins by showing the
+woman the first attention, it generally ends in her showing him the
+last.'
+
+Thus commenced a conversation, during the course of which the Baroness
+succeeded in removing all the general's scruples. They afterwards
+proceeded to discuss the matter in question under another point of
+view--a view which appeared to the lady of very much more consequence
+than anything wherein feelings were concerned. The marriage settlements
+were skilfully introduced by the Baroness, who evinced as much
+practical sense in this second portion of the conversation as in the
+first; while Gregers Daa, on his side, showed a degree of high-minded
+liberality which quite surpassed her most exaggerated expectation.
+
+And thus was this marriage determined on, this bargain concluded, in
+which was bartered away a young girl's future happiness, to secure for
+her some insignificant worldly advantages. The sacrifice was
+accomplished with festive pomp, with flowers, smiles, and songs on one
+side, with smothered sighs and suppressed tears on the other. The same
+wedding-bells that rang to announce Gregers Daa's happiness rang
+Jeanné's freedom of soul and happiness into the grave.
+
+The first few weeks after the wedding were spent in society, visiting,
+and all the round of amusements which it was more the fashion to offer
+to newly-married people at that period than in our days. Gregers
+objected to this dissipation in vain, the Baroness insisted on it, and
+the complaisant son-in-law allowed her to take her own way. The
+Baroness Rysé hoped, by these means, to procure her daughter some
+diversion, which might lead her to _forget_: she had herself never felt
+any other than these small sorrows that vanish amidst wax-lights and
+noise in a ball-room; she could not, therefore, conceive that Jeanné
+might, indeed, be stupified by all the entertainments provided for her,
+but that solitude is the only comfort in deep sorrow, and the great
+physician for suffering.
+
+Betwixt the mother and daughter, these such opposite characters, the
+principal difference was simply this--that the Baroness thought only of
+marriage, and Jeanné of love.
+
+As to the general, he found, to his great surprise, that all those
+feelings, so new to him, which had begun to be so softening and so
+pleasant, had suddenly changed their nature. That love, which had wiled
+his heart out of its accustomed torpor, which had come like a sunbeam
+on a late day in autumn, unexpectedly, and all of a sudden, had been as
+hastily enjoyed as if its loss were feared. He tried in vain to acquire
+the affection he coveted; but how could he think that an old man's
+measured and bashful love could be able to chase away the clouds of
+lassitude and grief which rested on Jeanné's beautiful but pale brow,
+or dislodge the remembrance of what she had lost by what she had won?
+When at last, after long and fruitless struggles, he perceived the
+impossibility of attaining the desired object, which seemed always to
+draw back from him like the obscure and misty images on a wide heath,
+he shut himself up in his own study--but not with his former peace of
+mind; and he bore the marks of his internal battles in his hollow
+sunken cheeks and whitened hair. From this time forward Gregers endured
+his sorrows in silence, as Jeanné did hers: the only difference between
+them was--the cause of the unhappiness of each.
+
+Thus passed some years: Gregers Daa felt that no blessing had attended
+his marriage. He was childless. There lay a little embalmed corpse in
+his family vault in the cathedral of Viborg, with an inscription full
+of grief on the lid of the coffin--that was his only child; it had died
+soon after its birth.
+
+The only person who never appeared to remark the cold and comfortless
+terms on which Gregers and Jeanné lived was the Baroness. She resided
+for some months every summer in her son-in-law's house at Hald, drove
+about in his carriage, received visits from all her acquaintances; in
+short, she seemed to be the real mistress of the mansion, exactly as on
+every alteration and improvement at Rysensteen she showed herself to
+have unlimited command over the general's money.
+
+War at length broke out again, after the short and enforced peace
+Denmark had been obliged to put up with. King Frederick IV. had
+secretly entered into an alliance with Poland and Saxony against
+Sweden. Reventlow was fighting in Scania; shortly after was heard, for
+the first time, that one of the most ancient and most honoured names
+among the Danish nobility was coupled with a lost battle--a name from
+which heroism and victory, until then, had appeared to be inseparable.
+Jörgen Ranzau was defeated by Steenbock on the outside of the gates of
+Helsingborg, and the scene of war after that was removed into Germany.
+Gregers Daa was ordered to join the army. One evening in the month of
+November this intelligence reached Hald.
+
+
+                                  II.
+
+                             THE FAREWELL.
+
+Gregers Daa received the letter when he was sitting in the same room as
+Jeanné. His pale cheeks flushed as he read it; Jeanné remarked his
+emotion. She sat working near the fireplace, and at a little distance
+from her was a third person, a guest that evening--this person was
+Captain Krusé.
+
+After Jeanné's marriage he had often visited her at Hald, Gregers
+himself encouraged him to come, when he perceived that she seemed
+pleased to see him. He had not then the most remote idea of the
+engagement which had formerly existed between them.
+
+'That letter seems to interest you,' said Jeanné, turning towards the
+general.
+
+'Yes--certainly!' replied Gregers. 'I am called away to-morrow.'
+
+'Called away!' exclaimed at the same moment Jeanné and Krusé.
+
+There was something in the tone of the captain's exclamation which
+seemed to displease the general; he knitted his brow, while he
+answered,
+
+'I ought to have said that _we_ are called away. I have just received
+an order for our regiment to join the army in Holstein immediately.'
+
+Jeanné uttered no exclamation. During the last two or three years she
+had acquired complete command over her feelings; her countenance
+remained calm, and did not betray the slightest sign of agitation.
+
+Gregers relapsed into his former silence; he had returned to the place
+where he had before been sitting, by a table in a corner of the room,
+at a little distance from Jeanné, because, he said, the lights on her
+table hurt his eyes; from that place his look seemed to be fastened
+steadily upon the two others.
+
+During the uncomfortable silence which now reigned in the drawing-room,
+were distinctly heard the wailing of the stormy wind, and the screech
+of the owls amidst the elm-trees on the outside of the windows.
+
+Shortly after Gregers arose, took a candle, and left the room. Those
+who remained behind heard his steps becoming fainter and fainter as he
+traversed the long corridor which led to his study. When they were
+alone Jeanné let her work fall, and bending over the table covered her
+eyes with her hand. On raising her head again in a little time, she
+uttered a low cry, for Krusé was lying at her feet! She made a motion
+of her hand as if to bid him go, but the captain seized that soft white
+hand and pressed it to his lips, while he cast an indescribably
+beseeching look up at her.
+
+'You have heard it,' he whispered; 'we must go--we shall part, for
+ever, perhaps--I must say a few words to you first. Meet me down
+yonder--only this once, this once--for the first and the last time!'
+
+'No, no!' cried Jeanné, vehemently: 'I have already refused this. Oh,
+go!--it would be wrong!'
+
+'Oh, I pray you,' he continued, in a still more touching and trembling
+voice, 'do not refuse my petition! Are you afraid of me, Jeanné, though
+in all these long years I have shown you how safe you are near me? Or
+are you afraid that your glance will fall on yonder wood, where, one
+afternoon, you promised to love me, where the sun shone, and the birds
+sang, while God received those vows which have since been so cruelly
+broken?'
+
+Jeanné burst into tears. 'But go--only go, unhappy one! Do you not
+hear? There is some one coming--it is my husband.'
+
+'Let him come, he is not my worst enemy at this moment.'
+
+Jeanné cast on him a sorrowful and reproachful look, but at the same
+time held out her hand to him. Krusé sprang up.
+
+'Then you have some pity for all that I have suffered,' he said; 'and
+you will not let me go without one kind word at parting?'
+
+She bowed her head almost imperceptibly, and yet it was sufficient for
+him; his eyes shone, his lips trembled, in his deep emotion.
+
+When Gregers returned to the room, they were both sitting quietly and
+in perfect silence.
+
+A few minutes afterwards, Krusé took leave, and rode away. Within an
+hour from that time, a youthful figure stole softly out of one of the
+side-doors which led from the apartments of the lady of the house down
+to the garden. She was wrapped in a large shawl, and moved slowly, and,
+as if unwillingly, onwards. Krusé hastened to meet her as she entered
+the garden. Jeanné received him more coldly than she need have done
+after having consented to the interview. But he knew her so well, he
+had expected nothing else.
+
+'You desired me yesterday,' he began, in a low and unsteady voice, 'not
+to come up often to Hald, and were vexed at me this evening because I
+venture to disobey your injunction. God is my witness, Jeanné, that it
+was my intention to have been guided by your commands.'
+
+'Why, then, did you come this evening?' she asked.
+
+'Because I knew before the general did that we were to be ordered on
+immediate service, and I could not resist seeing you once more ere our
+departure.'
+
+'Would to God we had never met each other!' she whispered in a low sad
+voice. 'It would have been better for us both.'
+
+'Oh, I entreat you,' he said, with that irresistible tenderness which
+had always found its way to Jeanné's heart, 'do not say that. I am
+going far away now, and your wish will be fulfilled; but why should you
+give me so sad a souvenir to take with me? It is probable, Jeanné, that
+I shall never return--indeed, it is almost certain, for on what
+account, or for whom need I seek to save my life?--but if I _do_
+return, should I be fated to live, will you then be less merciful than
+God, and deny me permission to visit you as hitherto? If you will only
+grant me leave to see you again, I shall never misuse that kindness by
+a word or a look of which you might disapprove; no sigh, no complaint
+shall betray to you what I suffer.'
+
+'Oh Heavens!' whispered Jeanné, 'do _I_ not suffer too myself, and do
+you not perceive that your presence here only prolongs a struggle under
+which it is certain that we shall both sink? What can you wish to know
+that you do not already know? What can you see here except that I am
+Gregers Daa's wife?'
+
+'Yes, it is true--too true!' he replied, scarcely above his breath.
+'Farewell! It is best that we should never meet again.'
+
+'Farewell!' replied Jeanné, in the same heartbroken tone. 'But you will
+not thrust yourself needlessly in the way of danger. Do you hear?--you
+will not do that? Oh, you must not--you dare not!'
+
+'I am weary of battling with my fate!'
+
+'And I, too!' exclaimed Jeanné, bursting into tears.
+
+There was a confession as well as a depth of sorrow in these words; he
+raised his head, grasped her hand, and carried it to his lips.
+
+'Farewell!' he said--'farewell! God be with you, Jeanné!'
+
+She left her hand in his, and whispered, 'Farewell, until we meet
+again!'
+
+'I may come, then!' he exclaimed joyfully.
+
+'Since you threaten to throw your life away. But go now--leave me. Let
+me beg this of you.'
+
+Krusé knelt before her, whilst he kissed her hand and said:
+
+'Put up a prayer for me, then I shall, perhaps, come back, and God may
+have compassion upon us both.'
+
+He sprang up and left her; a minute or two after, the clatter of his
+horse's hoofs was heard upon the other side of the garden fence.
+
+Jeanné stood and listened.
+
+At that moment Jeanné felt her hand seized, and the following words
+were uttered in a low, sad, scarcely audible tone:
+
+'Put up also a prayer for me, Jeanné!'
+
+She started back, and uttered a piercing shriek. A man stood before
+her, in whom she recognized Gregers Daa, whose countenance in the
+bluish moonlight looked even paler than usual, and whose smile was
+sweet, placid, and resigned as it had ever been.
+
+Jeanné thought herself lost; she fell at his feet, and stretched out
+her clasped hands towards him, while she exclaimed:
+
+'Oh, forgive me! Do not condemn me. I am not so guilty as you must
+think--if you only understood me--if you only knew all--'
+
+'Hush, my dear child!' whispered Gregers, in a voice that was full of
+grief, but mild and consoling. 'Do not weep so bitterly; I know all,
+and it is you who do not understand me. You have never understood me
+aright. Let us go in now.'
+
+He assisted the pale, trembling young woman up to her apartment, and
+then retired to his own study.
+
+The next morning, Gregers, attended by his servant, had started on his
+journey before Jeanné was awake.
+
+
+                                  III.
+
+                              THE BATTLE.
+
+One dark December evening, about a month after the general's departure
+from home, the Danish army had encamped in the vicinity of Gadebusk. In
+spite of the darkness and the rough weather, there seemed to be an
+unusual stir and activity in the camp that evening, which betokened
+that something of importance was about to happen.
+
+Shortly before it had become dark, a reconnoitring expedition which had
+been sent out returned with the intelligence that General Steenbock,
+the commander-in-chief of the Swedish army, had approached until within
+three miles of the Danish camp, and that, according to all appearances,
+he was preparing to attack the Danes at dawn of day. Messengers were
+sent in various directions. A few of these were to summon the general
+officers to a council of war, others to take orders to the different
+portions of the infantry who lay in cantonments in the nearest
+villages.
+
+King Frederick IV. had arrived at the camp two days previously from
+Oldeslobe. He had taken up his quarters at the little country town of
+Wakenstadt, whither the officers who had been commanded to assist at
+the council of war that evening repaired.
+
+There was a striking contrast between the appearance of these
+gentlemen, who, on account of the presence of the king, wore their
+embroidered and dashing uniforms, and the low, dirty, peasants'
+parlour, where the meeting was to be held.
+
+A peat fire was smoking and blazing in the open chimney; its lurid
+glare fell on the plastered clay walls, to which time and damp had
+imparted a greenish hue. Two small windows, whose panes of glass the
+storm raging without caused to shake in their leaden frames, had no
+curtains. The floor was of clay, the furniture consisted of a long
+bench and three straw chairs, which were arranged around a deal table
+that stood in the middle of the room, covered with maps and drawings,
+and the apartment was illuminated by two or three tallow candles. The
+moment, however, was too critical for any of those present to waste a
+thought upon the chattels around them.
+
+The discussions in this council of war were long and stormy.
+Immediately after the king had communicated the intelligence brought by
+the scouts, there arose a difference of opinion between him and
+Reventlow, the commander-in-chief. The count thought that it would be
+unwise to accept battle at the place where the army then was, because
+the infantry either could not be assembled before the following
+morning, or, at any rate, they would be fatigued after their forced
+march, which it would be necessary to undertake very early to arrive in
+time.
+
+To this was to be added that the Saxon auxiliaries, thirty-two
+squadrons of cavalry, happened that evening to be at eighteen miles'
+distance from the rest of the army.
+
+The king did not see the force of the argument; he entirely differed
+from the count. Full of confidence in the continuance of the good luck
+which had placed in his power the most important of the German
+provinces of Sweden, he declared the position of the army to be
+excellent, covered as it was by hills, woods, and morasses. He hoped
+that the forthcoming battle would crown all his previous victories.
+
+The shrewd courtier only adhered to his opinion until he saw that the
+king was determined not to give up his own. Thereupon he pretended to
+have been reasoned over to his majesty's views. He bowed smilingly, and
+exclaimed:
+
+'I also agree that we should remain here. If we conquer, to your
+majesty will belong the whole glory of the victory. The whole glory,
+but above all the whole responsibility,' he added, in a whisper to his
+neighbour, as he took his place again on the wooden bench at the table.
+
+Reventlow's yielding to the king's wishes was a sign to all his party
+to act in the same spirit. One alone still contended that it would be
+wrong to accept battle under their circumstances--one alone, and he was
+Major-General Gregers Daa. He stood in that circle somewhat paler and
+more suffering than usual, cold, stiff, and stern as ever. He would not
+swerve from his opinion, gave reason after reason, and did not seem to
+remark that his coadjutors had by degrees changed their ground and had
+become his adversaries.
+
+'But, by the Lord, Major-General Daa!' exclaimed the king, angrily, and
+evidently provoked at the general's cold, calm, but determined
+opposition, 'you must undoubtedly have stronger reasons for contending
+with us all than those you please to name? From the time that you
+joined the army last you have been prevented by illness from taking any
+part in the earlier actions, and now that you appear to be well again,
+you are the only one who maintains that we ought to retreat. ARE YOU
+AFRAID OF BEING KILLED?'
+
+A general silence followed this insulting question. All present looked
+by turns at the king and at the general. Gregers's face became deadly
+pale, his eyes flashed, and his lips trembled as if from cold, while he
+rose and replied:
+
+'I shall answer your majesty's question to-morrow. I beg to say that I
+now quite agree with all the rest.' With these words he bowed and left
+the room.
+
+The king saw the terrible effect his insult had produced, and he called
+to Gregers to come back, but the latter seemed not to hear him. He
+hastened out, closing the door after him.
+
+When Gregers had gone a little way beyond the village, where the camp
+commenced, he stopped for a few moments, as if in earnest thought; he
+cast a glance of deep distress up towards the heavens, and pressed his
+hand upon his breast. He then walked quickly back to the camp.
+
+Here all was movement and noise. The sutlers had a rich harvest that
+evening. Crowds of soldiers lay around the watch-fires, chattering
+together, or playing at throwing dice on the top of the drums. They
+sang, they drank, or prepared themselves for the coming dangers by
+relating the wonderful heroic exploits that had been performed during
+those that were past. The report of the enemy's approach had already
+reached every one. Gregers continued his walk until he had reached one
+of the farthest-off tents. Here he came to a stand, listened for a
+moment, and then entered it.
+
+Captain Krusé was sitting at a table, which stood near his camp-bed; he
+was supporting his head with both his hands, and was so intently gazing
+on an open letter, so absorbed in its contents, that he did not observe
+the general's entrance until the latter was standing by the table. He
+then quickly concealed the letter, and rose.
+
+'Do I interrupt you?' asked Gregers.
+
+'No,' replied Krusé, evidently much confused.
+
+'You have received a letter?'
+
+'No!'
+
+'It appeared to me, though, that you were reading one when I came in.'
+
+'The letter I was reading is six years old,' said Krusé.
+
+'Indeed! And at such a length of time after its date does it retain
+sufficient interest to carry it with you to your tent and read it on
+such an evening as _this?_'
+
+'It is the memento of a loss--of a death; and you know, general, that
+the heart does not value its memories by their age, but by the
+estimation in which we hold those to whom they are traceable.'
+
+'No,' said the general, 'I am not aware of any such feeling, for _I_
+have no souvenirs, no cherished remembrances.'
+
+Krusé looked up in amazement at the bitter and almost despairing
+meaning which lay in these words. Gregers continued:
+
+'I came to ask you to visit me this evening. There is a subject on
+which I wish to have some conversation with you. Have you time to
+spare?'
+
+'Yes, general.'
+
+'Very well, come then to me in my tent, near the forest of firs, within
+an hour--not later, pray observe.'
+
+'I shall be punctual,' said Krusé.
+
+Gregers took leave, but, before doing so, he cast a glance towards the
+table, where Krusé had concealed the letter.
+
+The captain remained behind, musing: he could not fathom the cause of
+this visit. Latterly, Gregers seemed to have avoided his society.
+During the foregoing conversation, it struck him that there was
+something harsh and unfriendly in the expression of his countenance,
+which betokened a dark and hostile mood.
+
+An hour later Krusé entered the general's tent. He found him sitting at
+a table, on which lay two pistols and a sealed letter. Gregers beckoned
+to him to come forward, and, pointing to a straw chair a little way
+from the table, requested him to be seated.
+
+'Have you heard the news?' he began abruptly. 'We are to fight
+to-morrow.'
+
+'Yes,' replied Krusé. 'So much the better!'
+
+'I also would have thought the same at your age. I would, most likely,
+have thought the same now, if I, like you, were single, and had not
+bound another to my fate.'
+
+'You allude to the amiable lady yonder, at Hald?'
+
+'Yes; and perhaps you are surprised that I should be thinking of her
+just this evening?' asked Gregers sharply.
+
+'No--certainly!' replied Krusé, somewhat astounded at the question.
+'What is there to surprise me in your doing so?'
+
+'You are not speaking the truth, captain. Among all living creatures,
+you are the only one who could dare to conceive a doubt on this
+subject. You,' he continued, in a hollow and moaning tone of voice,
+as if the words he were uttering could with difficulty pass his
+lips--'you, who love her, and whom--she loves in return.'
+
+Krusé was speechless for a moment, while Gregers was making visible and
+violent efforts to regain his composure.
+
+'Now I understand him,' he thought; 'he has found everything out, and
+intends to murder me.'
+
+This thought had scarcely entered his mind when it took the shape of a
+conviction. In the deep silence now reigning in the tent, he heard the
+general's suppressed groans as he drew his breath heavily, and saw the
+arm by which he supported himself as he leaned it on the table,
+tremble.
+
+'What answer have you to give me?' inquired the general.
+
+Krusé raised his head:
+
+'It is true what you say, general. I do love her.'
+
+The admission did not make the slightest alteration in the expression
+of the general's countenance, as Krusé had expected it would have done.
+
+'How long ago did your love for her commence?' he asked.
+
+'I have loved Jeanné Rysé since my childhood. She was the first, the
+only one I ever loved--the only one I ever will love. And now, general!
+After this confession, I wait to hear what further you have to say to
+me. I see that you have prepared for what was to happen,' he added,
+glancing towards the pistols which lay on the table. 'I have been long
+expecting it, and, when you came into my tent, I anticipated that what
+sooner or later must end thus was close at hand.'
+
+Gregers remained silent for a few seconds, and then said:
+
+'You are mistaken, captain! I was not thinking of killing you when I
+asked you to come here this evening. If such had been my intention, it
+would have been carried out long ago. For three years, Krusé, I have
+known that you loved her, but I saw, at the same time, how little guilt
+there was in this secret love.' He held out his hand to Krusé. 'Poor
+fellow!' he continued, 'how could you help that you loved her? You, who
+were young, and whom God had destined for her. The error was, that no
+one gave me any idea of this until it was too late. I was a witness to
+the grief you both evinced; I heard the last words, the last sighs with
+which you parted from each other! I know it all. What you, on the
+contrary, do not know is--that I also loved Jeanné.'
+
+'You!' cried Krusé.
+
+'Yes; you are surprised at that, are you not?' continued Gregers, with
+a melancholy smile. 'An old man, who had no other right to that girl's
+love than what chance and authority bestowed. But I loved her,
+nevertheless, with an affection that in strength and devotion quite
+equalled your own. She was the only one, the last who bound me to life;
+my heart grew young again under the influence of this love, which, in
+spite of a husband's claims, preserved a lover's first timidity.'
+
+'You loved her!' cried Krusé, as if he must have the words repeated, in
+order that he might take in the possibility of their truth. 'But Jeanné
+never suspected this.'
+
+'Nay, do not think that I could betray my feelings when I so soon
+perceived that she was not able to return them! From the garden below
+have I, like you, often and often gazed up at her windows, until her
+shadow and her light disappeared; I have felt myself intoxicated at
+inhaling the perfume she scattered around her; in short, I have been
+more easily contented than you, for you told her that you loved her,
+while I hardly dared to confess so much to myself. Nor will she ever
+know it until I have ceased to live.'
+
+Gregers stopped speaking for a few minutes, while he fixed his gaze on
+the empty space before him within the tent Krusé could not find words
+to answer him, he felt so much moved by what he had just heard. A
+little after, Gregers continued:
+
+'To-morrow we go to battle, or rather accept it, since the enemy offers
+it to us. It is possible that I shall not outlive the day; it is,
+indeed, almost certain.'
+
+'Certain!' exclaimed Krusé.
+
+'Yes, my friend!' replied Gregers quietly. 'As you said lately, one has
+one's presentiments in this world, let us suppose that mine will be
+fulfilled. In case this should happen, I have written a letter, which I
+now give into your keeping; take care of it, for it contains my last
+will. My first intention was that you should have remained for a time
+ignorant of its contents, but I have thought better of it. When I am
+dead, go back to Hald, its doors will open to you, not as heretofore,
+to receive your sighs and complaints--no, you will enter Hald as its
+master, Jacob Krusé! I give Jeanné to you, and when I have done that I
+have given you all, for my property shall belong to you both, since I
+am a childless man and the last of my race. Raise your head, my son!
+Why do you bend over the table in this manner? She shall be yours, as a
+reward for her fidelity and your sufferings! You must love each other.
+I bequeath her to you, and it is my wish and my prayer that you will
+make up for all the sorrow I have caused her.'
+
+Gregers placed his hand on the young officer's drooping head. Krusé
+sank to the ground, and knelt before him! As Gregers raised him, he
+flung his arms round his neck and burst into tears. There was something
+very strange in this scene between the husband and the lover!
+
+'Oh my God!' cried Krusé, 'I see it all; you will let yourself be
+killed.'
+
+'No, certainly not that, my friend!' replied the general. 'But I shall
+be killed, that is all. I believe, as I told you, in presentiments, and
+I owe you both this reparation--you and her. Go, now! Go and take the
+letter with you. I wish to be alone a little time.'
+
+So saying, the general opened the tent, and motioned to Krusé to leave
+it.
+
+The next day, about mid-day, the battle near Gadebusk commenced. Twice
+during the morning Krusé had gone to Gregers's tent, but the general
+had declined receiving him either time, upon the plea of having much
+business to attend to. The drums and the trumpets shortly after called
+the soldiers to muster in their ranks, and the captain was obliged to
+hurry to his duty.
+
+When Gregers Daa rode past Reventlow, to the head of the division he
+commanded, he stopped his horse, and turning to the commander-in-chief,
+said in a low tone, so as not to be overheard by those near,
+
+'General! I have a request to make to you.'
+
+'To me!' cried Reventlow, much surprised.
+
+'Yes!' continued Gregers; 'and I beseech of you, for the sake of that
+friendship of which you have given me so many proofs, to grant it.'
+
+'It is already granted, my dear general, if even only on this account,
+that within another hour I may not be in a condition to accede to
+anyone's wishes.'
+
+'With the third national regiment, on the left wing of the army, there
+is one Captain Krusé in command of a company. I particularly wish that
+his life may be saved, if possible. Will you, therefore, kindly place
+him accordingly?'
+
+'Colonel Eifeler,' cried Reventlow, beckoning to one of the nearest
+officers, 'be so good as to order a portion of the third national
+regiment, under Captain Krusé, to serve as cover for the height, on
+which his majesty has determined to take the command.'
+
+The colonel touched his cap, put spurs to his horse, and galloped off.
+Gregers Daa thanked Reventlow with a long and warm pressure of the
+hand, and then went on to join his own men.
+
+The Danish army was drawn up on a hill, behind a morass; its left wing
+was protected by a river, its right by a large and thick forest of
+firs. Two hours before the commencement of the action the Saxon cavalry
+had arrived, and had united with the Danish.
+
+The Swedes commenced the battle with a brisk cannonade, and stormed the
+hill under their watchword, '_Mit Gott and Jesu Hülfe!_' Shortly after
+all was enveloped in smoke, which the wind drove over against the
+enemy. The fire of musketry mingled with the louder booming of the
+cannon; the signal trumpets sounded; the drums rolled, and men were
+falling in the agonies of death.
+
+An old chronicle says that the battle, 'with great effusion of blood,
+lasted until five o'clock. As no one on either side would give any
+quarter, there were fewer prisoners made; officers fought each other as
+in a duel, and such were the individual combats, that the Danish and
+Swedish officers were generally found dead, lying close to each other
+on the field of slaughter.'
+
+The same chronicle tells us that the Swedes stormed the hill three
+times. The last time they were so fortunate as to be able to take up
+their position at the foot of the hill, without the Danes having the
+power to hinder them. Two attempts had been made in vain. The Danes
+were beaten back, the Saxon cavalry gave way, and fled in disorder;
+Steenbock followed up his good fortune, and sent troops to pursue them.
+The Danes, too, were beginning to give way, for the enemy's cannon,
+loaded with grape, and discharged from a short distance, was making
+terrible havoc among them.
+
+At that moment a squadron of Danish horse, led by a tall, thin officer,
+came dashing down the hill, and for the third time made an attempt to
+drive back the enemy. The spirited horsemen dropped on all sides, but
+others, who had escaped unharmed, continued their onset, and fell upon
+their foes, their brave leader charging at their head. The cannons were
+silent, while musket and pistol shots flew hotly around. Shouts of
+triumph--groans from the wounded horses--prayers--the moans of the
+dying--and wild cries of encouragement, issued from that confused
+multitude, immersed in dust and smoke, amidst which were to be seen
+sabres flashing and sinking, and in the hottest of the fight the tall
+officer, who seemed invulnerable himself though he dealt destruction
+around.
+
+From a height at a little distance King Frederick had witnessed the
+whole. He had seen the two unsuccessful attempts to drive the enemy
+back, and the dragoons who had galloped down the hill to make the third
+effort. Gregers Daa's name was in the mouth of everyone around. It was
+he who was speeding on to fulfil his promise.
+
+This furious attack took the Swedes by surprise, and they began at
+length to draw back. It was in vain that Steenbock sent them
+reinforcements; before these reached the battlefield he beheld his
+troops, as if panic-struck, take wildly to flight, and heard the noise
+made by the dragoons as they spiked the Swedish cannon.
+
+In the midst of the field, among heaps of the wounded and dying on both
+sides of him, lay their commander, the heroic Gregers, struck by a
+pistol-ball, while he was trying to wrest the colours from a Swedish
+officer.
+
+This episode--the gallant conduct of the dragoons--had given the Danes
+time to recover themselves, and the battle was resumed with fury at
+another place. Some of the dragoons jumped from their horses, and bore
+their wounded general away from the field. Gregers was carried to the
+village, and into the very same room in which, the evening before, he
+had been so humbled and insulted.
+
+King Frederick soon after entered the chamber, went up to the bed, and
+leaning over him, took his hand, while he exclaimed:
+
+'How this disaster goes to my heart, my dear general! I have sent for
+my own surgeon; he will be here presently, and he will do all that he
+can to preserve to our fatherland a life so invaluable as yours.'
+
+'You are mistaken, my liege,' replied Gregers. 'The surgeon will be of
+no use, and I am only fulfilling my destiny. Had your majesty been
+unequal, yesterday evening when you put upon me the humiliation of
+doubting my courage, I would have killed you; _that_ being impossible,
+there was nothing for it but to let myself be killed. The ball is in my
+breast. It will realize my wish.'
+
+The king uttered in a low voice some words full of admiration of a
+heroism that sought death on account of a hasty and inconsiderate
+expression from his lips.
+
+When Gregers had finished speaking to the king, he turned his head away
+from him. His eyes met those of Krusé, who was kneeling on the other
+side of the bed. A sweet and happy smile stole over the pale
+countenance of the dying man, as he held out his hand to the captain.
+
+'You see that my presentiments were correct,' he whispered, in a weak
+and failing voice. 'Now she will be happy, and you also; now you may
+love each other freely--for ever. And when you are happiest, sometimes
+spare a thought to me--an old man, who was ignorant that it was he who
+hindered your happiness--who went away when he discovered it. Farewell,
+my son. Be kind to her, whom we both love!'
+
+Gregers drew a deep sigh, clasped his feeble hands, and his spirit fled
+to other worlds!'
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+A month later, two persons were sitting in one of the drawing-rooms at
+Hald; the one was Jeanné, the other Captain Krusé, who the same day had
+arrived with the general's body from Holstein. Gregers Daa had been
+buried in his family vault in the cathedral at Viborg. Jeanné had read
+the letter he had addressed to her in his tent the evening before the
+battle. Krusé related to her, word for word, what had passed the same
+evening between them. Jeanné wept bitterly while he spoke, and when he
+had finished there was a long and unbroken silence in the room. A
+little after, Jeanné held out her hand to him, and said,
+
+'Leave me, now, my friend. I wish to be alone.'
+
+There was something of decision and earnestness in the tone in which
+she spoke that alarmed the captain.' He held her hand in his while he
+asked:
+
+'And when may I come back?'
+
+'Never! Never come back!' replied Jeanné, with the utmost composure,
+'for I no longer love you!'
+
+Krusé stood petrified. Then he whispered in accents which betrayed the
+deepest despair:
+
+'And your vows, and your assurance that if you did not belong to _him_,
+no living creature should separate us?'
+
+'I have not forgotten all that,' she replied; 'but I now belong to him
+more than ever I did. Go, Jacob Krusé, I beseech of you. It is not the
+living which separates us, but the dead!'
+
+Having thus spoken she left the room.
+
+What strange contradictions there are in a woman's heart! Jeanné kept
+her word, and remained until her death a lonely and sorrowing widow.
+
+The following year Krusé fell at the siege of Tönning.
+
+
+
+
+                             HERR SINCLAIR.
+
+                              BY E. STORM.
+
+
+      Herr Sinclair o'er the briny wave
+        His course to Norway bent;
+      'Midst Guldbrand's rocks he found his grave;
+        There, his last breath was spent.
+
+      Sinclair pass'd o'er the billows blue
+        For Swedish gold to fight;
+      He came, alas! he little knew
+        Norwegian dust to bite.
+
+      Bright beams that night the pale moon flung--
+        The vessel gently roll'd--
+      A mermaid from the ocean sprung
+        And Sinclair's fate foretold.
+
+      'Turn back, turn back, thou Scottish chief!
+        Hold'st thou thy life so cheap?
+      Turn back, or give my words belief,
+        Thou'lt ne'er repass this deep!'
+
+      'Light is thy song, malicious elf!
+        Thy theme is always ill!
+      Could I but reach thy hated self
+        That voice should soon be still!'
+
+      He sail'd one day--he sail'd for three--
+        With all his vassal train;
+      On the fourth morn--see--Norway--see!
+        Breaks on the azure main.
+
+      By Romsdal's coast he steers to land,
+        On hostile views intent;
+      The fourteen hundred of his band
+        Were all on evil bent.
+
+      With lawless might, where'er they go
+        They slaughter and they burn;
+      They laugh to scorn the widow's woe:
+        The old man's pray'r they spurn.
+
+      The infant in its mother's arms,
+        While smiling there--they kill.
+      But rumours strange, and wild alarms
+        Soon all the country fill.
+
+      The bonfires blazed--the tidings flew--
+        And far and wide they spread
+      The valley's sons that signal knew;
+        From foes _they_ never fled.
+
+      'We must ourselves the country save;
+        Our soldiers fight elsewhere.
+      And cursed be the dastard knave
+        Who now his blood would spare!'
+
+      From Vaage, Lessoe, and from Lom,
+        With axes sharp and strong;
+      In one great mass the peasants come--
+        To meet the Scots they throng.
+
+      There runs a path by Lidé's side,
+        Which some the Kringell call;
+      And near it Laugé's waters glide:
+        In them the foe shall fall.
+
+      Now weapons, long disused, are spread
+        Again that bloody day.
+      The merman lifts his shaggy head
+        And waits his destined prey.
+
+      Brave Sinclair, pierced with many a ball,
+        Sinks groaning on the field.
+      The Scots behold their leader fall,
+        And rank on rank they yield.
+
+      'On peasants! on--ye Normand men!
+        Strike down beneath your feet!'
+      For home and peace the Scots wish'd then;
+        But there was no retreat.
+
+      With corpses was the Kringell fill'd;
+        The ravens were regaled.
+      The youthful blood which there was spill'd
+        The Scottish girls bewail'd.
+
+      No living soul went home again
+        Their countrymen to tell
+      The hope to conquer those how vain,
+        'Midst Norway's hills who dwell.
+
+      They raised a column on that spot,
+        To bid their foes beware;
+      And evil be that Normand's lot
+        Who coldly passes there!
+
+
+
+
+                            THE AGED RABBI.
+
+                             A Jewish Tale.
+
+                           BY B. S. INGEMANN.
+
+                               *   *   *
+
+
+                                   I.
+
+'Is thy day of persecution to return, lost, unhappy Israel?' exclaimed
+the old rabbi, Philip Moses, sadly shaking his venerable grey head, as
+one evening in the autumn of 1819 stones were thrown in through the
+windows of the house in which he resided, whilst the rabble of Hamburg
+shouted in the street in derision the first words of the Jew's lament
+for Jerusalem.
+
+'Yes! ye are right,' he continued mournfully; 'Jerusalem is demolished
+and laid waste. Ye could not stone us against Jehovah's will! But His
+wrath is sore kindled against us. His patience was great, but His
+people have forgotten Him in the midst of their banishment; they have
+forsaken the Law and the Prophets amidst the dwellings of strangers;
+they have mingled their blood with the blood of the unbeliever; and lo!
+therefore God's people are thrust forth from the earth, and blotted out
+from among the living.'
+
+'Oh, grandfather, grandfather!' cried his weeping grandchildren,
+clinging to him in their terror, 'protect us from the fearful
+Christians!'
+
+'If ye be still the children of Israel,' answered the old man calmly,
+'fold your hands and bow your knees, turn your faces towards the
+east--towards the ruins of God's holy city--and pray to Jehovah, the
+God of your fathers! While thus engaged in prayer, what if these stones
+crush your heads and dash out your brains? Praise Jacob's God with me,
+and die in the name of the Lord God of Sabaoth! Then shall His cherubim
+bear ye in peace to our father Abraham's bosom!'
+
+'Is that the only comfort you can bestow, simple old man?' said his son
+Samuel, the father of the children. He was the richest jeweller in
+Hamburg, and now saw his valuable shop exposed to be ransacked and
+plundered by the furious mob. 'Can you give us no better advice than to
+pray? _I_ know something better. We will all let ourselves be baptized
+to-morrow.'
+
+'Would you renounce the faith of your fathers on account of your
+anxiety about your jewellery, my son?' said the old man, casting a
+contemptuous glance on the wealthy, trembling Israelite, who, overcome
+with fear, was rushing from keeping-place to keeping-place, gathering
+together and packing up his most valuable articles.
+
+'Truly it is indifferent to me whether they call me Jew or Christian,'
+replied Samuel, 'so I can save my goods and my life. When the question
+is, whether I shall be a rich man to-morrow or a beggar--whether I
+shall walk the streets, and go to the Exchange in peace, or if I am to
+be pelted in open day by the very children, and risk my health, my
+limbs, my life itself--when my jewels, my furniture, my wife, my
+children, and my windows are in question--I should be a great ass if I
+hesitated to let a handful of cold water be thrown upon me. It is only
+a stupid ceremony; but I daresay it is just as good as our own
+crotchets. Now-a-days that is the best creed which gives security and
+advantages in trade and commerce.'
+
+'Miserable being!' cried old Philip Moses, drawing himself up to his
+full length, 'accursed be the spirit that speaks by your mouth! It is
+that pestilential spirit which has wrought evil among God's people, and
+caused them to become a byword to the nations of the earth, and an
+abomination to the Lord of Heaven! Accursed be those goods and that
+life for which you would barter the faith of your forefathers, and mock
+even the altar of the strangers, to which you would fly in your abject
+cowardice! Accursed be the security and the advantages for which you
+would betray Jehovah! Accursed be the trade and the commerce that have
+enticed God's people to become the slaves of Mammon, and frantic
+worshippers of the golden calf!'
+
+'You talk wildly, old man!' replied Samuel. 'You do not know how to
+accommodate yourself to the times. You are aged, and cling to old
+notions; but the days of your prophets are gone by.'
+
+'Their words shall stand to the last of days,' said the old man,
+raising his head proudly; 'and be it my care to proclaim them among ye,
+even if the earth should burn around me, and sink beneath my feet! Is
+it not enough that we are a stricken and dispersed race, cast forth
+into the wide world, and condemned to live despised in the land of the
+stranger? Shall we add humiliation to humiliation, and despicably
+constrain ourselves to laud and call those just who scorn us and
+trample us in the dust?'
+
+The jeweller's handsome saloon was full of fugitive Israelites, who
+sought refuge and protection at the abode of the wealthy Samuel; whilst
+the police and the watchmen _pretended_ to be endeavouring to quiet and
+disperse the mob outside.
+
+The assembled Jews loudly deplored their misfortunes, and some of them
+gazed with astonishment on the aged Philip Moses, who stood there
+firmly and fearlessly, like a prophet among them, and poured forth
+words of wisdom and instruction to his trembling fellow-believers.
+
+Two or three of the old rabbis, with long beards and black silk
+_talars_, or robes, alone listened attentively and with calm
+seriousness to him, the most ancient of their community. But the young
+beardless Israelites uttered cries of lamentation, bewailing the
+conduct of the people of Hamburg, bewailing their broken windows, and
+all the damage that would accrue to their trades or business in
+consequence of this new persecution.
+
+'Ah! if my mother had not been so over-faithful to my father,' said a
+conceited young Jew, 'I might have gone with comfort to the theatre,
+and seen that pretty Ma'amselle Wrede, without being recognized as a
+Jew, and abused accordingly; and running the risk of getting my head
+broken to boot.'
+
+'Oh! that we had never been circumcised!' cried another; 'our lives are
+actually not safe in the streets.'
+
+'Would that we were all baptized!' groaned a third. 'Ay, with some
+philter that would turn our dark hair to red, and remove the too
+apparent marks with which Jehovah has signalized us and cast us out
+among our foes.'
+
+'Oh!--woe--woe!' shrieked the women and children--'whither shall we fly
+in our great distress and misery? Ah! were it but morning, and this
+dreadful night were past!'
+
+'Leave off your lamentations, ye foolish and untoward ones!' cried
+Philip Moses. 'The Lord has struck ye with imbecility, and with
+blindness, and with corruption of heart. He has scattered ye abroad
+among all the tribes of the earth, because of your perversity; he has
+given thee a timorous heart, oh Israel! so that the sole of thy foot
+cannot find rest, and thou feelest that thy life is in jeopardy, and
+goest about groaning night and day; and in the morning thou sayest,
+Would that it were evening! and in the evening, Would that it were
+morning! because of the terror of thy heart, and the visions that are
+before thine eyes. But hearken what the Lord declares unto you by the
+mouth of His servants from the tabernacle in your foreign synagogue. If
+your affliction and your humiliation be greater than your
+transgressions, shake the dust from your feet, and go forth from the
+place where ye are treated with ignominy and oppression. Leave the
+iniquitous Mammon in the hands of the evildoers, and take only with you
+that to which there cleaves no curse in the sight of Jehovah! Come! I
+will lead ye from city to city, and from land to land, until we find
+some spot on earth where Jehovah may veil our disgrace and grant us
+freedom among the children of mankind, or else, like our fathers of
+old, among the wild beasts of the wilderness!'
+
+'What are you dreaming of, old man?' exclaimed his rich kinsmen, in
+dissatisfied chorus. 'Should we leave our hard-won gains, and go forth
+like beggars into the world, with old sacks on our shoulders? Where
+shall we find a more commercial town than this? And in what part of the
+world would we not be exposed to annoyances and persecutions? No path
+leads back to the promised land, and were we to be guided by your
+dreams, we should neither be able to feed our wives and our little
+ones, nor to gather golden pieces and silver ducats.'
+
+'If ye believed in Jehovah,' replied Philip Moses, 'ye would also
+believe that there is a way to the promised land; but that thought is
+too grand for your contracted souls. The flesh-pots of Egypt are dearer
+to you than the manna from heaven in the wilderness; and if the Lord
+God were to call up Moses among you, ye would stone him as your fathers
+stoned the prophets.'
+
+'What avails all this long discourse, poor, foolish old man?' said his
+son, the rich jeweller, interrupting him. 'Sit down there in your
+comfortable arm-chair, and amuse yourself with the children, Moses,
+while the rest of us consult together what is best to be done. He is
+going into his dotage,' added he, turning to the other Jews, 'and
+sometimes he is not quite in his right senses, he has quarrelled with
+all his family, and I keep him here, out of charity, in my house, as
+you see; but for all that I have to put up with many hard words, and
+much abuse from him.'
+
+Then there commenced a mumbling in the room, and a buzzing sound as in
+a bee-hive, everyone giving his opinion as to the best way of quieting
+the people of Hamburg, and making up matters with them. Some proposed
+that a deputation should be sent to the Senate to demand the protection
+of the military for their houses.
+
+'It would be of no use,' said others. 'These mean, abominable members
+of the Hanseatic League are our worst enemies; these stupid, paltry,
+petty dealers, who envy our cleverness in business, and covet our
+profits--it is just they themselves who set the populace against us.'
+
+'Then let us remove to Altona,' cried some. 'Those Danish blockheads
+will at least have sense enough to be willing to receive us with all
+our riches; and they will be glad to have an opportunity of causing a
+loss to the impudent Hamburgers, in return for their "_Schukelmeier_"
+_cry_.'[3]
+
+'But when the worst part of the storm is over, we will repent having
+gone,' argued others; 'for there is not so much business done, or so
+much money to be made there, as here. It is better for us to put up
+with rudeness and with temporary annoyances, than to run the risk of
+seriously injuring our business, and lessening our gains.'
+
+'If the worst happens, we can but let ourselves be baptized,' said
+Samuel, 'and then we can no more be called Jews than the Hamburgers
+themselves.'
+
+'What good would that do?' exclaimed a shabby-looking Jew, with a long
+beard. 'It is not on account of our religion that they persecute us; it
+is only our wealth and the luxuries we can afford, that excite their
+envious dislike. Our handsome houses are our misfortune, and our
+splendid equipages; our beautiful villas on the Elbe and the Alster,
+and all the braggadocio of our young fops. Go about like me, with a
+matted beard and tattered garments. Live well in the privacy of your
+own houses, but let not your abundance be seen by anyone. You will then
+find that no one will envy you, or persecute you. Let the children in
+the street point at us, and abuse us. Is it not for being what it
+should be our pride to be called? If they even treated us as if we were
+lepers, they could not prevent us from being God's chosen people. We
+are blessed in our affairs, and in our wedlock; we multiply, and fill
+all lands, and devour the marrow thereof; we are _really_ the lords of
+the people, though we do not blush to seem their slaves.'
+
+This advice was rejected by the richer and more modern Israelites, who
+had no inclination to array themselves in sackcloth and ashes, and to
+relinquish the ostentatious display of that wealth which, in the midst
+of so many humiliations, and with so many equivocal acts, and little
+tricks in trade, they had amassed.
+
+'No, no! I know a much better plan,' said one of the richest men
+present, who had originally been a sort of pedlar, and sold tapes and
+ribbons. 'We will take it by turns to give turtle-feasts; we will
+invite all the young men, the sons of the merchants, to our tables; our
+wives and our daughters must show all manner of kindness and
+complaisance to them, and not keep them at such a cold distance as they
+do now; let them lay aside their reserve, and try to please them. It is
+better, far better, even to marry among the Christians, than to have
+them as enemies, now-a-days.'
+
+On hearing these words, old Philip Moses arose; he could no longer
+endure to listen to his people humbling themselves, as he thought, so
+basely. He tore his clothes, and anathematized the tongue that spoke
+last. He then tried, with all the eloquence of which he was master, to
+touch the hearts and rouse the spirits of those who were the best among
+the assembly, by setting forth to them the misery and degradation which
+their own selfishness and cupidity had brought upon them. He
+characterized their present persecution as a just punishment from
+Jehovah for their degeneracy, and their being so absorbed in the
+pursuit of money. He condemned their indifference to the faith and the
+customs of their forefathers; their neglect of the Sabbath, and of its
+holy rites; their shaving off their beards, and their being ashamed to
+be known to be what they were. He inveighed against their connection
+with Christians, and more especially their marriages with them, by
+which two of his own sons had disgraced him. And he denounced their
+excessive keenness in the pursuit of gold, as likely to be ruinous to
+them, as being certain to have an injurious effect on their settling
+happily in any and every country in the world.
+
+But this was too much for his fellow Jews to harken to in silence. They
+all attacked him vehemently, calling him a crazy old traitor, who only
+wished their destruction. Loudly, however, as swelled their chorus of
+abuse, still more loudly arose the voice of the old man, as he, in the
+words of the prophet Jeremiah, reproved them: 'O Israel! thine own
+wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee.
+I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou
+turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For though
+thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity
+is marked before me, saith the Lord God. Your sons have withholden good
+things from me. For among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait
+as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage
+is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit, therefore they
+are become great and waxen rich. They are waxen fat--they shine; yea,
+they overpass the deeds of the wicked. They judge not the cause of the
+fatherless, yet they prosper. Shall I not visit for these things? saith
+the Lord. Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? Go ye
+upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her
+battlements, for they are not the Lord's!'
+
+Scarcely had he uttered these last words than a shower of stones,
+hurled against the closed window-shutters, demolished them, and dashed
+in, while this new attack was followed by shouts of triumph and
+derisive laughter from the streets.
+
+'Away with him--away with the old prophet!' cried several of the Jews.
+'His imprecations are bringing fresh evil and persecution upon us.'
+
+'This is not a time to be preaching all that old twaddle to us about
+our sins,' said his son, the rich Samuel. 'I will not listen to another
+word; and if you expect to remain longer in my house, you must keep
+your tongue to yourself, I can tell you. It would be more to the
+purpose if you went to your room, and shaved off that beard of yours,
+that you might look like other men. We must howl with the wolves we are
+among, and if the mob were to catch a glimpse of your long beard, which
+is just like that of an old he-goat, and your masquerade garb, they
+would pull the house down about our ears.'
+
+'Oh, grandfather, grandfather!' exclaimed the youngest of his
+grandchildren, starting away from him, 'how your eyes are blazing! You
+are not going to hurt my father?'
+
+'For _your_ sakes, I will not curse him,' said the old man, in a low,
+tremulous voice; 'but accursed be the spirit which influences him, and
+my unfortunate, perverted people! I shall shake the dust from my feet
+at the threshold of your door, my son, and never more shall you behold
+my countenance in this world; but, in your last moments, you will
+remember _this_ hour. I will wander defenceless among our enemies; I
+will bare this grey head to their insults, stand amidst their showers
+of stones, and peradventure be torn asunder by their violent hands,
+before my own child shall pluck out the beard from my aged cheeks, or
+turn me out of his house as a beggar.'
+
+'Stay!--are you mad?' cried Samuel; 'you will not pass alive through
+that mob outside. Hold him, some one!' he exclaimed to those around.
+'He is deranged, as you see, and is going into his dotage. I should be
+sorry if anything were to happen to him, or he were to meet with any
+injury.'
+
+But old Philip Moses went away, like Lot, from the doomed Sodom, and
+never once looked back. No one attempted to detain him, for his
+denunciations, and his terrible look, had frightened them all. With his
+snow-white locks uncovered, and in his torn dark silk _talar_, alone,
+and without his staff, he went forth, and shook the dust from his feet
+as he stepped from the door.
+
+When the Hamburg populace perceived him, a group of children began to
+abuse him, but no one took up the cry, and not a hand was lifted
+against the silent, venerable-looking old man.
+
+'Let him go in peace!' said one to the other; 'it is old Philip Moses.
+He is a good man; it would be a sin to hurt _him_, or to scoff at him.'
+
+'But if we had his son Samuel in our clutches,' said others, 'he should
+not get off so easily; he is the greatest bloodsucker among them all!'
+
+
+                                  II.
+
+It was late at night--the tumult in the streets had ceased. No more
+carriages rolled along from the theatre, or from parties at the houses
+of the rich Hamburg merchants. The promenade on the 'Jungfernstieg' had
+been over long before, and the pavilions were locked up. Lights
+glimmered faintly from the upper windows of the large hotels, and only
+here and there a solitary reveller was to be seen, humming an air, as
+he was wending his way homewards from the 'Salon d'Apollon,' or was
+stopped by some straggling night-wanderer of the female sex. The moon
+was shining calmly on the Alster, and the watchman had just called the
+hour by St. Michael's clock; but two strange-looking figures still
+walked up and down the 'Jungfernstieg,' and seemed to have no thought
+of home, though the sharp wind scattered the leaves of the trees around
+them, and the flitting clouds often obscured the moon on that cold
+September night. A dark-haired young girl walked, shivering with cold,
+alongside of an old Jew, and seemed to be speaking words of comfort to
+him, in a low, sweet voice; and that Jew was the aged Philip Moses!
+
+'You are freezing, my child,' said the old man, as he threw the
+skirt of his torn talar around her shoulders. 'Let me take you back to
+the house of your mother's brother; but _I_ will not cross his
+threshold again. I made that vow the day he was seduced into wedding
+the artful Christian girl. On this day has my third son closed his
+door against me, and I have no more daughters on this earth. But yes, I
+have _you_ still--you, the daughter of my dear and excellent Rachel!
+Come, let me take you home. It is hard enough upon you to be an
+orphan--fatherless and motherless--and a servant to your Christian
+aunt; you shall not become houseless for my sake. Poor Benjamina!' he
+exclaimed, as a bright beam from the moon, that was unclouded for a
+minute, enabled him to see her lovely youthful face distinctly, and to
+observe how tears were gathering in her long dark eyelashes. 'Poor
+Benjamina! you are indeed kind to care so much for your rough old
+grandfather, and not to be afraid to come and wander about with him, in
+our day of persecution, when he was thrust out alone among our foes!'
+
+'Ah, dear, good grandfather!' replied Benjamina, 'how could my uncle
+Samuel behave so ill to you! But all my uncles are not so bad as he is.
+I am tolerably comfortable at uncle Daniel's every other week, and they
+are kind to me now at uncle Isaac's, since I have grown stronger, and
+am able to assist my aunt in the kitchen. Do go with me to one of them.
+Their wives and new connections do not hate us as the other Christians
+do; and you must go somewhere. Since uncle Samuel has become so rich,
+he disdains all his poorer relations, and will not associate with them.
+Why did you choose to live with him, rather than with either of your
+other sons? I am sure neither of them could have found it in his heart
+to have treated you as Samuel has done to-day. You never took a vow not
+to enter Isaac's house, therefore do go with me to it. I shall reside
+there with you, and attend upon you: and the pretty children will
+become fond of you. They can learn from you the history of Joseph and
+his brethren, and hear about little Benjamin, my namesake. You can
+teach them as you taught me at my poor mother's, when I was a little
+girl. Come, dear grandfather, come!--before day dawn, and our
+persecutors awake. In these times of tribulation we must cherish each
+other--we unfortunate and persecuted fugitives.'
+
+'It is five years since I have entered my son Isaac's house,' said the
+old man, slowly. 'How many children has he now?'
+
+'Ah, you do not know that, dear grandfather, and yet he is your own
+son! His fifth boy is an infant in its cradle.'
+
+'Is his Christian wife kind to him? and does she not turn his feeble
+spirit from Jehovah, and the faith and the customs of our forefathers?
+I have not seen him lately at the synagogue, but he never misses going
+to the Exchange.'
+
+'Only come with me to him, grandfather, and you will see that he is
+better than Samuel, though he may not go to the synagogue, and only
+puts the shop-door on the latch on Saturday, instead of shutting it up.
+You will like his nice little boys, though my aunt rather spoils the
+eldest. They have all light hair and pretty blue eyes, like their
+mother. Many Christians visit the house; and the good Mr. Veit, who is
+a painter, sometimes teaches me to draw when I am there. You do not
+hate _all_ Christians, do you, grandfather, because some of them treat
+us cruelly? You do not condemn them all so much as these--our
+uncharitable persecutors?'
+
+'No, my child,' replied the old man. 'I admit the general philanthropy
+of the Christians, which they believe they learned from their wise but
+unfortunate prophet; though, in their present conduct towards us, they
+give no proof of it. Yet far be it from me to blame them for this. Our
+law tells us to make our own hearts clean before we judge others; that
+so we may find forgiveness in the day of atonement. But stay not out
+here longer, so late, my daughter; your good name may be made the prey
+of the tongue of the backbiter and the slanderer, although it is only
+in a work of mercy and of love in which you are engaged, and for which
+the Lord God of Sabaoth will bless you in future days. Leave me to
+wander out into the solitary paths! The Lord can send to me--even to
+me--a raven in the desert, if he think fit. My tent is now the great
+Temple of the Lord, where the sun and the moon are lights in the high
+altar, and the four corners of the earth are the pillars of the
+tabernacle. Hark! from thence shall it seem to me that His mighty
+cherubs are singing praises to His name, when the wild storms of nature
+are playing around my head. Let me go, my child, and weep not because I
+am a lonely wanderer! I would rather roam, houseless, through the
+world, than seek a refuge under the roof where I am an unwelcome
+intruder. I would rather be stoned by the Christians than be disdained
+as a pauper by my own kindred--my own children--and perhaps hear that I
+am so, when the infirmities of age compel me to listen in silence.'
+
+'Well, then, so be it, dear grandfather, and I will remain with you.
+The Christians may stone me in your arms if they will.'
+
+The old man was silent for a time, and he appeared to be fighting a
+hard battle in his heart.
+
+'Come then, my child,' said he at length, seizing Benjamina by the
+hand, 'for your sake will I endure disgrace, and ask shelter from a
+son, who cared more for a strange woman than for his father's
+blessing.'
+
+They then proceeded in silence to the 'Hopfenmarkt,' and rang at the
+clothier Isaac's door.
+
+'Is that any of our people?' whispered an anxious voice from a window.
+Philip Moses answered in Hebrew, and a little while after the outer
+door was opened.
+
+Isaac received his deserted old father, who had thus taken refuge with
+him, with sincere pleasure; yet this pleasure was damped by the
+perplexed and uneasy feelings which came over him when he thought of
+the daily reproaches which he foresaw he would have to encounter, and
+the many disturbances in his domestic life which he feared the
+unbending rabbi would occasion. But their common grievances and danger
+drew their hearts together. Though Isaac's house was, at present,
+exempt from all damage (since, through his marriage with a Christian,
+and his frequent intercourse with Christians, he seemed almost
+separated from his own people), he lived still in constant terror, on
+account of the inimical disposition evinced towards the Jews, which had
+now actually broken out in open persecution of them; and he sought in
+vain to conceal from those with whom he associated the interest he
+secretly took in the fate of his unhappy nation.
+
+He was extremely indignant when he heard how his rich brother, Samuel,
+had behaved to the old man: and he begged his father to forget all the
+past, and make himself at home in his house. But he resolved, at the
+same time, not to permit his domestic peace to be disturbed, or the
+habits of his daily life to be disarranged, by the old man's
+prejudices--such at least as could not be borne with easily, and might
+not give cause of complaint. 'He must accommodate himself, as my guest,
+to the ways of the house,' thought he to himself. 'He will be
+accustomed to them in time, and there would be no use in beginning as
+we could not go on.'
+
+'Your brother Samuel has not honoured his father, and he cannot succeed
+in worldly matters,' said Philip Moses, as he seemed endeavouring to
+read in the countenance of his son what was passing in his mind. 'But
+may the Almighty give him, and all our people, grace to repent, and let
+not His angry countenance be turned upon us to our ruin! _My_ days will
+not be many,' he added, earnestly; 'but had it not been for my
+faithfully attached Benjamina's sake, I would rather have gone forth to
+wander over the wide world than have exposed your heart, my son, to a
+trial which, I fear, is beyond your strength.'
+
+Isaac's wife was quite out of humour when Benjamina went to her bedroom
+to tell her what had taken place.
+
+'It will never answer,' said she, 'to have that old instigator of
+strife here in our house. He hates me already, because I am not one of
+your nation. It was on my account that he has never hitherto chosen to
+put his foot within our doors.'
+
+'No, my grandfather does not hate the Christians,' replied Benjamina,
+cheerfully. 'If he lives here, he will bring good luck and a blessing
+to the house. Dearest aunt, may I not get the little blue chamber ready
+for him? I did not dare to go near him when he was with my uncle
+Samuel, and yet he was so kind to me when I was a child.'
+
+'Well, I suppose I can't help his staying, for the present at least,'
+replied the aunt, peevishly, 'so you can put the blue chamber in decent
+order for him, Benjamina. But if you make too much fuss about him, or
+give me any additional trouble with this new pest, I will send you back
+to Daniel. You may stay for the present; but keep him as much as
+possible away from the children and the rest of us. We shall have quite
+annoyance enough with him at the dinner-table.'
+
+'Poor, poor grandfather!' sighed Benjamina, as weeping silently she
+left her unkind aunt, who had often before spoken harshly to her, but
+had never wounded her feelings so deeply as now.
+
+Isaac had afterwards an unpleasant matrimonial scene, and a sharp
+battle of words with his wife, in reference to the old man, to whom he
+could not deny an asylum in his house, however many scruples he himself
+had as to keeping him.
+
+
+                                  III.
+
+The next day was Saturday. Philip Moses kept the sabbath in his own
+room, and prayed for his unhappy people; but he often started, and a
+look of pain seemed to contract his features when he overheard his son
+talking loudly to his customers in the shop, and rattling the money in
+the till; while his wife, in the other apartments, was engaged in
+various household duties, in all of which Benjamina was obliged to
+assist her. He frequently heard her aunt scolding her, and she had
+scarcely been able to snatch more than a minute to carry her
+grandfather's breakfast to him, and affectionately to bid him good
+morning. On that short visit he perceived that she had been weeping;
+but he would not deprive her of the comfort of fancying she had
+concealed her tears from him, by letting her know that he had observed
+them.
+
+Philip Moses was lying with his old head literally bowed into the dust,
+and was engaged in prayer, when Benjamina returned and called him to
+dinner. His daughter-in-law had slightly hoped he would be able to put
+up with such accommodation as their house afforded, but she was neither
+able nor willing to conceal her ill-humour; and the old man sat
+silently at table without tasting any of the dishes placed on it, for
+these consisted of the very things that the Mosaic law particularly
+forbade. His son did not seem to notice all this; but poor Benjamina
+did, and fasted also, though she was very hungry. The tumult of the
+preceding night was talked of, and it was told that there had not been
+one window left unbroken in Samuel's residence, nor in many of the
+handsomest houses belonging to the Jews; also, that a couple of Jew
+old-clothesmen, who were perambulating the streets, had been very
+ill-used by the mob.
+
+'Why do the rich make so much useless display?' said Isaac, 'and why do
+the poor seek, by their needless oddity, to draw public observation
+upon themselves?'
+
+'Have you become a Christian, my son?' demanded the old man; 'or
+perhaps this is not the Sabbath-day?'
+
+'I adhere to the doctrines of my forefathers,' replied his son, 'in
+what I consider to be of consequence, and in what is applicable to the
+age in which we live, and to the ideas of what is holy and unholy that
+my reason and my senses can acknowledge. I wish my father would do the
+same, and not be scandalized at what is really quite innocent.'
+
+'My father-in-law must try to put up with our fare,' said the mistress
+of the house, handing him, with thoughtless indifference, a plate of
+roast pork. 'Our house is quite in disorder to-day,' she added, by way
+of apology, when he silently handed her back the plate, 'and I really
+did not bethink me of our guest; but I shall have something else
+another time, when I am accustomed to remember what he will not eat.'
+
+A gloomy silence then followed at table, and Isaac cast a reproachful
+look at his wife, which she did not omit to notice. The old man made a
+movement as if he were about to rise, but at that moment his eye fell
+on Benjamina; he remained silent and reseated himself. What Benjamina
+read, however, in her grandfather's countenance, drew unbidden tears to
+her beautiful eyes--tears which she quickly brushed away, while in her
+embarrassment she, unwittingly, broke up her bread into small crumbs on
+the tablecloth. For this act of extravagance she received a sharp
+reprimand from her aunt, with a rude reminder that these were not times
+to waste bread, and that 'those who had nothing of their own should
+think themselves lucky to get anything to put in their mouths.'
+
+'Wife!' whispered Isaac, to his better half, as they rose from table,
+'that was not according to our agreement.'
+
+When old Philip Moses was alone with his son afterwards, he looked long
+and earnestly at him, and then said, in a dejected tone of voice:
+
+'My son, speak out the truth freely--the grey-haired, antiquated Jew is
+an unbidden guest; you are ashamed to close your doors against him, but
+not to give him wormwood in his cup of welcome; and my poor Benjamina
+is looked on as a mendicant here, to whom you have not many crumbs of
+bread to spare.'
+
+'How so--my father?' stammered Isaac. 'If my wife--forgive her!--I
+myself remarked a degree of thoughtlessness in her, which pained me.'
+
+'Isaac--Isaac!' exclaimed the old man, 'why does your voice tremble,
+and why do your eyes avoid mine? But I will still call you my son, and
+will tarry awhile to see if you can free yourself. Your heart is not
+bad, Isaac; but, alas! it has been with you, as with the sons of
+Israel, who, captivated by the daughters of a strange people, forgot
+father and mother, and that Lord who brought them out of Egypt--they
+never beheld the promised land.'
+
+'Let not my marriage offend you so much, my dear father,' said Isaac,
+gathering courage to speak out, 'and be not shocked at my way of
+living. Remember, I came into the world half a century later than you
+did. Opinions alter with time and with circumstances, and I have
+learned to see much in our religion, and our position as regards the
+rest of the world, in a very different light to what you do. I should
+indeed be blind, if I did not perceive that our people are the most
+remarkable on the face of the earth, and the least subject to change,
+even in their ruin, and their dispersion among all the nations in the
+world. But I do not think that we are, therefore, called upon eternally
+to separate ourselves from all other living beings. Inwardly we may,
+indeed, feel our distinction from them; and let this secret knowledge
+strengthen us to support our humiliations, and teach us to rise
+superior to our oppressors and persecutors, even when we are condemned
+to crawl in the dust before them; _inwardly_ we may despise them, but
+_outwardly_ we must amalgamate with the great masses of mankind, who
+will otherwise crush us in our stubbornness.'
+
+'If I understand you aright, my son, you mean that we may continue to
+be Israelites, while we accept Christian customs and fashions; and that
+our race might be preserved, notwithstanding that we put an end to it
+ourselves by mingling our blood with that of the stranger.'
+
+'As a people and as a nation we are already lost,' replied his son;
+'and with the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem has the outward
+structure of our religion fallen to the ground. Do you not believe that
+if our great lawgiver had lived in these times, and in this land, he
+would not have prescribed very different rules for our conduct?'
+
+'Would he have changed the commandments to fear and serve the God of
+Sabaoth, and to honour father and mother?' asked the old man.
+
+Some persons came in at that moment, and the conversation was broken
+off.
+
+In the evening Isaac was not at home, but some of his wife's relations
+came to visit her, along with a couple of foppish young men, who looked
+in from a party in the neighbourhood. No one seemed to notice old
+Philip Moses; he sat quietly in a remote corner of the room, and
+listened to the jokes, with which some of the gentlemen entertained the
+company about the rising against the Jews, at which they laughed very
+heartily; also telling, with great glee, that they were to be attacked
+again. Amongst the visitors was a handsome young man, with long fair
+hair falling over his white collar. He was the young painter Veit, who
+had lately returned from Rome, and who still wore the peculiar costume
+adopted there by artists. The two fops seemed inclined to turn his
+dress into ridicule, for they were afraid that he intended introducing
+the fashion into Hamburg; but he took no notice of them. He was the son
+of the physician who attended Isaac's family, and who resided on the
+'Hopfenmarkt.' His attraction to the house was Benjamina's beautiful
+face, which was very interesting to him as an artist. He had hitherto
+taken no share in the general conversation, but had been standing apart
+in a window with Benjamina, talking to her about her reverend-looking
+grandfather, whom he had saluted with the respect which his age and
+patriarchal appearance demanded.
+
+He now remarked the tenour of the conversation that was going on, and
+turned quickly from Benjamina to try to stop it, by introducing some
+other subject. But the thoughtless and unfeeling young men soon resumed
+their ridicule of the Jews, and indulged in witticisms at the expense
+of their sufferings during the riot, without at all being checked by
+the remembrance of whose house they were in, or who was present. At
+length Veit thought it necessary to remind them where they were; and he
+did this in so pointed and stinging a manner, that, ashamed and
+enraged, they immediately took their departure, but not until they had
+whispered him that he would find them the next morning near the
+Obelisk. No one overheard the challenge, but Veit vowed to himself that
+he would chastise them severely, and that _that_ meeting should be a
+blacker hour to them than any which had occurred during the tumult they
+had considered so amusing. But _their_ exit did not put an end to
+strife. Some elderly wholesale dealers thought fit to take up the
+defence of their friends who had just gone, and seemed at least not to
+disapprove of the chastisement inflicted on the privileged Hebrew
+usurers for their long-practised extortions.
+
+Veit again became the champion of the Jews, and descanted with warmth
+on the hateful, unchristian spirit which could impel Christians so
+shamefully to break the peace, and maltreat a fugitive, defenceless
+race, to whom the state had promised its protection.
+
+4 We complain that they hate us and defraud us,' said he. 'Do we show
+love to them when we stone them? Do we not betray them, when we
+infringe our own laws in order to break faith with them, and withdraw
+the security on which we told them they might rely, when they settled
+among us? If we were to show more justice and Christian feeling, we
+might induce them to like us; but hatred, scorn, and persecution, never
+yet won either proselytes or friends.'
+
+Benjamina rewarded the defender of her people with a grateful smile,
+and old Philip Moses rose and stepped quietly, but with dignity, forth
+from his corner.
+
+'It is just and right that we should be humbled before the Lord!' said
+he. 'But unjust and wicked are our fellow-creatures who seek our
+humiliation. Accept an old man's thanks,' he added, as he turned
+towards the young painter, 'that thou dost not echo the cry of the
+persecutor, and cast stones at us in the time wherein we are exposed to
+the contumely and the reproach of the scorner, but that thou hast a
+word of kindness for the Lord's oppressed and humbled people in the
+hour of their desolation.'
+
+'Who is that strange old man? He speaks as if he were a Bible,' said
+the startled visitors one to another.
+
+Isaac's eldest child, a boy of about five years of age, and his
+mother's darling and absolute image, had all day been peeping at the
+old man, as if he were some extraordinary spectacle.
+
+'Are not you a Jewish priest?' said he, pertly, as he approached him
+more closely. 'Why, what a nasty, ugly, long beard you have! Don't come
+near the windows, or they will be broken for us, mother says.'
+
+'He is your grandfather,' whispered Benjamina to the child; 'you must
+love him, and behave well to him, Carl!'
+
+'Nonsense!' cried the child, laughing outright--'a Jew with a long
+beard, who won't eat pork, _my_ grandfather! No, no. See if I don't
+tell him all the funny things that all the boys say--'
+
+Benjamina cried, and placed her hand over the child's mouth, to prevent
+the old man from hearing what he was saying; but the unfortunate
+grandfather had not lost a word that he had uttered. He lifted his hand
+to crush the serpent that thus hissed in his ear, but at that moment he
+observed Benjamina's tearful eyes; his arm fell by his side, and he
+stood pale and silent, with his flashing eyes fixed on the floor.
+
+Just then Isaac came in, and almost started as he beheld the
+embarrassed countenances around. Not one of the strangers, except the
+painter, seemed to feel any pity for the old man, but some were
+hastening away, while others were evidently preparing to follow.
+
+'What is the matter,' asked Isaac, glancing first at the excited old
+man, and then, with some suspicion, at his wife. 'Has anyone been
+annoying my old father?'
+
+'How can I help that poor child's chattering?' replied his wife. 'But
+come, my boy,' she added, taking the urchin tenderly by the hand, and
+leading him out of the room--'come; hereafter none of us must dare to
+open our mouths in our own house.'
+
+The painter, reddening with anger, stood near Benjamina and Philip
+Moses, whose hand he shook kindly; but the old man stood as a statue of
+stone, with his eyes fixed on the floor. Suddenly he seemed to awaken
+as if from a dream, raised his head, and looked all around. When he saw
+Isaac standing before him, the tears started to his eyes, and coursed
+each other down his pale cheeks into his long white beard.
+
+'Farewell, my son!' he exclaimed, laying his hand on Isaac's head. 'The
+hand of the Lord rests heavily on thee for thy backsliding. I will not
+curse thy house, but I leave it, lest its roof should fall down upon
+me!'
+
+So saying he walked out of the house, and his son made no attempt to
+detain him. But the weeping Benjamina followed him, and Veit followed
+them both at a little distance, in order to afford them assistance if
+the mob should attack them; for the tumult of the preceding evening was
+recommencing, and there were even more ill-disposed persons gathering
+in the streets than before. Veit saw the old man take the way towards
+the gates of Altona, hand in hand with Benjamina, whom he had in vain
+besought to return to her uncle's family, and Veit therefore concluded
+that they intended leaving Hamburg, and seeking an asylum in Altona. He
+determined still to follow them, so as to obtain shelter for them at
+the house of a friend of his there, in case they should find any
+difficulty in procuring such for themselves. But before they reached
+the Altona gates they were intercepted by a mob of the lowest rabble
+and a number of tradesmen's apprentices, who were flocking from all
+parts of the town, and wandering from street to street, breaking the
+windows of the Jews' houses.
+
+'Stop, Stop!' roared the rabble. 'Where are you taking that pretty
+girl, you old Jew rascal?' Some of them then commenced pulling the old
+man by the beard, while others began to treat the pale and trembling
+Benjamina with rudeness and indignity. But at that moment Viet rushed
+to the rescue, and drawing a sword from his walking-stick, he laid
+about furiously among the offenders; some gentlemen, and other members
+of the more respectable classes of the Hamburg population, took his
+part; and while the police were endeavouring to disperse the mob, Veit
+succeeded in getting Philip Moses and his granddaughter away, and
+conveying them through a side gate into a small back street: after a
+rather long circuit through deserted by-lanes and narrow streets, he
+was so fortunate as to reach his father's house without further
+molestation, and the old doctor received his unexpected guests with
+kind cordiality, and did all he could, both as host and physician, to
+minister to their wants and comforts. Benjamina was half dead from
+terror, and the unfortunate old man had sunk in a state of
+insensibility on the floor the moment he was safely within the door of
+the house.
+
+
+                                  IV.
+
+When Philip Moses returned to consciousness, he stared wildly about
+him, tore his hair, and then, like Job, he opened his mouth and cursed
+the day of his birth.
+
+'Let the day perish whereon I was born--let darkness and the shadow of
+death stain it--let a cloud dwell upon it--wherefore is light given to
+him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul? For the thing
+which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of
+is come unto me!'
+
+He speedily, however, became exhausted; and a violent fever ensued. In
+his delirium he raved of the destruction of his people--of Sodom and
+Gomorrah; and wrung his withered hands as he denounced the sins of the
+chosen race, and deplored the vengeance of Jehovah. During his illness
+Benjamina attended him faithfully, and when his fits of excitement came
+on, she would pray by him, or read to him from a Bible lent to her by
+Dr. Veit, till he was soothed to peace, and passed into a tranquil and
+almost happy state.
+
+The good physician had given an asylum in his house to those
+unfortunate individuals; and his son, the young artist, sat whole days
+with Benjamina, sharing in her watchful care of the aged invalid.
+Often, when Benjamina had read to the old man till he went to sleep,
+and when she then sat by his bedside, with the sacred volume in her
+hand, while he seemed to smile upon her in his dreams, Veit would take
+up his pencil, and sketch them together. A new light seemed to beam on
+Benjamina's soul, partly from what she read to her grandfather, and
+partly from her conversation with the amiable artist about the holy
+book which contained the foundation of her faith and of _his_.
+
+One day Veit came home with his arm in a sling, and gave out that he
+had hurt it by a fall. But he had found it necessary to chastise the
+two young fops, who had in vain waited for him at the appointed place
+of meeting near the Obelisk, the morning that he had promised to be
+there. He had been unable to go that morning, on account of his guests;
+and the young men had boasted so much of their own prowess, and sneered
+so at his failure on the occasion, that he determined to lower the tone
+of their self-satisfaction, and effectually did so by placing them both
+in a condition to require the care of a surgeon for six weeks at least.
+The duels had been fought with swords, and though Veit's wound was but
+slight, it was some days before he could make use of his pencil.
+Benjamina suspected what had taken place, and blessed him in her heart
+for conduct which she deemed so noble and so delicate.
+
+The old Jewish rabbi, in the meantime, was daily recovering. What Veit
+felt for the young Jewess was no longer a secret to himself, and she
+had not failed to perceive his sentiments, which were betrayed by a
+thousand little affectionate acts, by the tones of his voice, and by
+his eloquent looks. She had liked and admired him from the first time
+that she had seen him; but since the evening that he had so warmly
+taken the part of her poor grandfather, since he had continued to show
+such generous kindness to them both, her grateful heart had learned
+almost to worship him. But neither of them had yet expressed in words
+what neither could any longer doubt in regard to themselves, or each
+other.
+
+Several weeks had now passed. The persecution of the Jews had ceased;
+all was quiet in Hamburg, and the people of that persuasion could
+venture into the streets without fear of being hooted at, or
+ill-treated. But the newspapers told how the same ill-will against the
+Jews had evinced itself in other places; and from Copenhagen, and many
+other towns in Denmark, came accounts of similar shameful scenes.
+
+Philip Moses at length arose from his sick bed, but his steps were
+feeble and tottering. His countenance was less stern, and less
+_petrified_, as it were, than formerly; a more subdued and gentler
+spirit seemed to animate him; yet he still adhered so much to his old
+feelings, as to lament deeply that it was to Christians he owed his
+dear Benjamina's safety, and the preservation of his own life.
+
+His son Samuel, the rich jeweller, had during this time, in consequence
+of his own speculations, and of the failure of a foreign mercantile
+house with which he had had large dealings, become utterly ruined; and
+not only did he leave Hamburg a beggar, but he had also been attacked
+and severely handled when making his escape from his creditors. And
+though all the right-minded inhabitants of the city disapproved of the
+ill-treatment he had received, yet there was not much pity felt for him
+on account of his conduct to his father, who was respected as a really
+upright man.
+
+Their late tribulations and adversity had checked the arrogance of the
+Hamburg Jews; and they also began to resort more to their synagogues,
+and to pay more attention to their priests. A deputation waited upon
+old Philip Moses, and expressed the wish of the congregation that he
+would return among their community, saying that they had made
+arrangements to provide for his maintenance, and that he should be
+entirely independent of all his relations. They acknowledged that what
+he had often predicted to them had come to pass, and they now felt
+inclined to honour him, as a true servant to Jehovah, upon whom a
+prophetic spirit had descended.
+
+'Will ye turn from the evil of your ways, O Israel!' exclaimed the old
+man to the messengers of the congregation. If ye will do this, the Lord
+will let the light of His countenance shine once more upon you. "They
+that trust in the Lord, shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be
+removed." "We will go into His tabernacle; we will worship at His
+footstool." "He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel;" and my
+heart shall rejoice before I go hence, and ascend into Father Abraham's
+bosom.'
+
+When Philip Moses went with Benjamina to Dr. Veit and his son, to bid
+them farewell, to thank them for all their humanity and goodness, and
+to pray that blessings might be returned to them tenfold, the two young
+people looked sorrowfully at each other, and tears came into their
+eyes.
+
+'Oh, Benjamina!' exclaimed the younger Veit, 'I see that you love me,
+as I have long loved you;' and before she had time to answer, he had
+seized her hand, and suddenly they, dropped on their knees before the
+old man, while the young painter asked their blessing.
+
+Both Dr. Veit and the rabbi started back in consternation.
+
+Could I have dreamed of this, my son,' said Dr. Veit, 'I would
+never have brought you back from Rome. The difference between your
+religion--'
+
+'Benjamina is a Christian at heart,' said the young man, abruptly, as
+he rose from his knees, and assisted the trembling girl to rise. 'By
+the sick couch of this excellent old man she read our holy Scriptures,
+and their divine truths have enlightened her soul.'
+
+'Is this true, Benjamina?' exclaimed Philip Moses, turning very pale.
+
+'Yes, dear grandfather, it is true,' replied the young girl, as she
+threw herself at his feet, and clasped her arms around his knees. 'It
+was the word of Christ that I read to you when, in the darkness of your
+soul, you cursed the day of your birth; it was the word of Christ that
+gave you peace when you would have denounced eternal perdition to your
+people!'
+
+'You are a Christian at heart, Benjamina, and you love this Christian?'
+asked the old man, slowly, and apparently with a painful effort.
+
+'Yes, grandfather--yes. I cannot deny the truth,' sobbed the weeping
+girl, as she bathed his hands with her tears.
+
+'You, also, Benjamina!--you also, daughter of my Rachel!--the last hope
+of my old days, you also!'
+
+Tears choked his further utterance, and the old man covered his head
+with his garment, turned away, and tottered towards the door.
+
+'Farewell, then, for _this_ world!' said Benjamina to her sorrow-stricken
+lover, as with a strong effort she withdrew herself from his encircling
+arms. 'Yonder--above! where love, and justice, and mercy rule--where
+Jehovah and Christ are one--we shall be united for evermore!--Father, I
+will go with you!' she said, as she hastened after the old man. 'Take
+me with you, and let me die in your arms, but curse me not in the hour
+of death, for my soul has only bent to the will of the Most High.'
+
+'Lost, for this world!' sighed the young man, as the door closed upon
+her he loved so much; and all hope seemed extinguished for them on
+earth.
+
+
+                                   V.
+
+'What is the matter with you, my son? You go about like one in a dream,
+and as if the world in which you live were nothing to you,' said the
+old doctor one day to his son, the young painter, shortly after their
+guests had left them. 'If you cannot conquer your love, and if the girl
+return your affection in an equal degree, I am willing to withdraw my
+objection to your marriage, and old Philip Moses is too worthy a man to
+wish to make you both miserable.'
+
+'I honour him for the unshaken sincerity of his religious feelings,'
+replied his son, 'although these will bring me to the grave. I have had
+a long conversation with him, father: I might have rebelled against his
+severity, but his mildness has overcome me, and taken from me my last
+hope. I know that from a sense of gratitude he might bring himself even
+to join our hands; but the heart of the old man would break in doing
+so, and I should have to look upon myself as the murderer both of him
+and Benjamina. He is immovable in his adherence to his creed; and even
+though he might give Benjamina to me himself, he would curse her in his
+heart for having deserted the faith of her forefathers.'
+
+'But she has already deserted that faith in her own mind; she loves
+you; and the old man knows all this, yet he has not condemned her.'
+
+'Still he might do so, if she were openly to throw off Judaism. He
+loves her as he does his own soul, but he would deem his soul doomed to
+perdition if it could stray from _Jehovah_, as he calls his peculiar
+worship.'
+
+'Well, have patience, my son. The old man's days are numbered. My
+medical knowledge enables me to tell you that death is already creeping
+over him.
+
+'Ah, father! you do not know Benjamina; though her heart should break,
+she would be as true to the dead as she is to the living. But I would
+not that a knowledge of my grief should add to her sufferings, or
+deprive her of the peace she may perhaps acquire in the performance of
+what she considers her duty. Allow me to travel, father! There is no
+hope of happiness before me _now_ in this world; but I will seek
+tranquillity in the charming land which is sacred to the arts, and in
+absence from all that may recall the past.'
+
+Thus the father and son conversed, while the rabbi, Philip Moses, was
+engaged in consecrating the great sin-offering for his unhappy people.
+Three days after this event the old man breathed his last in the arms
+of the faithful Benjamina.
+
+
+                                  VI.
+
+'The Jews are going to bury their last prophet to-day,' said a lounger
+on the 'Jungfernstieg' to one of his associates. 'See how they are
+gathering from all corners! And any one of them who meets the hearse
+must follow it.'
+
+'It is old Philip Moses,' replied the other: 'he was the only honest
+Jew in Hamburg, and some say he is the last of the old Mosaic type in
+the world. He died in the belief, notwithstanding all their wanderings
+and miseries, that _his_ nation were the holiest on earth, and God's
+favourite people. When he was dying, they say, he had his windows
+opened, expecting that their Messiah would come flying in to carry him
+and his people away back to the promised land.'
+
+'What absurd folly!' exclaimed the first speaker laughing; 'however, we
+must admit that he was consistent to the last.'
+
+And ridiculing the Jews, they entered one of the pavilions near the
+Alster.
+
+Towards evening, a young man in a travelling dress stood at the gate of
+the churchyard belonging to the Jewish community, and gazed sadly and
+earnestly at a female figure, which, in a deep mourning dress, was
+kneeling by a newly-made grave. The traveller was the young painter
+Veit, who had engaged post-horses for that very evening to take him
+from his native town on his way towards Italy, where he intended to
+bury himself and his hopeless passion amidst the classic ruins of Rome.
+Benjamina's self-sacrificing devotion to her grandfather, and his
+patriarchal adherence to the faith of his ancestors, which held up to
+execration every departure from that faith, and the intermingling
+with those whose religion was different, had entirely destroyed his
+long-cherished hopes; but he determined once again to see his beloved
+Benjamina, once more to be assured of her sentiments towards him, and
+then to take a last and sad farewell.
+
+With this resolution he had approached her dwelling, just as the
+hearse, containing the mortal remains of old Philip Moses, was leaving
+it. Seeing this, he mingled among the mourners and followed the funeral
+_cortége_, although the passers-by wondered to see a fair-haired
+Christian, in a travelling garb, among the mumbling Jews who
+accompanied the dead to his last resting-place.
+
+When the mournful ceremony was ended, and they had all left the grave,
+Veit felt that he could not tear himself away; it seemed as if he found
+himself impelled to wait there the last scene of his sorrowful fate. He
+also thought that Benjamina would visit the tomb before night. This
+expectation was realized, for she did come, later in the evening, with
+flowers to strew over her grandfather's grave. When he perceived her
+approaching, he stepped aside, not to disturb her in her pious duty;
+but he felt that _this_ was the sad and solemn place where he was to
+take leave of her for life. He remained at a little distance, gazing at
+her, as she knelt in prayer by the grave, and it was not until she rose
+to depart that he approached her slowly and silently. He held in his
+hand a cross of shining mother-of-pearl, which his mother had given him
+when a child, bidding him present it to her to whom in future he should
+give his heart. When packing his portmanteaus and desk, he had stumbled
+on this maternal gift, so long laid by, and he had now brought it to
+offer it as a parting _souvenir_ to her he loved so hopelessly. It
+seemed to shine with peculiar brightness in the clear moonlight.
+
+'Benjamina!' he exclaimed; and she raised her beautiful dark eyes from
+the grave, and recognized him. But when she saw the shining cross in
+his hand, she sank on her knees, and folded her hands across her
+breast.
+
+'Heavens! it is fulfilled!' she exclaimed. 'His spirit shows me the
+symbol of peace and redemption at this grave.'
+
+'What!' cried Veit, in deep anxiety, 'at _this_ grave?'
+
+'At _this_ grave I was to be released, were his last words to me, as an
+angel enlightened his mind at the moment of death. And see, his spirit
+has led you here with that holy symbol in your hand, the sign of that
+faith, believing in which I shall be united to your crucified Redeemer
+for ever.'
+
+'Praised be the name of that Redeemer!' cried the happy Veit, 'and
+blessed be that spirit which in death permitted you to seek redemption!
+Now there is nothing to prevent our union, and I claim you as my bride
+in the face of the Almighty, and by this grave, where I had feared our
+final parting was to have taken place.'
+
+They joined their hands over the old man's grave, and Benjamina then
+told how her departed grandfather, in his last moments, seemed to have
+understood that the noble predictions of David and the prophets
+respecting the Messiah had been fulfilled, that he had made the sign of
+a cross on his death-bed with his cold stiffening hand, and with a
+smile of ineffable happiness had yielded up his spirit in her arms.
+
+'It was ordained, and it has been wonderfully fulfilled!' exclaimed
+Veit, as he and Benjamina knelt together by the new-made grave.
+
+The following year, on the anniversary of that day, a happy Christian
+couple stood by a tomb, which was thickly strewed with fresh flowers;
+within that tomb reposed the aged Philip Moses, with his face turned
+towards the east. Benjamina clasped her beloved husband's hand in one
+of hers, while with the other she pressed the mother-of-pearl cross to
+her heart.
+
+'Now he knows the truth,' said she, 'and has seen the promised land,
+and the holy city which is lightened by the glory of God, and where the
+redeemed out of every kindred, and people, and nation of the earth
+shall be blessed for evermore!'
+
+
+
+
+                             THE BANKRUPT.
+
+                   FROM THE DANISH OF CARL BERNHARD.
+
+
+About the end of the last century there lived in Copenhagen a wealthy
+merchant, whose name was _Kraft_. He was a proud, imperious man, who
+looked upon riches as the greatest of all advantages, and their
+possession as the universal, in fact, the only, passport to, or rather
+source of, happiness. He was extremely rich. His housekeeper declared
+that he was not able to count his money, he had so much; he measured
+his ducats by the bushel, and was certainly worth hundreds of thousands
+of dollars. Born in affluence, he had never seen the slightest
+diminution in the fortune which surrounded him, for his father's
+mercantile house was already in its third generation, having descended
+from father to son, without any lessening of its capital during that
+long period, as there never had been more than one son in the family.
+In consequence of this, the large means of the firm had remained
+undivided, and they had been enabled to extend their mercantile
+transactions over half the world. Their acceptances were as good as
+ready money. The present merchant Kraft had also an only son, but he
+had not, in accordance with the custom of his forefathers, taken him
+into partnership, for he must then have made over to him--at least in
+appearance--a portion of his supreme authority, and he was too haughty
+to share his power even with his only son. He had therefore established
+the young man in business on his own account, though, to a certain
+extent, under his own surveillance. Herr Kraft's wife had died at an
+early age; she had presented him with all he wished--a son, who might,
+in progress of time, carry on the affairs of the house and uphold its
+name and high credit. When she afterwards presented him with a
+daughter, he was so alarmed at the possibility of such gifts becoming
+too abundant, that he thought it rather a fortunate circumstance that
+the birth of this child cost its mother her life. The unwelcome little
+girl was sent to the care of an aunt, who brought her up, and it was
+not until she was a young woman that she returned to her father's
+house, where, however, she found no sympathy. Her brother was just
+married to a girl with a handsome fortune, and he had removed to a
+house of his own. The family now consisted of Herr Kraft, senior, his
+daughter, and his cousin, an old maiden lady, who was received as an
+inmate of his house after his wife's death, to give her a home, said
+Herr Kraft--that he might have some one to vent his ill-humour upon,
+said Miss Regine herself--that there should be another torment in the
+house, said the counting-house clerks and the domestic servants, who
+hated her and her fat, snoring pet, 'Mops,' as much as they feared Herr
+Kraft and loved his daughter. For Louise was their declared favourite,
+and, if need had been, they would all have gone through fire and water
+for her.
+
+A complete contrast to the merchant was his relative, Herr Warner. He
+was of a mild, unassuming character; he could easily mould his own
+wishes to those of others, and he valued wealth only as a means of
+doing good. In all his actions he was guided much more by his feelings
+than his interests. The lives of these two gentlemen had been as
+different as were their characters. Herr Warner's parents had not been
+rich. His mother had made an _unfortunate_ marriage, according to the
+merchant Kraft, for her husband had lost his small inheritance, and had
+gone abroad to seek for fortune under foreign skies. Herr Warner, on
+the contrary, considered that his mother had made a _fortunate_
+marriage, for her and her husband's mutual affection outlived the loss
+of their property, and if they did not become rich in the distant
+country to which they had gone, they at least obtained a competence
+there, and a peaceful, happy home.
+
+After the death of his parents, their son went, with but a poor
+heritage, to the East Indies, where he married a young lady without any
+fortune. Good luck, however, seemed now to attend him; his cotton
+plantations throve well and yielded large returns, and a beloved wife
+and three fine children made his home a paradise. At the expiration of
+a few years he determined to return to his native country, there to
+enjoy the fruits of his labours. An infectious disease, however, just
+then carried off his wife and her elder children, and with his youngest
+daughter, who alone was left to him, he sailed from India. But she died
+on the voyage, and was committed to the deep. Thus deprived of every
+tie, friendless and hopeless, the much-afflicted man quitted the ship
+in a French port, and repairing to Paris, he resided there for some few
+years, endeavouring to while away his time in the pursuit of science
+and literature, the pursuit of wealth having lost all interest for him,
+who had no one now for whom he cared to work. At length he returned to
+his native city, where he lived quietly, frugally, and in great
+retirement, visiting at very few houses except at that of his cousin
+Herr Kraft, in whose family he appeared to take a warm interest; the
+regard, however, which he entertained for them all was only returned by
+the daughter, who became much attached to him. Herr Kraft made a point
+of disputing with him every day, and had so accustomed himself to this
+amiable habit, that he absolutely could not do without his relative and
+these demi-quarrels. There were many different opinions about the state
+of his finances. 'He must have saved something in the East Indies,
+where money is as plentiful as grass,' said some; but others, among
+whom was Herr Kraft, declared 'that he only had enough to make shift
+with, and it would be a wonder if the little he possessed should hold
+out during his life--for he was one of those persons whom Dame Fortune
+seldom favoured, as he did not put a proper value on her gifts, letting
+his money slip through his fingers by bestowing it on everyone who came
+with a whining tale to him, he was so foolishly soft-hearted.' And Herr
+Kraft was right there.
+
+In the large drawing-room, which was furnished more richly than
+tastefully, and where everything looked stiff rather than comfortable,
+Herr Kraft and Herr Warner were pacing up and down. Their conversation
+had come to a stand. They had been disputing about some of the measures
+of the government, and Herr Kraft had called the government stupid and
+despotic; he said it took upon itself to be the guardian of the nation,
+and to treat the burghers as if they were children under age,
+prescribing for them, forsooth, what they were to do, and meddling in
+their own private affairs! He was as warm a supporter of free trade for
+the higher grade of merchants, as he was an advocate for restraints
+upon the working classes, for he looked upon all those in an humble
+sphere of life as 'trash, full of fraud and tricks,' who must have 'a
+rod held over their heads.' It was the old story--liberality for the
+higher, despotism for the lower; and this will be repeated till the end
+of the world. Herr Warner had differed from him in opinion; he thought
+confidence might be placed in a wise government, and he wished freedom
+and justice for _all_, whether they were rich or poor. The argument
+might have become an angry one, but Warner gave in, for he was anxious
+to avoid exasperating his violent-tempered cousin, to whom he had come
+that morning on a delicate mission, requiring no small degree of tact.
+
+A very fine young man, who had been for some time much attached to
+Louise, and who had won her affections, had determined to ask her hand
+in a respectful letter to her father. But the reply he had received was
+a flat refusal, Herr Kraft having made up his mind to listen to no
+proposals for his daughter except from a suitor selected by himself.
+Louise wept and was very sad. 'Aunt Regine,' as she was styled,
+favoured her with sundry ill-natured dissertations upon ungrateful and
+disobedient children, Mops growled and snarled as if he were taking
+part with his mistress in the family disagreement, and the entire house
+and household appeared even more dull and silent than usual. Herr
+Warner exerted himself to the utmost to bring his cousin to reason, but
+in vain. Herr Kraft was much enraged that his daughter should have
+presumed, even at the house of his own sister, to have become intimate
+with any person who was unknown to him, and could not forgive her
+having dared even to think of anyone as a lover without _his_
+permission. 'And the fellow such a poor wretch into the bargain!' For
+what was a small landed property, not much bigger than a couple of
+peasants' cottages and cabbage gardens? He was of an ancient and noble
+family, it had been said--but what of that? He, Herr Kraft, did not
+care a straw for nobility; it was merely an idea--an imagination--that
+some men are to be better than others, because their forefathers,
+perhaps a hundred years ago, had been people of some renown. Herr
+Warner maintained that such an 'imagination' contained a moral
+obligation to be also a distinguished, or at least a worthy man, not to
+dishonour one's ancestors; and reminded his cousin that he himself was
+by no means indifferent to his descent.
+
+'No, in that he was certainly right,' said the merchant: 'but _he_ had
+good grounds for his pride in his forefathers, because for more than a
+hundred years they had been wealthy merchants, who had established and
+maintained a highly-esteemed commercial house. _That_ was something
+solid--not mere fancy.' And then he went on exhibiting all that
+arrogance which is sometimes to be found among the rich burghers, who
+are quite as proud of their wealth, and their burgher's brief of a
+century old, as any nobleman of his genealogical table, or his
+forefathers' wounds or scars received on the field of glory. But Herr
+Warner had to go away without having disclosed his errand, and could
+only console poor Louise with the uncertain hope of a brighter future,
+in which, however, he himself had little confidence.
+
+Soon after, her prospects became still darker. Herr Kraft gave notice
+suddenly one day that he had promised Louise to the son of one of his
+commercial friends, that the betrothal was to take place in eight days,
+and the wedding in three months. The husband destined for Louise was
+the son of a rich man, but he was far from handsome, and was still less
+agreeable. Aunt Regine bestirred herself to make every preparation for
+the betrothal; Louise implored with tears that her father would not
+insist on this sacrifice; she said she would give up the man she loved,
+to please him, but she could not marry another. Uncle Warner, as Louise
+called him, did all he could for her, and pleaded her cause with her
+father to the best of his ability; but Herr Kraft laughed--a thing he
+seldom did--at hearing him speak of true and faithful love. 'Sheer
+folly, childishness, absurd sentimentality and foolery, that would not
+pay a shilling of interest.'
+
+'You will make your child miserable,' said Warner.
+
+'On the contrary, she will get a husband worth half a plum, with the
+prospect of a great deal more,' said the father.
+
+'That may be; but he squints, and has red flaming hair.'
+
+'Bah! People don't notice these trifles after they are married.'
+
+'But he is also dull and stupid, and obstinate and wearisome, and
+unfeeling and conceited--'
+
+'Well! and what else? However, whatever he may be, she shall take him,
+and so--Basta!'
+
+'She will not take him--she will throw herself into the sea rather.'
+
+'Bah! It is both wet and cold in the sea. She will take him, because
+she _shall_ do so. To-morrow we shall have the betrothal, as sure as my
+name is Kraft, and I will not hear another word on the subject. Will
+you give us the pleasure of your company at the betrothal? It will take
+place at seven o'clock in the evening, precisely.'
+
+Herr Kraft and Aunt Regine were the only persons in the house who slept
+that night. Everyone else was kept awake by uneasiness and anxiety, and
+the unfortunate Louise cried till her eyes were so swollen, that in the
+morning she could hardly read a few lines which one of the housemaids
+brought to her from her sympathizing friend, Herr Warner, who was
+always anxious, as well as he could, to comfort the afflicted. After
+reading them, she wept still more bitterly, and the servant girl
+observed her wringing her hands in despair.
+
+The day wore on, the evening came, and at seven o'clock precisely the
+invited guests had all arrived, forming quite a family congress of the
+members of the two wealthy mercantile houses. Uncle Warner was there
+also. In the morning he had requested an interview with the bridegroom,
+and had plainly stated to him that Louise loved another, and did not
+entertain even the slightest friendly feeling towards him; but the
+young man bristled up, thrust his hand conceitedly through his carotty
+locks, and looked into the corner of his own eyes, while he replied
+with the comforting assurance, that what he had been told was nothing
+to the purpose, it gave him no concern, and that he would not give up
+the match 'for any price,' as he expressed himself. Uncle Warner was
+deeply disappointed at his ill-success with the self-sufficient
+gentleman. They met again at the betrothal party, and the young man had
+arrayed himself, as he thought, to the best advantage, and looked as
+smiling as if he were awaiting a beloved and devoted bride. All was
+ready, and Aunt Regine went to Louise's apartment to bring her.
+
+Heavens and earth! She was not there! She had gone! A letter lay on a
+table in her room, and that was all the information Aunt Regine could
+give. But old Maren had heard some one leave the house about an hour
+before, and almost at the same moment she had observed a carriage drive
+away, which had been standing at least a quarter of an hour in the
+street, as if the coachman were waiting for some one. There was
+presently an awful hubbub in the house. Herr Kraft rushed like a madman
+from room to room, Aunt Regine hobbled after him, doors were banged,
+and every corner of the mansion was searched, but Louise was nowhere to
+be found, and it was now certain that she had fled to escape the
+threatened evil. The letter she had left was then read, and a heart of
+stone might have melted at the anguish and the terror expressed in it,
+as well as the earnestness with which she prayed for forgiveness; every
+word breathed of a spirit that was utterly crushed and prostrate. But
+her father threw the letter into the fire, and exclaimed in a firm,
+harsh voice:
+
+'I have no longer a daughter--her name shall never again be mentioned
+within my doors--I disown her--I--'
+
+Uncle Warner caught his arm, and pressed it so tightly that he
+involuntarily stopped, and the curse he was about to utter was arrested
+on his lips. Aunt Regine began to howl with all her might.
+
+The bridegroom and his family took their departure, and the rest of the
+party speedily followed their discreet example; Uncle Warner alone
+remained with the enraged father. But every attempt to mollify his
+anger, or to awaken in his mind any regret for the harshness by which
+he himself had driven his daughter to this desperate step, was
+addressed to deaf ears. Herr Kraft's wrath was only increased by every
+new argument the good Warner brought forward in the hope of allaying
+it, and at length he took his leave, expressing his intention of making
+every inquiry concerning the fate of the unfortunate fugitive. But just
+as he had left the room, the door was suddenly opened, and Herr Kraft
+roared after him, in an imperious voice:
+
+'I desire to be troubled with no information you may gather; and with
+this--Basta!'
+
+He then slammed the door so hard that the noise resounded throughout
+the whole house.
+
+A whole year had elapsed, but time had worked no change in Herr Kraft's
+vindictive feelings. Constant fretting, however, had impaired his
+health, and he became ill. Uncle Warner thought it might be a good
+opportunity to soften his heart, and he led the conversation to the sad
+position of forsaken old age, and upon the comfort of an affectionate
+nurse amidst sickness and infirmities. But Herr Kraft replied that _he_
+could never be forsaken in his declining years, for he had a son, 'the
+heir of his house;' and as far as concerned illness and infirmities,
+the best attendant was some hired sick-nurse, for she thought only of
+the good wages she was to get, and it never entered her head to
+speculate upon what he might leave. He did not put any faith in
+all the babbling about affection and love, and such nonsense; it was
+self-interest and money that people thought of in this world, and those
+who had wealth would always get plenty of attention.
+
+'But you might lose your fortune, you might become as poor as many
+others are, and then you would stand in need of affection, and learn to
+know its value,' said Herr Warner.
+
+The rich merchant stared at him with contemptuous surprise; then, with
+a scornful laugh, he said:
+
+'Yes, to be sure; the moon might fall down from the heavens, but it
+would not be necessary on that account to put up an umbrella. Don't
+tease me any more with such nonsense. Enough of it--Basta!'
+
+Herr Kraft got better, and he resumed his accustomed rich man's
+life--the constant yearning and busy schemes to become richer; but in
+his cupidity he never thought of Providence.
+
+The moon certainly did not fall from heaven, but within the space of
+three years, one fine morning, as Herr Kraft was lounging over his
+breakfast-table, and congratulating himself on being worth a very
+considerable sum of money, the postman brought him a large packet of
+letters. His spirits fell the moment he had read them, for they
+conveyed the startling and afflicting intelligence of a commercial
+crisis in a foreign country, which had caused the failure of many
+houses of old standing; and their failure had brought down several
+others. Among these sufferers was Herr Kraft himself. Yes, the wealthy
+Kraft, dragged down by others, was now _a bankrupt!_ At that time
+bankruptcy was a more serious matter than it is now-a-days; a bankrupt
+never raised himself to fortune a second time, and there were _then_ no
+instances of a man having failed several times, and yet being able to
+live on the fat of the land. However, credit, in those days, was a very
+different matter from what it is now.
+
+Herr Kraft had failed--the honourable, ancient, commercial house was
+ruined, its riches and its lustre annihilated in a moment. What during
+a century, and by the zealous labour of several generations, had been
+gathered, had been destroyed by a single storm, and scattered like
+chaff before the wind! The cash-keeper suggested--and it was true what
+he said--that the ready money which was lying in their iron chest might
+be easily removed and placed somewhere else in security, and that _it_
+alone would be sufficient to yield a competency to any man for life.
+But Herr Kraft was a rigidly honest man, and had not the fall of the
+house thrown the cash-keeper also out of bread, he would have
+discharged him for advising such a fraudulent measure. Everything was
+given up, and as an honourable and respected, but a poor and ruined
+man, the lately so wealthy and so envied Herr Kraft took his departure
+from his forefathers' abode.
+
+Herr Warner showed the warmest sympathy in his misfortunes. He
+immediately proposed that his cousin should come to his house, although
+he knew that he would have also to receive Aunt Regine and her pet,
+Mops. But Herr Kraft had already accepted his son's invitation to spend
+some time with him. This invitation to his house was perhaps not more
+than was due to a father who had placed him in so independent a
+position that he was now in easy circumstances, and had not lost
+anything by the failure of the house. But yes, he had lost the expected
+rich inheritance, the succession to the firm, &c. &c.; and as he was
+his father's son, and brought up in his ways, he was very well versed
+in the calculation of the interest of money, and in book-keeping by
+single and double entry, but knew little about humanity and kind
+feeling, which, from his earliest infancy, he had heard his father
+ridicule.
+
+His failure was a cruel trial to old Herr Kraft; his pride was
+severely wounded, but his heart was not at all softened. During these
+sorrowful days, a letter was brought to him by the post, but, as he
+recognized his daughter's writing, he laid it aside, and when 'Uncle
+Warner' came, he handed it to him unopened, saying, 'If you know where
+the writer lives, be so good as to see that this is returned; and
+therewith--Basta!'
+
+His residence in his son's house was destined to be another heavy
+trial. The son's wife was the ruler there, and she was far from
+amiable. Aunt Regine had always been an eyesore to her. Her long-winded
+prosing was now cut short and ridiculed, and her Mops dare scarcely put
+his nose outside the good lady's petticoats, under the shelter of which
+he lay snoring from morning till night. The endless talking about what
+everything cost, and the eternal reference to the advantage of having
+money, which formerly had never annoyed Herr Kraft, were now
+exceedingly disagreeable to him, and drew many a sigh from his
+oppressed heart. It was given out that everything was to be done to
+please him, and be heard several times a day these words: 'Whatever
+papa likes--our only desire is that papa may be comfortable in our
+house.' But he felt as often that these were empty phrases, a mere
+_façon de parler_, and that his wishes, in reality, were never
+consulted. Had he known what _heart_ was, he would have deplored their
+want of it; as it was, he only grieved for the loss of his fortune.
+
+When a bubble that has been blown is nearly exhausted, an atom will
+make it burst. The life Herr Kraft led in his son's house was such,
+that he only waited for some event to form an excuse for leaving it; he
+could stand it no longer. The opportunity was not long wanting. His
+son's wife purchased a dog, which was double the size of Aunt Regine's
+Mops, and was a very pugnacious animal. It was a great amusement to the
+young couple to set the two dogs at each other, and they enjoyed
+exceedingly the terror which Hector's entrance into the room soon
+seemed to cause Mops, who, with as much speed as his fat would allow,
+would always waddle towards his mistress, and rush for protection under
+her garments, which she hospitably raised to admit him, sometimes, in
+her anxiety on his account, to a most ludicrous height. One day Herr
+Kraft was sitting on a sofa reading the newspapers, Aunt Regine was
+taking a quiet nap in an arm-chair, near, and Mops, seduced by the
+stillness and the warm sunshine, was stretched full length upon the
+carpet, as happy as dog could be. Suddenly the door of the room was
+opened, and the son's wife entered, accompanied by Hector. As quick as
+lightning the animal sprang forward and pounced upon the half-sleeping
+Mops, Aunt Regine started from her slumbers, and lifted her dress in
+her hurry up to her very knees, but before Mops could take flight to
+that open temple of peace, Hector had rendered the asylum useless--he
+had put an end to the poor favourite's existence, and Mops lay dead
+upon the floor! The son's wife was shaking with laughter at Aunt
+Regine's comical appearance, and was so amused that she forgot to call
+off her dog from Mops, and even when she saw the calamity that had
+occurred she could scarcely stop laughing. Herr Kraft witnessed this
+scene over his newspaper; his knitted eyebrows foretold a coming storm,
+but he mastered his anger, and taking Aunt Regine by the hand, he led
+her out of the room.
+
+For the first time in his life he felt a sort of longing for a
+sympathizing friend, and sent to ask Herr Warner to come to him. That
+gentleman had been much engaged in the affairs of his cousin's
+bankruptcy, and had been striving to make the best possible arrangement
+with his creditors for him. Herr Kraft wished to know if he thought it
+would be possible to rescue as much as would enable him to live with
+great economy in some retired country place, for the short period of
+time he might still remain in this world. Nothing would induce him, he
+said, to remain longer in his son's house, or in Copenhagen, and he
+would not forsake Aunt Regine. Herr Warner encouraged him in this
+judicious plan, and promised to do his best to find a residence fur him
+that would suit, in all respects, 'an amiable family,' he added, 'where
+you can have the society of worthy people, and yet be as much alone as
+you choose. For in the days of adversity it is kind-hearted people to
+whom we cling, and in your son's house, though everything is very
+handsome and in the nicest order, there is no disposition to make
+anyone happy, and no trace of real hospitality.' Herr Kraft made no
+reply to these observations, and when his cousin was gone, he fell into
+deep thought.
+
+A few days afterwards, the indefatigable friend brought him the
+information that he had been so fortunate as to find a family at some
+distance in the country who were willing to receive Herr Kraft and Aunt
+Regine. The terms were very reasonable, and the size of the house would
+admit of the host and his guest being quite independent of each other.
+The family was small, the gentleman was clever and well-educated, his
+wife, indeed, was absent from home for a time, having gone to some
+German baths on account of her health, but the house, nevertheless, was
+well managed. The country round was pretty, though the situation was
+rather lonely. 'The person in question is named Warner, like me,' said
+the cousin, 'but we are not at all of the same family. I take it for
+granted that his name will not be disagreeable to you.' Herr Kraft
+shook his hand with a friendly smile, and agreed to the arrangement.
+Two days after this he quitted his son's house, and went into the
+country, accompanied by Herr Warner, Aunt Regine, and old Maren, who
+for many years had been Herr Kraft's especial attendant, and was
+acquainted with all his ways. She was the only human being of whom he
+would have felt the want, she knew so well how he liked his bed made.
+
+Uncle Warner's namesake received the travellers very politely on their
+arrival at their future home, and regretted that his wife was not there
+to welcome her guests; 'she was at present at the baths of Pyrmont,' he
+said, 'but would be back ere long.' Two fine children, half hidden by
+their father, gazed with curiosity at the strangers who were
+thenceforth to live with them. By the kind care of Uncle Warner, a
+portion of Herr Kraft's own furniture had been brought thither from
+Copenhagen, and he immediately found himself quite at home in his new
+sitting-room; every arrangement had been made with a view to his
+convenience, and the indulgence of his former habits. Aunt Regine's
+tastes and comforts had also been sedulously attended to; her
+bed-chamber contained all her favourite articles of furniture, and she
+had a delightful surprise on finding in a basket near the stove a
+second Mops, who licked her hand affectionately, and was so like her
+defunct pet 'of blessed memory,' that she instantly took a fancy to
+him.
+
+Uncle Warner spent a few days with them, and then returned to town with
+the pleasing conviction that his cousin could not fail to be
+comfortable in his new abode. And so he certainly was. Herr Kraft began
+by degrees to associate with his host, whom he found to be a sensible,
+pleasant man, and whom he began gradually to like and respect. Before a
+month had elapsed, Herr Kraft had become so much accustomed to the
+quiet, secluded life he led, that he would have regretted leaving the
+peaceful home where he had found so much hitherto unknown comfort, and
+where he felt that, though stripped of his fortune, he was treated with
+much more attention than had ever been paid to him in the days of his
+affluence. Nature had hitherto been a sealed book to him; he now
+studied it in his wanderings amidst the charming scenery of the
+neighbourhood, and it spoke to him in language which he could never
+before have dreamed of understanding. He had never formerly taken any
+notice of children, but his host's two sweet children managed to
+insinuate themselves so much into his good graces, that he was always
+happy to see them, and have them about him. He could not imagine why he
+took such interest in them, but they were such good-tempered, pretty,
+clever little creatures, that it was impossible not to be pleased with
+them. And Aunt Regine liked them almost as much as her new Mops, and
+_it_ almost as much as her first canine favourite, so that old Maren
+was right in saying:
+
+'Well, this is really a blessed house we are in; we seem to have all
+become better-tempered since we have been here; even the master himself
+is quite a different creature, and does not find fault with his bed as
+he used to do; formerly, there was no making it to please him. And
+really now, when he sits leaning his cheek on his hand, wrapt up in his
+own thoughts, he looks quite a good old man.'
+
+And Herr Kraft often sat with his cheek resting on his hand, wrapt up
+in his own thoughts, but what these were he communicated to no living
+being; perhaps they were hardly clear to himself, for they were
+frequently new and unaccustomed thoughts that came to him in his
+solitude.
+
+Herr Warner occasionally paid him a short visit, and when he began to
+speak of commercial matters and the affairs of his late house, the old
+merchant would heave a deep sigh, and say: 'If everyone has been paid,
+and no one has lost anything by me, my wishes are fulfilled. I desire
+nothing more--my time is over--and therewith--Basta!'
+
+But the word came forth like the echo of a sound--the ghost of a habit
+now almost forgotten; and this conclusion, which had so often caused
+consternation by its irrevocable vigour, seemed now almost sad.
+
+About the time that the mistress of the house was expected back from
+Pyrmont, Herr Kraft felt very much indisposed, and when she reached
+home, he was labouring under a fever, the violence of which had made
+him delirious. In his delirium he sometimes fancied himself the rich
+man, whose commercial influence extended over half the world--sometimes
+impoverished and destitute, a dependant on those around him; but it was
+always on money that his fevered dreams dwelt, and the demons of gold
+fought their unhallowed battles in his clouded mind. In the course of a
+week or two this state of morbid excitement passed away, and was
+succeeded by an utter prostration of strength, an extreme degree of
+weakness, in which he lay, for the most part, with his eyes closed, as
+if sleeping. With how much kindness and solicitude was he not tended
+during that long illness! Day and night was his anxious hostess in his
+sick-room, and whenever he opened his eyes, they always rested on the
+same form. And when the crisis was over, the greatest danger was past,
+and all the family would assemble round his bed, anyone would have
+thought that he was a dear member of it, they treated him with so much
+affectionate attention.
+
+One evening, in the dusk, when they had all left his room for a short
+time, and old Maren alone was sitting by his bedside, he suddenly
+opened his eyes and gazed around him, as if he were trying to recollect
+where he was, and what had happened to him. He then asked about the
+children. Maren clasped her hands in joy that her master had recovered
+to consciousness again, while he repeated his question, and added:
+
+'Is it not true, Maren, that the boy is called Ludvig, and the girl
+Georgia? These are both my own names--'
+
+'Well, that is very natural,' said Maren, significantly. 'What else
+should they be called?'
+
+'Is my cousin Warner here?' asked the invalid soon after.
+
+He was there, and Maren went immediately to call him. Herr Kraft made a
+sign to him to sit down near his couch, and another to Maren to leave
+them by themselves.
+
+'Cousin,' he said, 'I see now how things are--I am in my daughter's
+house. I have been very ill, but I did not lose the use of my eyes, and
+Louise has watched by my bed, and attended me.'
+
+Herr Warner nodded in affirmation of what he had said.
+
+'You knew it all along. You took the place of her father when I threw
+her off--is it not so?'
+
+Warner nodded again; he was so surprised to hear a person generally so
+stern and overbearing speak thus gently, that he could not utter a word
+for a moment.
+
+'But her husband was not named Warner, and he had only a very small
+property, not such a large place as this? How are all these
+discrepancies to be reconciled?'
+
+Herr Warner then related to him in a few words that his son-in-law had
+assumed _his_ citizen-like name out of gratitude, because he had
+presented Louise with a considerable sum of money he had received from
+the East Indies, for which he had no use himself, but which had enabled
+the young couple to purchase this large property, where they had lived
+as happily as they could do while under the ban of his displeasure, and
+without having obtained his forgiveness. But now he would surely not
+longer withhold that, and they would all be happy together, for which
+he thanked God from the bottom of his heart.
+
+To Herr Kraft it seemed all a romance. The discarded daughter had
+received and devotedly attended in his illness her harsh and
+unforgiving father; the scorned son-in-law had won his friendship and
+esteem; the poor cousin had been able to give away a fortune; and the
+rich merchant lay there an impoverished and repentant man.
+
+'Money was in your hands only an instrument of doing good--to me it was
+an idol!' he exclaimed, after a silence of some duration. 'But I have
+learned to know that our Lord did not will money to be a primary
+consideration. It is all gone now, however!'
+
+Herr Warner assured him that it was not all gone; there would be a
+surplus left for him after all the creditors were paid, and that he
+himself had a little money laid by, and they would commence business
+together; they would soon increase the capital, as Herr Kraft
+understood mercantile affairs so well. The bankrupt shook his head at
+these smiling prospects, and replied that his hours were numbered, and
+he had other employments for the few that might remain of them.
+
+'Whilst I was so ill,' he continued, 'I had very singular dreams. It
+appeared to me as if an angel and a devil were contending which should
+get possession of me; the angel always resembled Louise, and at last
+she drove the devil away, and as he was going, I seemed to hear piles
+of money falling down, as it were, with a crash. It was a dreadful
+sound. But just then I heard a voice singing solemn hymns, and, lulled
+by the soothing melody, I felt a sense of peace and happiness steal
+over me. I sank into a deep sleep, and had such a charming dream--so
+charming that I cannot describe it.'
+
+Herr Kraft folded his hands and fell back on his pillow somewhat
+exhausted, but apparently tranquil. In a few minutes, however, he
+became restless, and moved uneasily from side to side on his bed.
+Suddenly he raised himself till he sat upright, and cried, in an
+excited tone, 'Where is my daughter? Bring her to me--and her
+children--and her husband.'
+
+Herr Warner summoned them all. Louise knelt by her father's bed, and
+kissed his hand, over which her tears fell fast. He took her hand and
+placed it in that of her husband, and then pressed his own hand on her
+head, as if invoking a blessing upon her. Warner brought the children
+to him, and he kissed them on their foreheads; he then stretched out
+both his hands to his cousin, but before the latter had time to clasp
+them, the invalid had fallen back on his pillow exhausted. It was a
+solemn moment, and one of entire reconciliation, without a word having
+been spoken; but they understood each other without words, for language
+is not always so necessary as many think.
+
+A state of extreme exhaustion succeeded this exertion, and Herr Kraft
+lay for a long time perfectly quiet, with his eyes closed as if he were
+sleeping. The party who surrounded his bed felt relieved from a load of
+sorrow, and, full of hope that he would recover, they whispered
+cheerfully to each other. Late in the evening he awoke, and spoke of
+his son. 'Tell him,' said he, 'that I always loved him, but I was
+foolish in my way of showing my affection. Tell him that, exclusive of
+a provision for poor Maren, all that can be saved from the wreck of my
+fortune shall be divided between him and Aunt Regine. Louise, you have
+had more of a father in Uncle Warner than in me, and may God bless him
+for his kindness to you! You will all remember me, I know, with
+affection!'
+
+He held out his hands to them all, and smiled cordially to them, but he
+retained Herr Warner's and Louise's hands in his. He then lay for a few
+moment in silence; his lips moved, however, though no sound was heard.
+Perhaps he was engaged in prayer. A little after he exclaimed half
+aloud:
+
+'Is it not declared in the Bible, that "it is easier for a camel to go
+through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the
+kingdom of God?" The Almighty had placed much in my power. But He will
+be merciful to me! Everyone has got his own--I have defrauded none, and
+I possess nothing. Yet God has made me rich--and with that--Basta!'
+
+A happy smile flitted over his countenance--a pleading remembrance for
+those who survived him. By midnight all was over; he had passed into
+the deep, dark sleep of death.
+
+
+
+
+                         THE HEREDITARY GOBLET.
+
+                    FROM THE SWEDISH OF UNCLE ADAM.
+
+
+Has the spiritual world any intercourse with the material world? This
+is a question which must always remain undecided, and which only fools
+and narrow-minded people definitively answer. It is by analogy alone
+that we can acquire any kind of right even to guess on this subject--we
+can determine nothing.
+
+The whole creation is a continuation of imperceptible transitions; it
+is a close chain, and, in order to arrange it into a system to suit our
+ideas, the inquirer into it must parcel it into divisions. In nature
+none exist; the chain itself having no interruptions whatsoever.
+
+As the events of one period influence those of another, by bringing
+about an uninterrupted series of results, in like manner the powers of
+nature produce a constant regeneration--a constant repetition of
+themselves in various forms.
+
+Thus, it is only when we arrive at the boundary between life and
+eternity, when _our_ conception of forms is no longer applicable, when
+we are close upon the transition to a higher state of being, that we
+admit that one link of the chain is missing. Despite of analogy, the
+want of positive evidence puts it out of our power to prove anything;
+but, however, the sages of our days, before whose eyes everything,
+except their own weakness, stands clear, may sneer at me, and consider
+me superstitious, and a lover of nursery-tales--however the frivolous
+may ridicule me, or be provoked at my belief in the possibility of such
+an intercourse--my reason does not reject this belief, and my
+experience corroborates it.
+
+About twenty years ago I was staying with a lively party in the
+country. In our circles there reigned a degree of unaffected and
+openhearted hilarity, an almost childish joy, in which all seemed to
+participate, and which was not chilled by the highly-polished manners
+of those who were thus agreeably assembled. It was a charming September
+afternoon, and the country around was most beautiful; we gave ourselves
+up to the gaiety and the refreshing enjoyments of a country life. I
+felt particularly happy, and deeming myself far removed from all
+earthly sorrow, I fancied that I only breathed to sip in joy with every
+breath. But I had cause to be joyous, for my sister, who a few years
+previously had been married against her inclination, had shortly before
+written me that she _now_ felt very happy with her husband, which
+hitherto had not been the case. He had altered his conduct, and had
+become kind, considerate, and cheerful--he was more affectionate and
+sincere, and Emilie had begun to lead a happier life than she had dared
+to hope for since the dreadful marriage ceremony had taken place.
+
+This news made me joyful even to extravagance; for I had always loved
+Emilie more than myself; she had ever been the first to excuse my
+faults, the readiest to forgive injuries, and to forget her own
+afflictions; she was my most intimate and most sincere friend, and the
+whole world might have gazed freely, with me, into her clear eyes, and
+her pure soul. Her husband, Theodore, on the contrary, had never
+pleased me; he was one of those reserved, proud beings, who glide like
+an enigma through life. His feelings and thoughts were like words
+written in a cipher, to which one vainly endeavours to find the key. In
+his look there was an inexpressible something, which kept me at a
+distance; and with his fawning manners, he always appeared to me to
+resemble a magnificent flower, which even in its pomp looks
+suspicious--one of Linnæus's Lucidæ.
+
+But I had been mistaken--my sister's letters told me so--her
+unhappiness had only been occasioned by trifling faults on both sides.
+I had, therefore, resolved to make atonement for my past injustice, and
+to become Theodore's friend, however repugnant this might be to my own
+feelings.
+
+One evening we were all assembled in a summerhouse in the garden,
+chatting, laughing, and singing as merrily as if we had met to
+celebrate the funeral ceremony of Sorrow--there was no one who seemed
+to have the most distant idea that, even in our gayest moments, Fate,
+invisible and icy-cold, always stands amongst us ready to choose her
+next victim.
+
+Suddenly a servant appeared--he inquired for me--he wore Theodore's
+livery--a fearful foreboding seized me, I grew pale--a suppressed
+murmur ran through the company, and the gloomy silence which followed
+made the moment still more dreadful. The servant handed me a letter--I
+was forced to sit down to prevent myself from falling; everyone
+remained in intense expectation, awaiting to hear what the contents of
+the letter might be!
+
+I read it--'She is dead!' I exclaimed, in a low voice to myself--and
+'_dead!_' sounded like an echo through the circle of my friends.
+
+'Emilie!' I cried, and gazed fixedly before me, as if I were reflecting
+whether Emilie really _could_ be dead. I sprang up like a madman, but
+suddenly stood as still as a frightened child--'My sister is dead!' I
+said to those present--'Farewell, my friends.'
+
+I set off in the most terrible state of mind; I had been all at once
+hurled from the summit of happiness into the unfathomable depths of
+misery, where not even hope can find its way, and from which there is
+no other exit, except by death.
+
+I had to travel thirty miles before I could see my Emilie in her
+coffin, and I arrived just the day previous to the funeral.
+
+I found everything as usual at the country-house of my sister; the oaks
+were still standing, rustling in the alley; the rivulet, on the banks
+of which Emilie and I had last sat beside each other, quietly rippled
+along--everything was the same; she alone was missing--she had passed
+away, and gone to her Heavenly Father.
+
+Theodore came to meet me; he was pale; and looked confused; he embraced
+me, and shed a few tears--I remained as cold as a statue.
+
+I could not understand myself; formerly I had so readily sympathized in
+the happiness, the sorrow, and the fate of my fellow-creatures--but
+now, I could take no interest in my own.
+
+Emilie's portrait hung on the wall; how beautiful, how blooming she
+looked, gentleness beamed from those happy eyes, and that smiling mouth
+seemed only made to shower blessings on all. 'Thus she was,' I thought;
+'thus she always looked upon me;--let me go alone to my sister!' I said
+in an irritable tone, turning to Theodore, who stood beside me; 'I wish
+to take leave of her undisturbed.'
+
+He seemed to wish to dissuade me from this, but I would not listen to
+him, rushed towards the room where the corpse was lying, and drawing
+out the key, I shut and locked the door, just as Theodore was about to
+enter.
+
+Here stood the star-spangled coffin, surrounded by massive
+silver-sconces, the candles in which, with their long wicks, threw a
+gloomy light upon the black hangings of the apartment.
+
+I fell upon my knees by the side of the coffin and grasped one of my
+poor sister's hands--it was clenched!--I shuddered, and let it go
+again, it fell heavily back upon the shroud. A veil was thrown over the
+face; I wished once more to behold the sweet features; I raised the
+veil--a distorted, livid countenance grinned at me, the dim, wide
+extended eyes seemed to wish to pierce through me with their gaze. I
+grew chill with horror, and dropped the veil. 'Emilie!' I whispered,
+seized with unutterable anguish. 'It is thee, nevertheless! This
+frightful head is covered with thy beautiful curls! O God! How death
+distorts the human face!'
+
+I hurried from the room, it seemed to me as if ghostly spectres stood
+in every corner, and gazed at me with their rayless eyes--I hardly knew
+how I got out--but I fancied I heard hollow, scornful laughter behind
+me.
+
+On the day of the funeral I met old Anna, the companion of my poor
+sister during her short worldly career; she had been her nurse, and had
+built her modest hopes and the happiness of her life upon Emilie. Now,
+she was alone, poor old woman; the object on which all her affections
+had been centred was gone, and in the future she saw only darkness and
+misery. As she stood there with her recollections, she resembled an
+aged tree from times gone by, and which, in a circle of younger and
+unknown plants, awaits the last storm.
+
+I considered it would be only an annoyance to my brother-in-law if I
+questioned him concerning the last moments of my beloved sister--but
+with Anna this would not be the case, I therefore inquired of her.
+
+With the usual garrulity of old age, she now began to describe to me
+the life of my sister, from the time that I had last seen her; she
+seemed to find consolation in relating all that she had seen, and
+had enjoyed, and what she had lost. There often seems nothing which
+binds aged people to this life but the pleasure of being able to
+complain--why then should not this faithful old woman be allowed to
+enjoy this one privilege?
+
+She pictured to me with a sort of enthusiasm how happy Emilie had been,
+how kind Theodore had lately shown himself, how grieved he had been
+when my sister caught cold and became seriously ill, with what anxiety
+he had endeavoured to procure relief for her, how he watched by her
+bed-side, counted every respiration, and in what despair he was when
+she finally expired in the most frightful convulsions. 'The day after
+her decease,' continued the old woman, weeping, 'I saw him prostrate on
+his knees by the bed-side of the corpse.'
+
+I had therefore done Theodore injustice, had been cold and reserved to
+one who by his conduct had deserved a better return from me. 'Why must
+this be?' I thought. 'Why cannot I bear his look? Why do I recoil from
+his friendship? He certainly never offended me, and Emilie perceived
+her faults, and became happy with him--why, then, should I increase his
+sorrow?'
+
+Such were the reproaches which I made to myself, and I again
+resolved to act like a friend and a brother to him; but it was
+impossible--between us there existed such a decided aversion that we
+were never at our ease in the company of each other.
+
+My sister was buried in the evening. The ceremony was solemn and
+mournful, and the future appeared to me as dark as the church in which
+it took place. Notwithstanding the numerous lights, a gloomy obscurity
+reigned throughout the sacred edifice, the dusky monotony of which was
+uninterrupted, save here and there by escutcheons, distinguishable only
+from the columns against which they hung by their glaring colours; the
+coffin was lowered into the family vault; I looked down--it was so dark
+and sombre in the space below; it seemed to me as if I gazed into
+eternity. 'Farewell, Emilie!' I said once more--and she was gone.
+
+When I returned to my own room, I placed myself at the window, and
+looked out upon the fields. The church in which my sister rested lay in
+the background, illuminated by the silver rays which the pale moon cast
+upon it. I stood and thought of her life in another world, of our
+reunion there, and I gazed up towards the heavens, as if I expected to
+behold her glorified spirit floating in the moonlight. Suddenly it
+seemed to me as if I heard a movement behind me; I turned round,
+but saw nothing, for at this moment the moon disappeared behind a
+cloud--the noise continued--I thought I heard the door of a corner
+cupboard open--something fell jingling upon the ground and rolled
+towards me, the moon now shone forth again, and I grew chill with
+horror--there stood Emilie wrapped in her shroud, gazing at me
+earnestly with her hollow eyes! She pointed to that which lay on the
+ground. A moment later and the spectre had disappeared, and my almost
+broken heart recommenced beating, and warmth returned again to my
+stiffened limbs. Was it imagination--only a phantom of my excited
+fancy? No matter; I had distinctly seen her, and something glittering
+lay at my feet. It was a silver goblet, and no other than that which
+Emilie had received from her mother as a wedding gift. It was of an
+antique form, and had been handed down to the females of my mother's
+family as an heir-loom. There was an old legend attached to it, which
+prophesied that it should cause the last possessor to obtain speedy
+happiness. I had not before thought of this; but now it struck me, for
+I remembered that Emilie was the last possessor, since she had no
+daughter to whom to bequeath it I lighted a candle, and examined the
+old family relic more attentively; it was ornamented with flowers and
+inscriptions, written in hieroglyphics, or some unknown character--I
+did not understand it. Inside the goblet was thickly gilded, but I soon
+remarked that from the bottom to about the middle the gold had become
+of a silvery white, and that also a streak of the same colour extended
+on one side up to the rim.
+
+It appeared as if some fluid had worn away the gold and laid bare the
+silver. 'Strange!' I thought 'Nothing can dissolve gold--what can this
+be?' I determined I would ask some clever man about it, and could not
+rest until I found an opportunity on the following day, under some
+pretence or other, to repair to the neighbouring town.
+
+I went to the doctor, a venerable old man, and showed him the goblet,
+without telling him how it had come into my possession; and I asked him
+what it could have been that had produced the white appearance.
+
+The old man answered smiling, 'It only shows that the possessor is no
+chemist, but the goblet is not injured, and you have only to let a
+goldsmith heat it thoroughly.'
+
+'What has made it so?' I inquired.
+
+'That I cannot exactly tell,' he answered, 'but probably something of
+quicksilver, which has adhered to the gold--perhaps a solution of
+corrosive-sublimate.'
+
+'Is not corrosive-sublimate poison?' I asked, horror-struck.
+
+'Yes, certainly it is poisonous--why so?' demanded the old man,
+surprised at my warmth.
+
+'Nothing!' I replied, trying to regain my composure, 'but tell me, my
+dear sir! how do people die who have taken this poison?'
+
+He cast a searching glance at me.
+
+'They die,' he said, at last, shrugging his shoulders. 'They die in the
+most dreadful torments--death is preceded by tremor, and burning in the
+stomach, and finally by fearful convulsions, which distort the
+features, and the corpse soon goes to decay.'
+
+Now, all at once a terrible secret was clearly disclosed to me, and
+almost staggering, I left the worthy old man, who, astonished at my
+unusual behaviour, seemed to doubt whether I were in my right senses.
+And he was right, if he did so, for at this moment I was hovering on
+the brink of insanity. I thank God that I did not really become insane.
+
+Like a spirit of vengeance I flew back to Theodore; I found him sitting
+on the sofa, and occupied in reading. He rose and came to meet me, with
+his usual smiling manner. With terrible calmness, and an inward joy,
+such as a fiend might experience when he is about to crush his victim,
+I drew forth the goblet, and fixing a look upon Theodore, as if I could
+annihilate him, I demanded of him with suppressed anger,
+
+'Do you know this?'
+
+He turned pale.
+
+'Confess!' I continued; 'confess, Demon! that my sister received her
+death by means of this goblet!'
+
+Theodore's usual self-possession entirely forsook him, and he stood
+there, as if he had fallen from a cloud, and 'Yes!' the only word
+audible to my excited nerves, convinced me of his crime.
+
+'God!' I cried, shaking the trembling sinner--'Do you know that there
+is a God? _He_, not I, will punish you!'
+
+I left him and became as tranquil again as if nothing had happened.
+
+As I drove past the church, on my journey home, I cast a sad glance
+through the lattice window, into the family vault; I could distinguish
+the coffin of my sister; 'Emilie, I have revenged you!' I cried, as if
+the deceased could hear me, and in almost a happy state of mind I
+continued my journey.
+
+Not long after this, Theodore put an end to his existence, in a fit of
+gloomy despair. May God be merciful to his soul!
+
+The family goblet could never more be found. Probably Theodore had
+destroyed that mute witness of his crime. Thus the last possessor had,
+in fulfilment of the prophecy, received speedy happiness from it--and
+that happiness was--Death!
+
+
+
+
+                            THE DEATH SHIP.
+
+                           BY B. S. INGEMANN.
+
+
+      Upon the deck fair Gunhild stands
+        And gazes on the billows blue;
+      She sees reflected there beneath,
+        The moon and the bright stars too.
+
+      She sees the moon and the lovely stars
+        On the clear calm sea--the while
+      Her steady bark glides gently on
+        To Britain's distant isle.
+
+      'Twas long since her betrothed love
+        Had sought, alas! that foreign strand;
+      And bitterly had Gunhild wept
+        When he left his native land.
+
+      He promised tidings oft to send--
+        He promised soon to come again;
+      But never tidings reached her ear--
+        She looked for him in vain!
+
+      Fair Gunhild could no longer bear
+        Such anxious, sad suspense;
+      One gloomy night from her parents' home,
+        She fled,--and hied her thence.
+
+      Mounting yon vessel's lofty side,
+        To seek her love she swore--
+      Whether he lay in ocean's depths,
+        Or slept on a foreign shore.
+
+      Three days had she been toss'd upon
+        Wild ocean's heaving wave,
+      When the sea became at the midnight hour
+        As still as the solemn grave.
+
+      On the high deck the maiden stood,
+        Gazing upon the deep so blue;
+      She saw reflected there beneath,
+        The moon and the bright stars too.
+
+      The crew were wrapt in hush'd repose,
+        The very helmsman slept,
+      While the maiden clad in robes of white,
+        Her midnight vigil kept.
+
+      'Twas strange!--at that still hour--behold!
+        A vessel from the deep ascends--
+      It flutters like a shadow there,
+        Then near, its course it bends.
+
+      No sail was spread to catch the breeze;
+        Its masts lay shattered on the deck;
+      And it did not steer one steady course,
+        But drifted like a wreck.
+
+      Hush'd--hush'd was all on board that bark,
+        But flitting by--now here--now there--
+      Seem'd dim, uncertain, shadowy forms,
+        Through the misty moonlit air.
+
+      And now the floating wreck draws near,
+        Yet in the ship 'tis tranquil all;
+      That maiden stands on the deck alone
+        To gaze on the stars so small.
+
+      'Fair Gunhild;' faintly sighs a voice,
+        Thou seek'st thine own betrothed love--
+      But his home is not on the stranger's land,
+        No--nor on earth above.
+
+      ''Tis deep beneath the dark, cold sea,
+        Oh! there 'tis sad to bide;
+      Yet he all lonely there must dwell,
+        Far from his destined bride!'
+
+      'Right well, right well thy voice I know,
+        Thou wand'rer from the deep wide sea;
+      No longer lonesome shalt thou dwell
+        Far, far away from me.'
+
+      'No, Gunhild, no--thou art so young,
+        So fair--thou must not come;
+      And I will grieve no more if thou
+        Art glad in thy dear home.
+
+      'The faith that thou to me didst swear,
+        To thee again I freely give;
+      I'm rocking on the billows' lap,
+        Seek happier ties and live.'
+
+      'The faith I vow'd I still will hold,
+        I swear it here anew--
+      Oh! say if in thy cold abode
+        There is not room for two?'
+
+      'Room in the sea might many find,
+        But all below is cheerless gloom;
+      When the sun's rays are beaming bright,
+        We sleep as in the tomb.
+
+      'Tis only at the midnight hour
+        When the pale moon shines out,
+      That we from ocean's depths may rise,
+        To drift on the wreck about.'
+
+      'Let the sun brightly beam above,
+        So I within thine arms repose!
+      Oh! I shall slumber softly there,
+        Forgetting earthly woes!
+
+      'Then hasten--hasten--reach thy hand!
+        And take thy bride with thee;
+      With thee, oh, gladly will she dwell,
+        Deep, deep beneath the sea!
+
+      'And we will oft at midnight's hour
+        Upon the lonely wreck arise,
+      And gaze upon the pale soft moon
+        And the stars in yonder skies.'
+
+      Then reach'd the dead his icy hand--
+        'Fair Gunhild! fear not thou--
+      The dawn of rosy morn is near,
+        We may not linger now!'
+
+      Upon the wreck the maiden springs,
+        It drifts away again;
+      The crew of her bark--awaking--see
+        The _Death-ship_ on the main!
+
+      The startled men crowd on the deck
+        With horror on each brow;
+      They pray to God in heaven above--
+        And the wreck has vanish'd now!
+
+
+
+
+                             THE BROTHERS;
+
+                         OR, A GOOD CONSCIENCE.
+
+                            FROM THE DANISH.
+
+
+It was a fresh, cool summer morning; the birds appeared to have
+exhausted themselves with singing; but the breeze was not exhausted,
+for, if it seemed lulled for a moment under the clustering leaves of
+the trees, it was but suddenly to shake them about, and mingle its
+sighs with their rustling sound; there waved to and fro the heavy heads
+of the ears of corn in the fields, and the more lowly clover scattered
+its fragrance around. On the summit of yon green eminence, under the
+swaying branches of those oak-trees, stands a young peasant, a robust,
+vigorous youth. Shading his eyes with his hand, he is gazing across the
+fields, where the public road winds along, separated from the luxuriant
+corn by rows of young trees, and deep narrow ditches, whose edges are
+bordered by wild flowers.
+
+Yet it was but a short time before, that war--savage and bloody
+war--had raged there; that the heavy trampling of the cavalry had
+torn up that ground, now covered with the plentiful grain; that the
+thunder of cannon had hushed every wild bird's song, and that those
+flower-bordered ditches had been the death-beds of many a sinking
+warrior. The traces of such scenes are soon effaced in nature; it is
+only in the minds of mankind that they remain, and cannot be blotted
+out.
+
+Is it this remembrance which calls an expression of gloom to Johan's
+eyes, as he surveys the meadows, and casts a shade over his brow, as he
+turns his head and looks into the quiet valley beneath? In it stands a
+pretty cottage, newly whitewashed and repaired, with white curtains
+adorning its low windows, and surrounded by a neat little garden, gay
+with flowers of every hue. There dwell his mother and his betrothed;
+she who is soon to become his wife--for the wedding-day is fixed. But
+it is not the preparations for that event which have set the whole
+house astir; it is a festival of the village, a general holiday; for
+this day they are preparing to receive the men who had left their homes
+in order to defend their native land. These had been long absent, had
+encountered many hardships and perils, and many of them had been
+prisoners in the enemy's country. Most among them had one true loving
+heart at least awaiting his return with anxiety--therefore the whole of
+the little village was preparing a festal welcome for them. But why
+does Johan look as if he did not observe the promise of abundance
+around him--as if he were not himself the most fortunate among the
+villagers--he, who is about to celebrate a double festival? Why does he
+throw himself down beneath yon tree, and hide his face with his arm?
+
+Ah! memory has recalled to him _that_ day when he and his brother--two
+strong, active boys--had stopped at this very place to look at a little
+girl who was crying bitterly. She was very poorly clad, and the
+curiosity of the boys passing into sympathy, they inquired why she was
+in tears? It was a long time before she would impart the cause of her
+grief to them; but when they placed themselves by her on the grass,
+patted her little cheek, and spoke words of kindness to her, she
+confided to them that she had recently come to their village. On the
+other side of the hill stood the small house in which her mother had
+lived: but she was now dead, and strangers had brought her over to the
+village. The overseer of the poor had placed her in service with a
+peasant woman; but she felt so lonely--so forsaken! She would fain
+return to her cottage, which stood by itself on the heath; but she
+dared not leave her mistress. Johan took her hand, looked earnestly
+upon her, and asked what there was so uncommon about her mother's
+cottage?
+
+'Ah! there is no house like it here in your village,' replied the
+little girl, with animation. 'You see, it stood so entirely alone,
+nobody ever came near it, and out before the door the purple heather
+grew so thickly! When I lay there in the morning, it was so warm and
+still, and one never heard a sound but the humming of the wild bees and
+the whirring of the great flies' wings. In the autumn, my mother and I
+used to cut off the long heather, bind it into bundles, and sell them
+yonder in the village. There was a well near our door, and when one
+looked down into it, oh! it was so dark, and deep, and cold! And when
+one was drawing up the bucket, it creaked and creaked, as if it were a
+labour to come up; and if it were let go again, one might wait and
+watch a long time before it got down to where the water was. In winter,
+my mother sat in the house spinning; then the snow almost blocked up
+our little windows; we dared not peep out of the door, for fear of the
+cold north wind getting in; and if one ventured into the outhouse to
+get peats for the little stove, one's teeth chattered with the cold. On
+the long, pitch-dark nights, when we went to bed early, to save
+candles, we used to lie awake, and creep close to each other, listening
+to every sound. Oh! how glad we were that we were too poor to fear
+robbers or bad men. Do you think it possible that there can be such a
+dear cottage as ours anywhere?'
+
+Johan pointed down towards the valley, and said--
+
+'Do you see our house, yonder? Is _it_ not pretty?'
+
+The little girl shook her head, while she replied--
+
+'You think so, perhaps, for you are accustomed to it.'
+
+'I should like very much to see your former home,' said the other
+brother, George, who had been gazing upon the child with his large
+expressive eyes. 'Could you find the way to it?'
+
+'Oh! to be sure I could,' she replied. When I go with the sheep up to
+the top of the hills, I can see it far away towards the east.'
+
+It was agreed that the following Sunday they should all three go to see
+the wonderfully beautiful cottage the girl had described; and after
+that excursion they became playfellows and fast friends. In process of
+time, when the girl grew stronger, the mother of the boys, at their
+earnest and repeated request, took her as an assistant in her household
+work, and Ellen became happier and prettier every day. Johan carved
+wooden shoes for her, carried water for her, and helped her at her
+weaving; George whitewashed her little room, and planted flowers
+outside her window: and neither of the brothers ever went to the
+market-town without bringing a little gift to her.
+
+They were all three confirmed on the same day, though the brothers were
+older than Ellen; but from that day their peace was disturbed; Lars,
+the son of the clerk of the church, took it into his head to make up to
+Ellen, presented her with flowers and a silver ring, and, what was
+worse, at a dance in the village, shortly after, he danced with her
+almost the whole evening. Why was it that the gloomy looks of the
+dissatisfied brothers sought not each other's sympathy? Why did not
+they open their lips in mutual complaints--why not tell each other that
+they had never dreamed of any one else dancing with their sister,
+giving her presents, and speaking soft words to her? Was it not _they_
+who had met her first, and had visited with her the cottage on the
+heath? _They_, who had been so attached to her? But there had hitherto
+been two to love her--why had two suddenly become one too many? And
+when Ellen, her face radiant with joy, came tripping up to George,
+seized his hand, and said, 'Will you not dance one little dance with
+me, George?' why did Johan spring forward with a wrathful countenance,
+snatch away her hand, and exclaim--'No; I am tired of staying here,
+Ellen; we must go home!'
+
+Then George threw his arm round her waist, pushed Johan away, and said,
+'Go, if you like, Johan; but Ellen and I will dance.'
+
+Suddenly the brothers turned upon each other as if they had been bitter
+enemies; and they would have come to blows, had Ellen not burst into
+tears, and, separating them, accompanied them home.
+
+From that day forth they watched narrowly each other's word and look,
+and seemed to be always in a state of miserable anxiety about each
+other. If they were going to market, they made a point of starting at
+the same time; for the one dared not leave the other a moment behind,
+for fear he should have an opportunity of saying a kind word privately
+to Ellen, or of obtaining a kind look from her, in which the other
+could not share. If they were sitting together in their humble parlour,
+they kept a sharp and jealous look-out upon every motion and every
+glance of hers; and if she spoke a little longer, or with a little more
+apparent interest, to one, the room seemed to be too confined for the
+other, and he would rush out to breathe the free air, but yet without
+feeling the oppression removed from his heart. At length, even the
+little friendly attentions they used to pay to Ellen were given up, for
+jealousy taught both the brothers what poison there might lie in them
+for each.
+
+Perhaps it would have been better if Ellen could have then declared
+which she preferred; her heart would have led her willingly to do so;
+but to make the other dear brother unhappy! Had they not both been so
+kind to the poor child whom they found under the tree? Which, could she
+say, had surpassed the other in affection to her? Besides, neither of
+them had asked her which she liked best. No--neither of them had
+ventured to do that: but both became more gloomy, both apparently more
+miserable, and the love of both became more impetuous.
+
+They were all three sitting together one evening; for the young men's
+mother was now very feeble and mostly confined to bed. At length, Johan
+spoke of the news he had that day heard at the clergyman's house--'that
+war had broken out, and that the king had called upon all his faithful
+subjects to assist him in it. For the first time for many months the
+brothers looked frankly and unsuspiciously at each other, and, holding
+out his hand, George said--
+
+'Brother! shall we go to the war?'
+
+A hearty shake of the hand was Johan's reply.
+
+'For God's sake, do not leave me, my dear brothers!' cried Ellen.
+'Would it not be enough at least for one to ...' she added, almost in a
+whisper; but she stopped suddenly, for the countenance of both the
+young men had darkened in a moment. In the fierce look which they
+exchanged lay more than words could have expressed; and Ellen felt, as
+if the idea had been conveyed to her in a flash of lightning, that they
+must both go. She seized a hand of each, pressed them to her beating
+heart, and told them, in a voice broken by suppressed sobs, that they
+must go, that they must trust in God, and that she would pray for them
+both.
+
+That night, when she had retired to her little chamber, she wept bitter
+tears, and prayed to the Almighty that he would watch over them both;
+and if one _must_ fall, that he would preserve him whose life would be
+of the greatest utility. But her sighs were for George, and her secret
+wishes for his safety.
+
+The brothers joined the army. The life they led there, so new to both,
+seemed to call forth from their inmost souls long-dormant feelings, and
+they once more became intimate, but of home they never dared to speak.
+They often wished to write to that home, but something invisible seemed
+always to prevent them, and neither of them would let that duty devolve
+upon the other. It was almost a relief to them when they had to march
+to the field of battle; the lives of both would be exposed there--God
+would choose between them. And they looked earnestly one upon the
+other, and wrung each other's hand. But when they met after the battle,
+they did _not_ shake hands, they nodded coldly to each other; and, to a
+comrade from their native village, they said--'When you write home,
+tell them that our Lord has spared us.'
+
+Again they went forth to meet the enemy; again they participated in
+that fearful lottery for life or death; and amidst the tumult of the
+fight, they chanced to stand side by side. At length, driven off the
+field, they took refuge in a small building, but it was speedily
+attacked by the enemy; they saw the bayonets glittering on the outside,
+and heard the officer in command give orders to fire at it.
+Immediately, Johan pressed the secret spring of a trap-door which led
+to the woods, and forced himself through it. George stooped over it and
+was about to follow his example, when an evil spirit entered into
+Johan's heart; he thrust his brother back, drew down the trap-door, and
+rushed towards the trees. Immediately he heard the sound of firing; the
+smoke concealed his flight, he crept into the wood, trembling in every
+limb, and fainted away upon the grass.
+
+On recovering from his swoon, all was still around him; but he soon
+fell in with some of his comrades, and rejoined his regiment. The
+troops were shortly afterwards mustered, and the name of each
+individual was called. How intense were his feelings when his brother's
+was heard! None answered to it; and, conquering with a violent effort
+his emotion, he ventured to glance towards the place that his brother
+used to occupy, and where he almost dreaded to see a pale and
+threatening spectre. He heard his comrades talk of him, but his heart
+appeared to have become seared. He felt that he ought to write to
+Ellen, and evening after evening he sat down to the task; but he always
+abandoned it, for he fancied, that without any confession, she would
+discern that the hand which traced the letters on the paper to her had
+thrust his brother into the jaws of death. He gave up the idea of
+writing, but through another sent a message of kindness from himself,
+and the tidings of George's death.
+
+When a cessation of hostilities for a time was agreed on, and Johan was
+to return home, he endeavoured and hoped to be able to shake off his
+deep gloom. He was to see Ellen again, but the thought of her no longer
+brought gladness to his soul. It was with slow and heavy steps that he
+approached the cottage in the valley; and when Ellen came out to meet
+him, and hid her tearful face on his breast, it did not anger him that
+she wept, for his own heart was so overcharged with misery, that it
+seemed to weigh him down to the earth. At length he felt somewhat
+easier; he tried to concentrate his thoughts upon Ellen, and he had
+everything that could remind him of his brother removed from sight.
+Yet, when in passing through the woods, he came near some large tree,
+on which his brother and himself, as children, had cut their names
+together, painful and dark remembrances would rush on him; and it was
+still worse when his mother wept, and spoke of George--of what he was
+as a little boy, and how good, and affectionate, and kind-hearted he
+had always been. When in the society of the neighbouring peasants, he
+was silent, and seemingly indifferent to all amusement; and when he
+heard them remark 'How Johan is changed since he went to the wars!' he
+felt himself compelled to leave them and fly to solitude. Ellen was
+kind and gentle to him; but when, of an evening, he loitered near the
+window of her little chamber, he could not help hearing how she sighed
+and sobbed.
+
+One afternoon, when he came slowly home from his work in the fields, he
+began to commune with himself, and his soliloquy ended by his saying to
+himself--'I _will_ be happy; for, as things are now, I might as well be
+where George is.' And, thus resolving, he went straight to the window
+of Ellen's room, at which she was standing, and leaning against the
+outside frame, he said--
+
+'Listen to me, Ellen! We have mourned long enough for George. I have
+been fond of you ever since you were a child--will you be my wife now?'
+
+Ellen looked down for a moment; then, raising her eyes to his, she
+said--
+
+'Ah, Johan! I saw very well how matters stood between you and George;
+but I will tell you frankly, that I would have preferred to have taken
+poor George for my husband, and kept you as my brother. However, since
+it was God's will to remove him from this world, there is no one whom I
+would rather marry than you. Are you content with this acceptance?'
+
+'I suppose I must be,' replied Johan; but he became very pale, and he
+added, in a lower and somewhat discontented tone--'There was no need
+for your saying all this, Ellen; you may believe my assurance, that I
+am as much attached to you as ever George could have been.'
+
+'Yes, Johan, yes!' said Ellen; 'but it is needless to make comparisons
+now; nor ought you to be angry at what I have said. You are dearest to
+me after him; and, even if he stood here in your place, I should not be
+happy if you were dead and gone.'
+
+'Hush, Ellen, hush!' cried Johan, as he glanced over his shoulder with
+uneasiness. 'Let us speak about our wedding-day; for my mother cannot
+live long, and we could not reside together after her death unless we
+were married.'
+
+After a little more conversation, Ellen shut the window, and withdrew;
+and the subject was not again alluded to the whole evening. When Johan
+went to bed, the thought occurred to him--'It was very strange that I
+forgot to seal our engagement with a single kiss. Am I never more to
+feel that I have a right to be happy?'
+
+He could not sleep that night--he could not help reflecting how it
+would have been, if it were George who was about to marry Ellen, and he
+who was lying in the grave. 'But George would then have caused my
+death, and perhaps things are better as they are.' He tried to escape
+from thought--he tried to sleep, and at last sleep came; but it brought
+no relief, for he found himself again standing in that well-remembered
+wood, and saw again before him that small house, with its dreadful
+recollections. He felt himself struggling violently to keep the
+trapdoor shut, till the perspiration poured down his face; and then he
+awoke in his agitation, and anything was better than the horror of such
+a vivid dream. 'Oh! why is it not all a dream?' he exclaimed, as he
+wrung his hands in agony of spirit.
+
+And there he stood now upon the hill, hiding his face from the
+sweetness of the morning, and the cheerful rays of the sun, as if he
+feared to pollute the glorious gifts which God had bestowed on
+creation, and felt that they were not intended for his enjoyment.
+Suddenly, he flung himself down, and buried his face amidst the early
+dew that stood upon the ground, mingling with it the hot tears that
+chased each other swiftly down his cheeks. At that moment, a soft hand
+was gently laid upon his head, and a mild voice exclaimed--
+
+'But, Johan! why are you lying here? What can be the matter with you?'
+
+And when he raised his head, and Ellen saw his disturbed look, she sat
+down by him, and put her arm affectionately round him.
+
+'Do you believe that we shall be happy, Ellen?' he asked mournfully, as
+he laid his head on her shoulder. 'Tell me--do you really believe that
+we shall be happy?'
+
+'Why not, dear Johan?' said Ellen, in a soothing manner. 'We are both
+young--we have a sincere affection for each other--we will do all we
+can for our mutual happiness through life--and when one has a good
+conscience, everything goes well.'
+
+Her last words pierced Johan to the very soul; he felt perfectly
+wretched--he became as pale as death--and a confession which would have
+crushed his hearer's heart trembled on his lips; but he forced it back
+to the depths of his own soul, and was silent. Ellen, too, sat silent.
+After a few moments she seemed to be listening to something, and
+suddenly she exclaimed--
+
+'Hark! the church bells are ringing! They are coming--I must hasten to
+our poor mother.'
+
+After she had left him, Johan remained for a time in speechless
+anguish. '_When one has a good conscience_,' he repeated at length.
+'Yes--it is true! But I, who have _not_ a good conscience, how shall I
+become fortunate and happy? Oh! if she adored me--if she would be
+everything to me--of what avail would that be to me? Do I not feel that
+every endearment is a crime--every word of love an offence to _him_ in
+his grave? Oh! if she knew all, she would spurn me from her, order me
+out of her presence, and heap curses on my head! But soon--soon--she
+will not be able to do that. We shall become man and wife--ay, man and
+wife before God's holy altar ... but--will that ever be? When I walk
+with her up the church aisle--when the bells are ringing, the church
+adorned with green branches and flowers, and the rich tones of the
+organ make the heart swell in one's breast--can _I_ be proud or happy?
+Can I help looking back to see if a bloody shadow be not following me
+amongst my kindred and my friends, who are the bridal guests? Oh!
+horror, horror! And when the pastor pronounces that those whom God has
+joined together no man shall put asunder--oh! the blood will freeze in
+my veins. No--no living man--but a shadow from the tomb--a spectre--a
+murdered brother's revengeful ghost--will appear. Oh! George, George!
+arise from your grave, and let me change places with you!'
+
+Drops of agony are falling from his brow, every joint seems rigid in
+his closely-clasped hands, and every limb of the unhappy sinner is
+trembling. But what angel from heaven is yon? He kneels by his side--he
+pushes back the thick hair, and wipes off the clammy dew of mortal
+anguish from his forehead. Johan looks up.
+
+'Oh! is it a spectre from the grave, or is it he? George!--George!
+No--no--no!--he smiles--it cannot be himself!'
+
+Johan stretched out his feverish, trembling hands, and grasped his
+brother's arm.
+
+'Is it you, George? Merciful God! can it be yourself?'
+
+'It is I--I myself!' replied George, approaching closer to his brother.
+
+'And you are not dead?' cried Johan. 'Answer me, for God's sake! Have I
+not murdered you?'
+
+'Hush!--hush!' said George; 'you pushed me back from the trap-door,
+indeed, but I fell down flat, and the guns did not injure me. The enemy
+took me prisoner, however, and I have just come from captivity. Forgive
+me, Johan, that I so long forgot we were brothers--so long, that you at
+last learned to forget it too.'
+
+Johan stood for a few moments as if he had been turned into stone, then
+raised his eyes, and cast one long, earnest look towards heaven; but in
+that look there was a world of gratitude and delight. He then threw
+himself on his brother's neck and embraced him warmly.
+
+'Go to your bride!' he cried, as he withdrew his arms, and pointed to
+the cottage in the vale. 'I have not killed him!' he shouted; 'I have
+not murdered my brother!--he lives! Oh! thou God of goodness, I thank
+thee that thou hast saved my brother!' And he kissed the flowers, he
+embraced the trees, he rolled on the grass in the wild delirium of his
+joy; but he became calmer by degrees, his thoughts seemed to become
+more collected, and he raised his tearful eyes to the blue heavens
+above, while his lips murmured his thanks and praise for the unexpected
+blessing vouchsafed to him.
+
+Several days have passed since then; the wedding morning has come at
+last; the bells ring; the church is decorated with fresh flowers and
+green boughs, and the pealing organ is heard outside in the churchyard.
+See, here comes the bridal party, gaily dressed, and adorned with
+garlands of flowers. The bride advances between two young men, each
+holding one of her hands. The one brother gives her to the other. Long
+had they disputed in a friendly spirit which should be permitted to
+sacrifice himself, and to yield Ellen; but one of them had a crime to
+expiate; he was most anxious to make reparation for it, and he
+triumphed in the fraternal struggle. See how his eyes sparkle! See with
+what firm and elastic steps he advances! And, though deeply agitated as
+he holds out his right hand to place the bride by his brother's side at
+the altar, how earnestly he joins in prayer, and how distinctly
+gratitude and peace are depicted in his countenance!
+
+It is night in the valley; the wind is hushed, and not a leaf is
+stirring; all is so still, that the gentle trickling of the water in
+the little rivulet near can be heard at an unusual distance. The quiet
+moonbeams shine on the windows of the cottage where George and Ellen,
+the newly-married couple, are; and the roses which cluster round them
+exhale their sweetest perfumes. But what wanderer is yon, who, with a
+knapsack on his back and a staff in his hand, stands beneath the oak
+trees on the hill? He stretches out his arms towards that lowly house
+in a last adieu, for _his_ path must henceforth lead elsewhere. Why
+does he now kneel on the grassy height? why does he lift his hands to
+heaven in prayer? Can it be possible that he thanks God because his
+beloved is his brother's bride? Can it be possible that, with a heart
+unbroken by grief--that with tears, which are not of sorrow, in his
+eyes, he can leave all he has ever loved, to become a pilgrim in a
+foreign land? It is--for a conscience, released from the heavy burden
+of guilt, supports and blesses him, and transforms every sigh into
+gratitude and joy.
+
+
+
+
+                                 ESBEN.
+
+                   FROM THE DANISH OF S. S. BLICHER.
+
+
+            The greatest sorrow that this world can give,
+            Is, far away from those one loves--to live.
+
+Sometimes, when I have wandered away--away over the wild and apparently
+endless moors, where I could see nothing but the brown heath below, and
+the blue skies above me; when I have roamed on far from men, from their
+busy haunts, and the signs and tokens of their active worldly labours,
+which, after all, are but molehills, that Time, or some restless and
+turbulent Tamerlane, shall again level to the ground; when I have
+strayed, light of heart and proudly free as a Bedouin, whom no fixed
+domicile, no narrow circumscribed fields chain to one spot, but who, as
+its owner, occupies _all he beholds_; who does not indeed dwell, but
+pitches his tent where he will; if then my keen searching glances along
+the horizon have discovered a house, how often--God forgive me! has not
+the passing thought arisen in my mind--for it was no settled desire--to
+wish that the human habitation was annihilated. There, must dwell
+trouble and sorrow; there, must exist disputes about _mine_ and
+_thine!_ Ah! the happy desert is both thine and mine, is everyone's, is
+no one's. A lover of the woods would have contented himself with
+wishing a whole colony of trees planted there; I have wished that the
+heath could have remained as it was a thousand years ago, uncultivated
+by human hands, untrodden by human feet! Yet this wish was not always
+satisfactory to myself, for when fatigued, overheated, suffering
+from hunger and thirst, I have endeavoured to turn my thoughts with
+longing to an Arab's tent and rude hospitality, I have caught myself
+thanking Heaven that a house thatched with broom--at not a mile's
+distance--promised me shelter and refreshment.
+
+It so happened that some years ago, one calm warm September day, I
+found myself on the same heath that, in my Arabian dreams, I called
+mine. Not a breath of wind crept among the purple heather; the air was
+sultry and heavy, the distant hills that bounded the view seemed to
+float like clouds around the immense plain, and assumed the appearances
+of houses, towns, castles, men, and animals: but all was vague in
+outline, and ever shifting, as the images seen in dreams. A cottage
+would expand into a church, and that again into a pyramid; here,
+suddenly uprose one spire; then, as suddenly sank another; a man turned
+into a horse, and that again into an elephant; here glided a little
+boat, and there, a ship with every sail spread. Long did my delighted
+eyes gaze on these fantastic figures--a panorama that only the mariner
+or the wanderer of the desert has ever the pleasure of beholding--when,
+becoming a prey to hunger and to thirst, I began to look for a real
+house among the many false ones in my sight. I longed most earnestly to
+exchange all my beautiful fairy palaces for one single peasant's
+cottage. My wishes were granted: I descried at length a real tenement,
+without spires or towers, whose outline became sharper and more defined
+the nearer I approached, and which, flanked by stacks of peat, looked
+larger than it really was.
+
+The inhabitants were unknown to me. Their clothing was poor; their
+furniture of the plainest description; but I knew that dwellers on the
+heath often hid their precious metal in some secret depository, and
+that a tattered garb sometimes concealed a well-lined pocket-book.
+When, on going in, I observed a recess filled with stockings, I
+shrewdly guessed that I had introduced myself into the abode of a
+wealthy hosier (in a parenthesis be it said, that I never knew a poor
+one).
+
+An elderly, grey-haired, but still vigorous man, advanced to meet me,
+and with a cordial 'welcome' offered me his hand. 'May I be permitted
+to ask,' he added, 'where my guest comes from?' One must not take
+umbrage at so blunt and unmannerly a question. The rustic of the heath
+is almost as hospitable as the Scotch lairds, though rather more
+inquisitive; but, after all, one cannot blame him that he seeks to know
+whom he entertains. When I had enlightened him as to who I was and
+whence I came, he called his wife, who without loss of time set before
+me the best the house contained, kindly inviting me to partake of it;
+an invitation which I was not slow in accepting.
+
+I was in the midst of my repast, and also in the midst of a political
+conversation with mine host, when a young and uncommonly beautiful girl
+came in, whom I should indubitably have pronounced to have been a young
+lady in disguise, who had made her escape from cruel parents or hateful
+guardians, had not her red hands and country dialect convinced me that
+there was no _travestissement_ in the case. She curtsied with a
+pleasant smile, looked under the table, went hastily out, and soon
+returned to the room with a dish of bread and milk, which she placed on
+the ground, saying, 'Your dog will probably also want something to
+eat.'
+
+I thanked her for her kind consideration; but my gratitude was nothing
+compared to that of the great dog, whose greed had soon caused the dish
+to be emptied, and who then thanked the fair donor after his own
+fashion, by jumping roughly upon her; and when she, in some alarm,
+threw her arms up in the air, Chasseur mistook her meaning, sprung up
+higher, and brought the shrieking girl to the ground. I called the dog
+off, of course, and endeavoured to convince the damsel of his good
+intentions. I should not have drawn the reader's attention to so
+trivial a matter, but to introduce a remark, namely, that everything is
+becoming to beauty; for every motion and even look of this rural fair
+one had a natural grace and charm which the well-tutored coquette might
+in vain try to assume.
+
+When she had left the room, I asked the good people if she was their
+daughter. They answered in the affirmative, adding that she was their
+only child.
+
+'You will not have her long with you,' I remarked.
+
+'God help us! what do you mean?' asked the father; but a sort of
+self-satisfied smile showed me that he full well understood my meaning.
+
+'I think,' I replied, 'that she is likely to have a great many wooers.'
+
+'Oh!' muttered he, 'wooers are in plenty; but unless they are worth
+something, what is the use of talking of them? To come a wooing with a
+watch and silver-mounted pipe is nothing to the purpose--great cry and
+little wool--and faith!' he exclaimed, setting both his elbows on the
+table, and stooping to look out at the low windows, 'here comes one of
+them, a fellow who has just raised his head above the heather--one of
+those pedlars who travel about with a pair or two of stockings in their
+wallet as samples, forsooth. The cur-dog, he wants to play the
+sweetheart to my daughter, with his two miserable oxen, and his cow and
+a half! Yes, there he is, skulking along, the pauper!'
+
+The object of these execrations, and the person on whom were bent looks
+as lowering as if he had been a thief, was now approaching the house,
+but was still far enough off for me to ask my host who he was, and to
+be told that he was the son of his nearest neighbour, who, however,
+lived at the distance of more than a mile; that his father possessed
+only a small farm, upon the security of which he owed the hosier 200
+dollars; that the son, who had for some years hawked about woollen
+goods, had lately presumed to propose for the beautiful Cecilia, but
+had received a flat refusal.
+
+Whilst I was listening to this little history, Cecilia herself came in;
+and her anxious and sorrowful looks, which wandered, by turns, between
+her father and the traveller without, enabled me to guess that she did
+not coincide in the old man's view of affairs. As soon as the young man
+entered by one door, she disappeared by another, not however, without
+casting on him a hurried, but kind and speaking glance. My host turned
+toward the new comer, grasped the table with both his hands, as if he
+found some support needful, and acknowledged the young man's 'God's
+peace be here,' and 'Good day,' with a dry 'Welcome.' The uninvited
+guest stood for a few moments while he cast his eyes slowly round the
+room, took a tobacco-pouch from one pocket and a tobacco-pipe from
+another, knocked it on the stove by his side and filled it again. All
+this was done leisurely, and in a kind of measured manner, while my
+host remained motionless, in the attitude he had assumed.
+
+The stranger was a very handsome youth, a worthy son of our northern
+clime, where, though men are slow of growth, their frames become lofty
+and strong. He had light hair, blue eyes, fair complexion, ruddy
+cheeks, and a chin on whose downy smoothness the razor had not yet
+played, although its owner had numbered his twentieth year. His dress
+was not that of a common peasant, it was the costume generally adopted
+by tradesmen, but was much superior in its texture and its smartness to
+that of the rich hosier himself. He wore a frock coat, white trousers,
+a striped red vest, and a cotton cravat; he looked, at least, no
+unworthy suitor to the lovely Cecilia. His pleasant, open countenance
+pleased me: it was expressive of that enduring patience and power of
+unswerving perseverance, which form such prominent features in the
+Cimbric national character.
+
+A long time elapsed before either of them would break silence; at
+length my host was the first to open his mouth, which he did by asking
+slowly, and in a cold and indifferent tone and manner, 'Whither bound
+to-day, Esben?'
+
+The other answered, without at all hurrying himself, while he lighted
+his pipe leisurely, and took a long whiff, 'No farther to-day, but
+to-morrow I am off to Holstein.'
+
+Thereupon there occurred another long pause, during which Esben looked
+at all the chairs one after another, took one, and finally sat down. At
+that moment the mother and daughter entered, and the young man nodded
+to them with such an unaltered and tranquil air, that I should have
+thought he was quite indifferent to the beautiful Cecilia, had I not
+known that love, in a breast such as his, might not be the less strong
+that it lay concealed; that it is not the blaze, which flashes and
+sparkles, but the steady fire that burns and warms the longest.
+
+Cecilia, with a sigh, placed herself at the farthest end of the table,
+and began immediately to knit; her mother condescended to say,
+'Welcome, Esben!' as she settled herself at her spinning-wheel.
+
+'Are you going on account of business?' drawled out the hosier at
+length.
+
+'If any offers,' replied the visitor. 'One can but try what may be done
+in the south. My errand here is, to beg that you will not be in too
+great a hurry to get Cecil married, but will wait till I come back, and
+we can see what my luck has been.'
+
+Cecilia coloured, but continued to look steadfastly at her work. The
+mother stopped her spinning-wheel with one hand, laid the other on her
+lap, and looked hard at the speaker; but the father said, as he turned
+with a wink to me, '"While the grass grows"--you know the rest of the
+proverb. How can you ask that Cecil shall wait for you? You may stay
+very long away, perhaps, even--you may never come back.'
+
+'It is your own fault, Michel Krænsen!' replied Esben, with some
+impetuosity. 'But listen to what I say; If you compel Cecil to marry
+anyone else, you will do grievous wrong both to her and to me.'
+
+So saying, he arose, held out his hand to both the old people, and bade
+them a short and stiff farewell. To their daughter, he said, but in a
+more tender and somewhat faltering voice, 'Farewell, Cecil! and thanks
+for all your kindness. Think of me sometimes, unless you are obliged
+to--God be with you, and with you all! Farewell!'
+
+He turned towards the door, thrust his tobacco-pouch and pipe into his
+pocket, seized his hat, and went forth without casting one look behind.
+The old man smiled triumphantly, his wife sighed aloud an 'Ah, dear!'
+as she set her spinning-wheel in motion again, but large tears rapidly
+coursed each other over Cecilia's now pale cheeks.
+
+I had the greatest possible inclination to invite a discussion of the
+principle which actuated these parents in regard to their child's
+marriage. I could have reminded them, that wealth does not suffice to
+ensure happiness in married life; that the heart must also have its
+share; that prudence counsels to think more of integrity, industry, and
+a good disposition, than of mere riches. I could have remonstrated with
+the father (for the mother seemed at least neutral) on his harshness to
+his only daughter. But I knew the nature of the lower orders too well
+to waste useless words on such subjects; I knew that _money_ takes
+precedence of everything else in that class: but--is it otherwise with
+other classes? I knew, moreover, the dogged firmness of the peasantry,
+approaching almost to obstinacy, especially when any controversy with
+one in a superior rank of life was in question, and that the less they
+felt themselves able to argue, the more stiff-necked they became in
+adhering to their own notions. There came yet another reflection to
+prevent me, unbidden, from thrusting my finger into the pie. It was
+this:--Are not riches, after all, the most real and solid of all the
+good things of this earth? Is not money a sufficient substitute for
+every other sublunary advantage and blessing; the unexceptional
+passport for securing meat and drink, clothes and household comforts,
+respect and friendship, nay, a pretty large share of love itself? Is it
+not fortune which furnishes the greatest number of enjoyments, and
+bestows the greatest independence--which supplies almost every want? Is
+not poverty the rock upon which not only friendship, but love itself,
+often splits? 'When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the
+window,' is a proverb quoted by all classes. Alas! it is much to be
+wished that only Love and Hymen should meet together, but they too
+often insist on having Plutus to accompany them.
+
+After such a review of the world, as it is--but, perhaps a more
+rational review than many would wish or expect from a writer of
+novels--they will easily believe that I did not meddle in Esben's and
+Cecilia's romance, especially as I thought it not unlikely that, on the
+part of the former, this might have been merely an eligible
+speculation, founded less on the daughter's beauty and affection than
+on the father's commercial credit and well-filled purse. And though I
+could not admit that _true love_ is only a poetic fiction, yet I could
+not deny that it is more frequently found in books than in reality.
+
+When the beautiful Cecilia had left the room, apparently to give vent
+to her feelings in a passion of tears, I ventured to remark that it was
+a pity the young man was not better off, adding that he seemed to be a
+fine fellow, and fond of the girl.
+
+'What if he came back,' I asked, 'with some hundred dollars' worth of
+bank-notes?'
+
+'If they were his own,' said old Michel, with a significant wink,
+'well--that would be another affair.'
+
+I soon after took my departure, and went forth again into the deserted
+heath, free as it was from human beings and their cares. At a good
+distance on one side I perceived Esben, and the smoke issuing from his
+pipe. 'Thus,' thought I, 'he is consoling himself in his sorrow and his
+love; but the unhappy Cecilia!' I cast a lingering look back on the
+rich hosier's domicile, and said to myself, 'Had that house not stood
+_there_--there would have been so many less tears in this sad world!'
+
+Six years had passed away before I happened again to be on that part of
+the heath; it was a calm September day, like the one on which I had
+formerly been there. Chance led me to the hosier's habitation; and as I
+recognized old Michel Krænsen's lonely dwelling, I recalled to memory
+the pretty Cecilia and her lover. With the remembrance came a
+curiosity, or rather a longing to know what had been the conclusion of
+this pastoral poem--this heath-drama.
+
+As usual with me in similar cases, I felt much inclined to anticipate
+the probable history. I made my own conclusions, and settled in my own
+mind how everything had turned out, guided by destiny to a happy
+_dénouement_. Alas! how often were not my conclusions widely different
+from the real course of events! And such was the case here; I pictured
+to myself Esben and Cecilia as man and wife--she, with an infant in her
+arms--the grandfather with one or two little prattlers on his knee--and
+the young hosier himself a thriving and happy partner in the still
+flourishing concern: but, it was far otherwise.
+
+Before I had crossed the threshold I heard a female's sweet voice
+singing what, at first, I took for a lullaby, or cradle-song, though
+the tone was so melancholy that my raised expectations at once fell
+considerably. I stood a moment and listened; the words of the song were
+mourning over hopeless love. They were simple, yet full of truth and
+sorrow, but my memory only retains the two lines which formed the
+refrain:
+
+
+      The greatest sorrow that this world can give,
+      Is, far away from those one loves--to live.
+
+
+With dark forebodings I pushed open the door. A stout, strong-looking,
+middle-aged woman, of the labouring class, who was carding wool, was
+the first on whom my eye fell; but it was not she who sang. The
+songstress had her back turned to me, she sat rocking herself rapidly
+backwards and forwards, and kept moving her hands as if she were
+spinning. The first-named arose and bade me welcome, but I hastened
+forwards to see the face of her companion. It was Cecilia--pale, but
+still beautiful. She looked up at me--ah! then I read insanity in the
+vacant, though shining eyes, in the inexpressive smile, in the whole
+mindless countenance! I also observed that she had no spinning-wheel
+before her, but that _that_ which she was so busily turning must have
+been made of the same material as Macbeth's dagger.
+
+She suddenly stopped both her song and her airy wheel, and asked me
+hurriedly and eagerly, 'Are you from Holstein? Did you see Esben? Is he
+coming soon?'
+
+I perceived her state, and thinking it best to humour her, I answered
+without hesitation,
+
+'Yes; he will not be very long of coming now. I bring his kind
+remembrances to you.'
+
+'Then I must away to meet him!' she exclaimed, in a joyful tone of
+voice, and springing up from her straw chair, she rushed towards the
+door.
+
+'Wait a moment, Cecil!' cried the other woman, throwing aside her work,
+'and let me go with you.' She winked to me, and put her finger to her
+head, to inform me in dumb show that her companion was wrong _there_.
+
+'Mother,' she exclaimed aloud, knocking hastily at the kitchen-door;
+'there is some one here--come, will you, for we are going out!'
+She then ran after the wanderer, who was already beyond the little
+court-yard.
+
+The old woman came in. I did not recognize her, but guessed, rightly
+enough, that she was the unfortunate girl's mother. Years and sorrow
+had made sad havoc on her appearance. She did not seem to remember me
+either, but after a civil 'Welcome--pray, sit down,' she asked the
+usual question, 'May I be permitted to know where you are from, good
+sir?'
+
+I told her; and also reminded her that I had been her guest some years
+ago.
+
+'Good Lord!' she exclaimed, clasping her hands, 'is it you? Pray, take
+a seat at the table while I got some refreshment for you.'
+
+Though I was very eager to hear all the particulars of what had caused
+poor Cecilia's sad situation, yet a presentiment that some great
+calamity had happened, and a feeling of respect for the old woman's
+grief, restrained me from at once asking what I wished, yet dreaded, to
+hear.
+
+'Is your husband not at home?' was my first inquiry.
+
+'My husband!' she exclaimed. 'Our Lord has taken him long since--alas!
+It is now three years, come Michaelmas next, that I have been a widow.
+But, pray eat something--it is homely fare--but don't spare it.'
+
+'Many thanks,' said I. 'But tell me about yourselves. So your poor
+husband is gone--that must have been a sad loss--a sad grief to you.'
+
+'Ah, yes!' she replied, with tears in her eyes; 'but that was not the
+only one. Did you see my daughter?'
+
+'Yes,' I answered; 'she seemed to me a little strange.'
+
+'She is quite deranged,' she exclaimed, bursting into tears. 'She has
+to be watched constantly, and I am obliged to keep a woman to look
+after her. To be sure she spins a little--but she has scarcely time to
+do anything, for she has to be after poor Cecil at every hour of the
+day, when her thoughts fall upon Esben.'
+
+'Where is Esben?' I asked.
+
+'In God's kingdom,' she answered, solemnly. 'So you did not ask her
+about him? Oh, Lord, have mercy on us! He came to a dreadful end,
+nobody ever heard of such a frightful thing. But pray make yourself
+at home--you can eat and drink while you are listening. Ay, ay, sad
+things have happened since you were here. And times are also very
+hard--business is extremely dull, and we have to employ strangers now
+to carry it on.'
+
+When I saw that her regret for past comforts mingled with her sorrow
+for present evils, and that neither were too great to prevent her
+relating her misfortunes, I took courage and asked her about them. She
+gave me a history, which, with the permission of my readers, I will
+repeat in the narrator's own simple and homely style. After having
+drawn a chair to the table, and taken up her knitting, she began:
+
+'Kjeld Esbensen and ourselves have been neighbours since my first
+arrival here. Kjeld's Esben and our Cecil became good friends before
+anyone knew anything about it. My husband was not pleased, nor I
+neither, for Esben had nothing, and his father but little. We always
+thought that the girl would have had more pride, or more prudence than
+to dream of throwing herself away on such a raw lad. It is true he
+travelled about with a little pack, and made a few shillings; but how
+far would these go? He came as a suitor to Cecilia, but her father said
+_No_, which was not surprising, and thereupon Esben set off to
+Holstein. We observed that Cecil lost her spirits, but we did not think
+much of that--'She is sure to forget him,' said my good man, 'when the
+right one comes.'
+
+'It was not long before Mads Egelund--I don't know if you ever saw
+him--he lives a few miles from this--he came and offered himself with
+an unencumbered property, and three thousand dollars a-year. That was
+something worth having. Michel immediately said _Yes_; but Cecil, God
+help her! said _No_. So her father was very angry, and led her a sad
+life. I always thought he was too hard upon her, but the worthy man
+would take no advice; he knew what was best, and he, and the father of
+Mads, went to the clergyman to publish the banns. All went well for two
+Sundays, but on the third one, when he said, "If any of you know cause
+or just impediment why these two persons should not be joined together
+in holy matrimony, ye are to declare it," Cecil rose abruptly and cried
+out, "I do; the banns for Esben and myself have been published three
+times in Paradise."
+
+'I tried to hush her, but it was too late; every soul in church had
+heard her, and had turned to stare at our seat. We were put to dreadful
+shame and mortification! I did not then imagine she was out of her
+mind; but when the clergyman had left the pulpit, she began again, and
+raved about Esben and Paradise, her wedding and her wedding-dress, till
+we were obliged to take her out of church. My good Michel scolded her
+well, and declared that it was all a trick; but, God help us! there was
+no trick in it. It was all sad reality--she was insane then, and she is
+insane now.'
+
+Here the speaker let the stocking she was knitting drop on her lap;
+took the woollen clew from her left shoulder, turned it round and
+round, and looked at it in all directions, but it was evident that her
+thoughts were not with it. After seeming to forget everything around
+her for a few minutes, she took up her knitting-needles, and, along
+with her work, resumed her sad tale.
+
+'All her talk was about her being dead, and having got to Paradise,
+where she was to be married to Esben, as soon as he also was dead; and
+she remained in this state day and night. My good Michel, of blessed
+memory, then perceived how it was with her. "It is God's doing," said
+he, "and none can read His will." But he took it to heart for all that;
+and as to me, many were the hours that I lay awake in my bed and wept,
+while everybody else was sleeping. Sometimes I could not help saying,
+that it would have been better if the young people had married. "That
+may still come about," said my husband. But that never was to be.
+
+'For the first two months or so she was very ungovernable, and we tried
+severity with her; afterwards she became quiet, spoke little, but
+sighed and wept a great deal. She could not be induced to occupy
+herself in any way, for she always said, "In Heaven every day is a
+holiday."
+
+'Full half-a-year passed in this way, and it was more than double that
+time since Esben had gone to the south, yet none of us had heard
+anything of him, either for good or for evil. However, one day, when we
+were sitting here--my good man, Cecil, and myself--who should walk in
+but Esben! He had just arrived, had not yet even been to his own home,
+and had no idea what had happened, until he cast his eyes upon the
+girl, and then he could not fail to see that all was not right there.
+
+'"You have tarried long," said she; "everything has been ready for the
+bridal a year and a day. But, tell me, are you living or dead?"
+
+'"Good Heavens, Cecil!" cried he, "you can surely see that I am
+living."
+
+'"That is a pity," said she, "for then you cannot enter the gates of
+Paradise. Strive to die as soon as possible, for Mads Egelund is
+watching to see if he can't come first."
+
+'"This is a sad condition," said he. "Oh, Michel! Michel! you have done
+terrible wrong to us. I am now worth my five thousand dollars, too; and
+my mother's brother in Holstein has lately died unmarried--I am to be
+his heir."
+
+'"What's that you say?" exclaimed my husband. "It is a pity we did not
+know all this some time ago. But have patience; the girl will recover
+now."
+
+'Esben shook his head, but went up to my daughter, and taking her hand,
+said,
+
+'"Cecil, speak sensibly now--we are both living; and if you will only
+be reasonable, your parents will give their consent to our marriage."
+
+'But she snatched her hand from him, and putting both her arms behind
+her back, she shrieked,
+
+'"Away from me! What have I to do with you? You are a mortal man, and I
+am one of God's angels."
+
+'Thereupon he turned away, and began to weep bitterly.
+
+'"God forgive you, Michel Krænsen!" at last he said; "God forgive you
+for the evil you have done to us two miserable beings!"
+
+'"Nay, take comfort," said my good man, "all may yet go well. Sleep
+here to-night, and let us see how she behaves in the morning."
+
+'It was towards evening, and a dreadful storm of thunder and lightning
+came on, the most fearful I ever witnessed in my life--one might have
+thought the last day was at hand. So Esben consented to stay with us,
+and by-and-by, when the storm had abated, we all went to bed; but
+through the wall I could hear Esben sighing, and almost sobbing. I
+fancied, too, that I heard him praying to our Heavenly Father: at
+length, I fell asleep.
+
+'It might have been an hour or two past midnight when I awoke. All was
+still around. The storm was over, and the clear moonlight shone in
+calmly at the windows. I lay reflecting on the calamity that had
+befallen us--little did I think of that which I am now going to relate.
+It struck me, after a time, that Cecil was very quiet. Her little room
+was close to ours; I listened, but could not, as usual, hear her
+breathe; Esben, too, seemed to be extremely still. I felt a sort of
+foreboding that all was not right; therefore, leaving my bed, I crept
+softly to Cecilia's. I looked in--I felt for her--but _there_ she was
+not. I then became very uneasy, hurried to the kitchen, struck a light,
+and went to the room which Esben occupied. Oh, horror of horrors! what
+did I behold there! She was sitting on Esben's bed, and had laid her
+head upon his breast, but when I came closer I saw that he was as white
+as a corpse, and that the lower part of his face, and the sheets, were
+red with blood. I screamed, and sank to the ground, but Cecil beckoned
+to me with one hand, while she patted his cheek with the other.
+
+'"Hush, hush!" she exclaimed, half aloud, "my dearest love is now
+sleeping the sweet sleep. As soon as you have buried his body, angels
+will carry his soul to Paradise, and there we shall hold our bridal,
+amidst joy and glory."
+
+'Alas! alas! merciful Father, pardon her! She had cut his throat--the
+bloody knife lay upon the floor beside the bed!'
+
+Here the unfortunate widow hid her face with both her hands, and wept
+bitterly, while horror and distress filled my heart.
+
+After a pause, she continued:--'As you may believe, there were sad
+lamentations and great wretchedness both at our house and at Esben's;
+but what is done cannot be undone. When the dead body was carried to
+the parents, they thought at first that it had been brought from
+Holstein--and, oh, what a crying and a screeching there was! It was
+enough to bring the house down about their ears. No wonder, too, for
+Esben was a fine young man, well to do--and just when he had come into
+a fine property and so much money, that he must die in the flower of
+his youth, and by the hand of her he loved. My worthy Michel could
+never get over _that_; he never held up his head again. In the course
+of a short time he became seriously ill, and then our Lord took him
+from me.
+
+'The self-same day that he was buried, Cecilia fell into a deep sleep,
+and slept for many, many hours on a stretch. When she awoke, her reason
+had returned. I was sitting by her bed, and praying that the Almighty
+would release her, when suddenly, as she lay there, she heaved a deep,
+deep sigh, and casting her eyes on me, said, "Are _you_ there? Where
+have I been? It seems to me that I have had a most extraordinary dream.
+I fancied I was in heaven, and Esben was there with me. Speak, mother;
+tell me, for God's sake, where is Esben? Have you heard nothing from
+him since he went to Holstein?" I hardly knew what I could answer, but
+I said, "No, we have no news from him." She sighed. "Where is my
+father?" she then asked. "All is well with your father," I replied;
+"God has taken him to himself." She began to weep. "Ah, mother, let me
+see him!" she entreated. "That is impossible, my child," I said, "for
+he is in his grave." "God preserve me!" she exclaimed. "How long, then,
+have I slept?" By this exclamation I perceived that she had no idea of
+the state that she had been in. "Why did you not wake me, mother?" she
+asked; "had you nothing for me to do? Oh! how sweetly I have been
+sleeping, and what delightful dreams I have had. Esben came every
+evening and visited me; but it was rather odd that he had on a shining
+white dress, and a red necklace round his neck.'"
+
+At this part of her story the old woman fell into deep thought, and it
+was not until after she had heaved many heavy sighs, that she continued
+her narration.
+
+'My unfortunate child had recovered her reason, but God only knows if
+it was better for her. She was generally cheerful, but never got into
+high spirits; she spoke little, except when she was spoken to: worked
+very diligently, and was neither positively ill nor positively well in
+health. The news of her restoration to her senses spread rapidly in the
+neighbourhood, and, about three months after, came Mads Egelund a
+second time as her suitor. But she would have nothing to say to him
+whatsoever. When he was at length convinced that she could not endure
+him, he became much enraged, and did sad mischief. I, and all our
+neighbours, and everyone who came here, agreed that we should never
+drop the slightest hint to Cecilia that she herself, during her
+insanity, had murdered the unfortunate Esben, and she imagined that he
+was either married, or had died in the south.
+
+'One day that Mads was here, and was urging her vehemently to say "Yes"
+to him, and that she declared she would rather die than marry him, he
+said plainly out, that he was, after all, too good for one who had cut
+the throat of her first lover; and thereupon he maliciously poured
+forth all that had happened. I was in the kitchen, and only caught part
+of what he was saying. I instantly left what I was about, rushed in,
+and cried to him, "Mads, Mads! for God's sake, what is that you are
+saying?" But it was too late; there she sat, as white as a plastered
+wall, and her eyes stood fixed in her head.
+
+'"What am I saying?" retorted Mads; "I am saying nothing but the truth.
+It is better for her to know _that_, than to treat her like a fool, and
+let her be waiting for a dead man the whole of her life."
+
+'He left us; but her reason had fled again, never more to return in
+this mortal life. You see yourself in what state she is; at all hours,
+when she is not sleeping, she is singing that song, which she herself
+composed when Esben went to Holstein, and she fancies that she is
+spinning linen for her house when married. But she is quiet enough,
+Heaven be praised! and does not attempt to harm the meanest creature
+that lives; however, we dare not lose sight of her for a moment. May
+God take pity upon us, and soon call us both away!'
+
+As she uttered these last words, the unfortunate girl entered with her
+keeper.
+
+'No,' said she, 'to-day he is not to be seen--but we shall surely have
+him to-morrow. I must make haste, or I shall not have finished this
+linen.' She placed herself hurriedly upon her low straw chair, and with
+her hands and feet in rapid, yet mimic action, she recommenced her
+mournful ditty.
+
+These words, so often repeated,
+
+
+            The greatest sorrow that this world can give,
+            Is, far away from those one loves--to live,
+
+
+always drew forth a heavy sigh; and as she sang them, her pale, but
+still lovely face, would sink on her breast, her hands and feet would
+become languidly still, but directly she would rouse herself up to her
+labour, commence another verse, and set the invisible wheel going
+again.
+
+In deep thought, I wandered forth from the widow's house. My soul was
+as dark as the colour of the heath I trod on; my whole mind was
+occupied with Cecilia and her dreadful fate. In every airy phantom, far
+and near, that flitted before my eyes, I fancied I beheld the
+unfortunate maniac as she sat and seemed to spin, and rocked herself,
+and threw up and down her hands with untiring motion. In the wild
+bird's plaintive whistle--in the lonely heath lark's mournful song, I
+heard only that one sorrowful truth--the words, alas! deeply felt by
+thousands of saddened hearts--
+
+
+            The greatest sorrow that this world can give,
+            Is, far away from those one loves--to live.
+
+
+
+                               FOOTNOTES:
+
+[Footnote 1: From a collection of short tales in one volume, entitled
+'Haablös,'--Hopeless.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Niel's Bugge, in Danish history generally called Ridder
+Buggé, the wealthy owner of the ancient castle of Hald, was on had
+terms with King Waldemar Kristoffersen, to whom he would not yield
+allegiance. After it had been sought in vain to bring about a
+reconciliation at Slagelsé, Ridder Buggé and two ether noblemen, Otto
+Stigsen and Peter Andersen, were treacherously murdered when returning
+home from the meeting. Some burghers of Middlefort were blamed for this
+dark deed, but they were probably employed by persons in a higher
+station; at least, Waldemar found it necessary to clear himself from
+the suspicion of guilt by the oaths of twelve men.]
+
+[Footnote 3: '_Schukelmeier_,' a play upon the name _Mr. Meier_, was a
+nickname signifying _Smuggler_, which the lower classes in Hamburg
+bestowed on the Danes, whom they accused of having smuggled the French
+into Hamburg.]
+
+
+
+                                THE END.
+
+
+
+
+        LONDON: PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET,
+                           AND CHARING CROSS.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Danes Sketched by Themselves. Vol.
+III (of 3), by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DANES SKETCHED BY THEMSELVES, VOL III ***
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