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diff --git a/old/44184-8.txt b/old/44184-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 1ea979c..0000000 --- a/old/44184-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7578 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Seaboard, by August Strindberg - -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: On the Seaboard - A Novel of the Baltic Islands - -Author: August Strindberg - -Translator: Elizabeth Clarke Westergren - -Release Date: November 15, 2013 [EBook #44184] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SEABOARD *** - - - - -Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org - - - - -ON THE SEABOARD - -A NOVEL OF THE BALTIC ISLANDS - -FROM THE SWEDISH OF - -AUGUST STRINDBERG - -AUTHOR OF - -EASTER, LUCKY PEHR, ETC. - - -TRANSLATED BY - -ELIZABETH CLARKE WESTERGREN - -AUTHORIZED EDITION - - - -NEW YORK - -GROSSET & DUNLAP - -PUBLISHERS - -1913 - - - - -PREFACE - - -August Strindberg's first literary productions were warmly received, -and would have aroused lasting enthusiasm and admiration had the young -author's prolific pen been less aggressive, in this, for his country, -a totally new style of novel. His intrepid sarcasm which emanated -from a physical disability, known only to a few of his most intimate -friends, called forth severe criticism from the old aristocrats and the -conservative element, which drove the gifted dramatist from his own -country to new spheres. Life's vicissitudes at Vierwaldstätter See, and -Berlin, also later on at Paris from whence his fame spread rapidly over -Europe, changed his realism to pessimism. - -After years of ceaseless work, during which he dipped into almost every -branch of science, he suddenly determined to transfer his activities -to this side of the Atlantic, where he was desirous of becoming known. -For this purpose his most singular novel was chosen for translation; -meantime some invisible power drew him back to his birthplace, -Stockholm, and a new generation cheered his coming. - -Later on critics called him "A demolisher and a reformer that came like -a cyclone, with his daring thought and daring words, which broke in -upon the everlasting tenets and raised Swedish culture." - -His delineations are photographical exactness without retouch, bearing -always a strong reflection of his personality. - - MAGNUS WESTERGREN. - -Boston, Mass. - April, 1913. - - - - -ON THE SEABOARD - - - - -CHAPTER FIRST - - -A fishing boat lay one May evening to beam-wind, out on Goosestone -bay. "Rokarna," known to all on the coast by their three pyramids, -were changing to blue, while upon the clear sky clouds were forming -just as the sun began to sink. Already there was dashing outside the -points, and a disagreeable flapping in the mainsail signified that the -land-breeze would soon break against newborn currents of air, from -above, from the sea and from aft. - -At the tiller sat the Custom House Surveyor of the East Skerries, a -giant with black long full beard. Occasionally he exchanged a look with -two subordinates who were sitting in the bow, one of whom was tending -the clutch-pole, keeping the big square sail to the wind. - -Sometimes the steersman cast a searching look at the little gentleman -who was crouching at the mast seemingly afraid and frozen, now and then -drawing his shawl closer round his body. - -The surveyor must have found him ridiculous, for frequently he turned -leeward with a pretense of spitting tobacco juice to conceal a rising -laugh. - -The little gentleman was dressed in a beaver-colored spring coat under -which a pair of wide moss-green pants peeped out, flaring at the bottom -round a pair of crocodile shagreen shoes topped with brown cloth and -black buttons. Nothing of his under dress was visible, but round his -neck was twisted a cream-colored foulard, while his hands were well -protected in a pair of salmon-colored three-button glacé-gloves, and -the right wrist was encircled by a gold bracelet carved in the form of -a serpent biting its tail. Ridges upon the gloves showed that rings -were worn beneath. The face, as much as could be seen, was thin and -haggard; a small black mustache with ends curled upwards increased the -paleness and gave it a foreign expression. The hat was turned back, -exposing a black closely cut bang resembling a calotte. - -What seemed most to attract the indefatigable attention of the -steersman was the bracelet, mustache and bang. - -During the long voyage from Dalaro this man, who was a great humorist, -had tried to get up a cheery conversation with the Fish Commissioner, -whom he had in charge to take to the station at the East Skerries, but -the young doctor had shown an injured unsusceptibility to his witty -importunities which convinced the surveyor that the "instructor" was -insolent. - -Meanwhile the wind freshened as they passed Hanstone to windward and -the dangerous sail began to flutter. The fish commissioner, who had -been sitting with a navy chart in his hand, noting the answers to his -questions, placed it in his pocket and turned toward the man at the -tiller saying in a voice more like a woman's than a man's: - -"Please sail more carefully!" - -"Is the instructor afraid?" asked the helmsman scornfully. - -"Yes, I am careful of my life and keep close hold of it," answered the -commissioner. - -"But not of other's lives?" asked the helmsman. - -"At least not so much as my own," returned the commissioner, "and -sailing is a dangerous occupation, especially with a square sail." - -"So, sir, you have often sailed before with a square sail?" - -"Never in my life, but I can see where the wind directs its power and -can reckon how much resistance the weight of the boat can make and well -judge when the sail will jibe." - -"Well, take the tiller yourself then!" snubbingly remarked the surveyor. - -"No! that is your place! I do not ride on the coachman's box when I -travel on the Crown's errands." - -"Oh, you cannot manage a boat, of course." - -"If I could not, it is certainly easy to learn, since every other -schoolboy can do it and every custom house subordinate, therefore I -need not be ashamed that I cannot, only sail carefully now as I would -not willingly have my gloves spoiled and get wet." - -It was an order, and the surveyor, who was cock of the walk at the East -Skerries, felt himself degraded. After a movement on the tiller the -sail filled and the boat sped onward steadily towards the rock, with -its white custom house cottage brightly shining in the rays of the -setting sun. - -The seaboard was vanishing, there was a feeling that all kindly -protection was left behind, when venturing out on the open boundless -water, with darkness threatening toward the east. There was no prospect -of crawling to leeward of islands or rocks, no possibility in case of -storm to lay up to and reef, out right into the middle of destruction, -over the black gulf, out to that little rock that looks no larger than -a buoy cast into the middle of the sea. The fish commissioner, as -signified before, held fast to his only life and was intelligent enough -to count his insignificant resistance against nature's superiority. -Now he felt depressed. He was too clear-sighted with his thirty-six -years to overestimate the insight and daring of the man at the tiller. -He did not look with reliance at his brown and whiskered visage, nor -would he believe that a muscular arm was equal to a wind which blew -with thousands of pounds pressure against a rocking sail. He viewed -such courage as founded upon faulty judgment. What stupidity, thought -he, to risk one's life in a little open boat when there exist deckers -and steamers. What incredible folly to hoist such a big sail on a -spruce mast, which bends like a bow when a strong wind strikes it. The -lee-shroud was hanging slack, likewise the forestay, and the whole wind -pressure was lying on the windward-shroud, which seemed rotten. Trust -to such an uncertain residue as a few flax ropes more or less cohesive, -he would not, and therefore he turned with the next gust of wind to -the subordinate who was sitting close to the halyard, and in a short -penetrating voice commanded, "Let the sail run!" - -The two Inferiors looked toward the stern, awaiting the helmsman's -orders, but the fish commissioner repeated his command instantly and -with such emphasis that the sail sank. - -The surveyor in the stern shrieked. - -"Who the Devil commands the maneuvering of my boat?" - -"I," answered the commissioner. - -Whereupon he turned to the subordinates with the order. - -"Put out the oars!" - -The oars were put out and the boat gave a few rolls, for the surveyor -had left the tiller angrily at the command, exclaiming, - -"Yes, then he can take the helm himself!" - -The commissioner at once took his place in the stern and the tiller was -under his arm before the surveyor had ceased swearing. - -The glacé-glove cracked instantly at the thumb, but the boat made even -speed while the surveyor sat with laughter in his whiskers, and one oar -ready to push out to give course to the boat. The commissioner had no -attention to bestow upon the doubting seaman, but stared attentively -windward and could soon discern a heaving sea with its swell many -meters long, from the surge with its short water fall, then after a -hasty glance astern he measured the leeway, and in the wake noted the -setting of the currents, it was perfectly clear what course must be -held not to drift past the East Skerries. - -The surveyor, who had searched long to meet the black burning glances -that they might mark his laughter, became tired, for it looked as -though they would have no contact with anything that could soil or -disturb them. After a moment's beseeching the surveyor becoming absent -and dejected began to observe the maneuvering. - -The sun had reached the horizon, the waves were breaking purple black -at the base, deep green at the side, and where the crests rose highest -they lighted up grass green. The foam sprouted and hissed red champagne -colored in the sun. The boat and men were now low down in the dusk, -or the next moment, on the crest of a wave, the four faces glowed and -instantly faded away. - -Not every wave broke so high, some were only rocking slowly and -cradling the boat, lifting and sucking it forward. It seemed as -though the little man at the tiller could from a distance judge when -a gigantic wave would come, and with a slight push at the tiller held -firm or sneaked between the dreadful green walls, which threatened to -spring and form an arch over the boat. - -The fact was that the danger had really increased through the sail -being furled, for the driving power had diminished and the sail's -lifting ability must be dispensed with, therefore the surveyor's -astonishment at the incredible fine maneuvering began to change to -admiration. - -He looked at the changing expression on the pale face and the -movement in the black eyes, and felt that inside there was a combined -calculation. Then not to seem superfluous himself he put out his -oar, for he felt the time had come, and acknowledged willingly the -superiority before it was wrung from him, thus: - -"Oh, he has been at sea before!" - -The fish commissioner, who was deeply occupied, and would have no -intercourse whatever, as he was afraid of being surprised and deceived -in a moment's weakness by the apparent external superiority of the -giant, made no response. - -His right glove had cracked round the thumb, and the bracelet had -fallen over the hand. When the flame faded from the crest of the waves -and the day closed, he took out with his left hand a lorgnette and -placed it in his right eye, moving his head quickly to several points -of the compass as though he would sight land, where no land was to be -seen, and then threw this brief question forward. - -"Have you no lighthouse on the East Skerries?" - -"God knows we have not," answered the surveyor. - -"Have we any shoals?" - -"Deep water." - -"Shall we sight Landsort or Sandham's lighthouse?" - -"Not much of Sandham but more to Landsort," replied the surveyor. - -"Sit still at your places and we shall come out all right," finished -the commissioner, who seemed to have taken a bearing by the heads of -the three men and some unknown firm point in the distance. - -The clouds had flocked together and the May dusk had given place to -obscurity. It was like a swing forwards into some thin impenetrable -material, without light. The sea was rising only as darker shadows -against the shadowy sky, the heads of the waves struck the bottom of -the boat and lifting it up on their backs dived down on the other side -and rolled out. But now to separate friend from foe was difficult and -the calculation more uncertain. Two oars were out to leeward and one to -windward, which if applied with more or less power at the right moment -would keep the boat buoyant. - -The commissioner, who soon could not see more than the two lighthouses -in north and south, must now compensate the loss of sight by the ear -and before he could become used to the sea's roaring, sighing, hissing -and spouting, or distinguish between a dashing or a surging wave, the -water had already come into the boat, so that to save his fine shoes he -placed his feet on a thwart. - -Soon he had studied the harmony of the waves, and could even hear from -the regular beating of the swell the danger approaching, and feel on -the right ear-drum when the wind pressed the harder and threatened to -toss the water higher. It was as though he had improvised nautical and -meteorological instruments out of his susceptible senses from which the -conductors connected with his big brain battery, hidden by that little -ridiculous hat and the black bang. - -The men who at the moment of the water's intrusion muttered rebellious -words, became silenced when they felt how the boat shot forward, and at -each word of command, windward, or leeward, they knew which way to pull. - -The commissioner had taken his bearings on the two lighthouses and -used the lorgnette quadrangle glass as a distance measure, but the -difficulty of holding the course was that no light could be seen from -the windows of the cottages since they were in the lee of the hillock. -When the dangerous voyage had been continued an hour or more, a dark -rise was observed forward against the horizon. The helmsman, who would -not, to gain doubtful advice, disturb his own intuitions on which he -relied most, bore down on what he supposed to be the East Skerries -or some of their points, consoling himself that arriving at a firm -object, whatever it might be, was always better than hovering between -air and water. The dark wall approached with a speed greater than that -of the boat so that suspicion dawned in the commissioner's mind that -everything was not right in their course. In order to ascertain what -it could be and at the same time give a signal in case the obscure -object should be a vessel which had neglected to put its lights out, -he took up his box of storm matches and lighting them all, held them -up in the air a moment, then threw them up so that they illuminated -a few meters around the boat. The light penetrated the darkness for -only, a second, but the picture which appeared like a magic-lantern -view was fixed before his eyes for several seconds, and he saw drifting -ice heaved upon a rock, against which a wave broke like a cave over -a gigantic rock of limespar, and a flock of long-tailed ducks and -sea-gulls that arose with numerous shrieks and were drowned in the -darkness. The sight of the breaking wave affected the commissioner as -it does the condemned to look upon the coffin in which his decapitated -body shall rest, and he felt in a moment of imagination the double pang -of cold and smothering, but the agony which paralyzed his muscles awoke -on the other hand all the concealed powers of the soul, so that he, in -a fraction of a second, could make a sure estimate of how great the -danger was, and count out the only way of escape, whereupon he cried -out, "Hold all!" - -The men who had been sitting with their backs toward the wave and had -not observed it, rested on their oars, and the boat was sucked into -the wave which might have been three or four meters high. It broke -over the boat, forming a green cupola and fell on the other side with -all its mass of water. The boat was disgorged half filled with water -and the occupants half smothered from the dreadful compression of air. -Three outcries as from sleepers who have the nightmare were heard at a -time, but the fourth, the man at the tiller, was silent. He made only a -gesture with his hand toward the rock where now a light was shimmering, -only a few cable lengths to leeward, and then sank in the stern sheets -and lay there. - -The boat ceased pitching for it had come into smooth water, the oarsmen -were all sitting as if intoxicated, dipping the oars, which were now -unnecessary for the boat was slowly wafted into harbor by the fair wind. - -"What have you in the boat, good folks?" greeted an old fisherman after -he had said "Good evening," which the wind swept away. - -"It should be a fish instructor!" whispered the surveyor as he pulled -the boat upon the beach. - -"So it is such a one who comes to spy out the nets! Well, he shall be -treated as he seeks to be," said fisherman Oman, who seemed to be head -man for the few poor population of the island. - -The custom house surveyor waited for the instructor to go on shore, -but he saw no sign of movement in that little bundle which lay in the -stern so he climbed uneasily into the boat and clasped both arms round -the prostrate body and carried it to the beach. - -"Is he gone?" asked Oman, not without a certain tremor of hope. - -"There isn't much of him left," answered the surveyor as he carried his -wet load up to the cottage. - -The sight reminded of a giant and a lilliputian when the imposing -surveyor entered his brother's kitchen where his sister-in-law stood at -the fire, and as he laid down the little body on the sofa an expression -of compassion for the weaker man gleamed from the low-browed, -dark-whiskered visage. - -"Here we have the fish inspector, Mary," he greeted his sister-in-law, -placing his arm round her waist. "Help us now to get something dry upon -him and something wet into him and then let him go to his room." - -The commissioner made a wretched and ridiculous figure as he lay on -the hard wooden sofa. The white standing collar twisted around his -neck like a dirty rag, all of the fingers of the right hand peeped out -of the cracked glove over which the softened cuffs hung sticking with -the dissolved starch. The small crocodile shoes had lost all shine and -shape, and it was with the greatest effort that the surveyor and his -sister-in-law could pull them off the feet. - -When he was finally deprived of most of his clothing and covered with -quilts, they carried him boiled milk and schnapps, each shaking an -arm, after which the surveyor raised the little body and slowly poured -the milk into it. Beneath the closed eyes the mouth gaped, but when -the sister-in-law would give him a dram, the smell seemed to act like -a quick poison; with a gesture of the hand he pushed the glass back, -and opening his eyes wide awake as though just finishing a refreshing -sleep, he asked for his room. - -Of course it was not in order but it would be in about an hour if he -would only lie still and wait. - -The commissioner was lying there spending an intolerable hour with his -eyes flitting over the tiresome arrangements of the chamber and its -occupants. It was the government's cottage for the surveyor of that -little department of the custom house on the East Skerries. Everything -was scanty, merely a roof over the head. The white, bare walls were -as narrow as the Crown's ideas, four white rectangles which enclosed -a room covered by a white rectangle. Strange, hard as a hotel room, -which is not to dwell in, only for lodging. To put on wall papers -for his successor or for the Crown, neither the surveyor nor his -predecessors had the heart. In the midst of this dead whiteness stood -dark, poor, factory-made furniture, with half modern shapes. A round -dining table of knotted pine stained with walnut and marked with white -rings from dishes, chairs of the same material with high backs, and -tilting on three legs, a bed-sofa, manufactured like ready-made men's -clothing, from the cheapest and least possible material. Nothing seemed -to fulfill its purpose of inviting rest and comfort, everything was -useless, and therefore unsightly, notwithstanding its ornaments of -papier maché. - -The surveyor placed his broad buttock on a rattan chair and rested his -mighty back against it, the maneuver was followed by annoying creaks -and a morose exhortation from the sister-in-law, to be careful of other -folk's things, whereupon the surveyor answered with an impudent patting -followed by a look which left no doubt as to the relations existing -between them. - -The oppression which the whole room had caused in the commissioner -was increased by the discovery of this discord. As naturalist he had -not the current ideas about what was permissible and what was not -permissible, but he had strongly impressed instinct of the designs in -certain arrangements of nature's laws and suffered internally when he -saw nature's commands violated. This was to him as though he should -have found in his laboratory an acid which since the world's creation -had only united with one base but was now, against its nature, forming -a union with two. - -His imagination was stirred in remonstrance over evolution from common -sensuality to monogamy, and he felt himself back in the dark ages -among wild herds of human beings, who lived a coral life and existed -in masses, before selection and variation were attained to ordain -individual personal being and consanguinity. - -When he saw a two-years-old girl with too big a head and fish eyes -walking around the chamber with timid footsteps, as though afraid to be -seen, he comprehended at once that a doubtful birth had sown its seeds -of discord which were working dissolution and disturbance, and he could -easily understand that the moment must come when this living testimony -would pay all the penalties of being an involuntary witness. - -In the midst of these thoughts the door opened and the husband entered. - -It was the surveyor's brother who had thus far remained a subordinate. -He was physically even better endowed than the surveyor, but he was a -blond with an open and friendly look. - -After a cheerful "Good evening," he sat down at the table beside his -brother and, taking the child on his lap, kissed it. - -"We have a visitor," said the surveyor, pointing to the sofa where the -commissioner lay. "It is the fish instructor, who will live upstairs." - -"So, it is he?" said Vestman, as he rose to greet him. - -With the child on his arm he approached the sofa, because he was host -of the cottage, while his brother was unmarried and only boarded with -him. Therefore he found it his place to welcome the guest. - -"We have it simply out here," added he after a few words of welcome, -"but my wife isn't entirely at a loss in preparing food, since she -has served in better houses before, and married me three years ago, -yet since we got this brat here she has a little more to think of. -Yes, anybody can get children if they help each other,--as a matter of -course I am not in need of help, as they say." - -The commissioner was surprised at the sudden turn the long sentence had -taken, and asked himself if the man was cognizant of anything, or if he -had only a feeling that there was something out of order. He himself -had seen in ten minutes the way things stood. - -How then was it possible that he who was interested in the question had -seen nothing in a couple of years? - -He was overcome with loathing at the whole thing, and turned to the -wall to blind his eyes, and with mental pictures of a pleasant nature -let the remaining half hour pass. - -He could not make himself deaf, and heard against his will the talk, -which a short time before had been lively, becoming broken as though -the words were measured with a rule before spoken, and when there was a -silence the husband filled it out as though from aversion, and fearing -to hear something he would not hear, and could not be calm before his -own stream of words intoxicated him. - -When the hour was finally to an end and no order concerning the room -had been given, the commissioner rising asked if it was ready. - -O yes, it was ready in a way, but-- - -Here the commissioner asked in a tone of command to be shown to his -room at once, reminding them in fitting words that he had not come to -share a room with them, or for hospitality, he was traveling on the -Crown's errands and only asked for his rights--and those he would have -because of a memorial from the Civil Department through the Internal -Revenue Office, which had been sent to the Royal Custom House in Dalaro. - -This straightened affairs at once, and Vestman, with a candle in his -fist, followed the severe gentleman upstairs to the gable chamber, -where nothing in the arrangements could explain the requested hour's -delay. - -It was an ordinary, large room with walls as white as those downstairs, -the big window opened on the longest wall as a black hole through which -streamed the darkness unimpeded by any curtains. - -A bed stood there ready for use, simple, only an elevation of the floor -to prevent drafts, a table, two chairs and a washstand comprised the -furniture. The commissioner threw a look of despair about him, when -he, who was used to feast his eyes to satisfaction on luxuries, saw -only these scattered articles placed about in space, where the candle -battled with the darkness and where the big window seemed to consume -every beam of light which was produced by the burning tallow. - -He felt lost, as though after battling upwards for half his maturity -to attain refinement, good position and luxuries, he had fallen to -poverty, moved down to a lower class. It was as though his love of -beauty and wisdom were imprisoned, deprived of their nourishment and -subject to banishment. Those naked walls were a middle age cloister -cell where asceticism in image, and emptiness in the middle hurried -the famined fantasy to gnaw itself and bring forth lighter or darker -fancies only to become extricated from nothing. The white, the -shapeless, the colorless nothing in the whitewashed walls raised an -activity of the imagination such as a savage's cave or a green bough -hut never could have evoked, or the forest with its ever changing -colors and moving outlines would have dispensed. An activity that not -the field, nor the heath with the clouds' and sky's rich coloring, nor -yet the never tiring sea, could call forth. - -He felt at once a rising desire instantly to paint the walls full of -sunny landscapes with palms and parrots, to stretch a Persian rug over -the ceiling and throw hides of deer upon the plank floor covering the -ruled-ledger appearance, to place sofas in the corners with small -tables in front, to suspend a hanging lamp over a round table strewn -with books and magazines, stand a piano against the short wall and -dress the long wall with book shelves, and away in the corner of -the sofa set a little woman's figure, no matter which one!--Just as -the candle on the table fought against the darkness, so his fantasy -rebelled against the room's arrangements, and thus it lost its hold, -everything disappeared, and the dreadful surroundings frightened him to -bed. Quenching the light he drew the blankets over his head. - -The wind shook the whole gable, and the water caraff rattled against -the drinking glasses. The draft passed through the room from window to -door and sometimes touched his locks of hair, which were dried from -the sea wind, so that he fancied someone stroked them with his hand, -while between the gusts of wind, like the striking of the kettledrum -in an orchestra, beat and boomed the big breakers against the caverned -rocks out on the south point. And when he had finally become used to -the monotonous sound of wind and wave, he heard, shortly before he fell -asleep, a man's voice in the room below teaching a child its evening -prayer. - - - - -CHAPTER SECOND - - -When the commissioner, after a dead sleep induced by the efforts of the -preceding day and the strong sea air, awoke the next morning and looked -out of the blankets, he observed first an incomprehensible silence, and -found that his ear caught slight sounds that otherwise he would have -paid no attention to. He could hear each little movement of the sheet -as it rose and fell from his respiration, the friction of his locks -of hair against the pillow-case, the pulsations in the neck arteries, -the rickety bed repeating the heart beat on a small scale. He felt the -silence because the wind had gone down, and only the swell beat against -the compressed air in the hollows of the strand and returned once every -half minute. From the bed which was placed opposite the window he saw, -through the lower pane, something like a blue draw-curtain, bluer than -the air, and it kept moving toward him slowly, as though it would come -in through the window and overflow the room. He knew it was the sea, -but it looked so small,--and it rose like a perpendicular wall instead -of expanding as a horizontal surface, because the long breakers were -fully lighted by the sun and cast no shadows from which the eye could -form a perspective image. - -He arose, and partly dressing himself opened the window. The raw, moist -air in the chamber rushed out, and from the sea came a warm green-house -air, warmed several hours by the radiant May sun. Below the window he -saw only low, jagged rocks in the crevices of which lay small dusty -drifts of snow, and near by bloomed small white rye-flowers, well -protected in beds of moss, and the poor wild pansies, pale yellow as -from famine, and blue as from chill, hoisting their poor country's -poor colors to the first spring sun. Lower down crept the heath and -the crowberry vine, looking down over the precipice, below which lay a -windrow of white sand, pulverized by the sea, and in which were stuck -scattered sand-oat stalks; then came the kelp belt as a dark sash or -braid on the white sand, highest up it was almost ivory black from last -year's kelp in which were sticking shells, leaves of fir, twigs, fish -bones, and toward the sea it was olive-brown from the last fresh kelp, -which with its curled and knotted fronds formed a garniture like a -chenille cord. Inside on the sandy side walk lay the top of a barkless -pine, sand scrubbed, washed by the water, polished by the wind, -bleached by the sun, resembling the ribs of a mammoth skeleton, and -around it a whole osteologist's museum of like skeletons or fragments -of the same. - -A beacon, which had shown ships the way for years, lay thrown up, and -with its thick end looked like the thigh bone and condyle of a giraffe; -in another place a juniper shrub, like the carcass of a drowned cat, -with its white small roots stretching out for the tail. - -Outside the strand lay reefs and rocks which one moment glanced wet in -the sunshine, the next were submerged by the swell which passed over -them with a splash, or if it had not sufficient power, rose, burst, and -threw a water-fall of foam into the air. - -Outside the island lay the shining sea, that great flat, as the -fishermen called it, and now in the morning hour it stretched like -a blue canvas without a wrinkle but undulating like a flag. The big -round surface would have been tiresome had not a red buoy been anchored -outside the reef, and brightened up the monotony of the surface with -its minium spot like the seal on a letter. - -This was the sea, certainly nothing new to Commissioner Borg who had -seen several corners of the world. Still it was the desolate sea seen -as it were in a _tête-à-tête_. It did not terrify like the forest with -its gloomy hiding places, it was quieting like an open, big, faithful -blue eye. Everything could be seen at once, no ambush, no lurking -place. It flattered the spectator when he saw this circle round him, -where he himself ever remained the center. The big water surface was -as a corporeity radiating from the beholder existing only in and with -the beholder. As long as he stood on shore, he felt himself intimate -with the now harmless power and superior to its enormous might, for he -was beyond its reach. When he reminded himself of the dangers he had -undergone the evening before, the agony and wrath he had endured in his -combat against this brutal enemy, which he had succeeded in eluding, -he smiled in magnanimity toward the vanquished and beaten foe, which -was after all only a blind tool at the wind's service, and was now -stretching itself out to resume its rest in the sunlight. - -This was East Skerries, the classical, for they have their old history, -have lived long, flourished, and declined, the old East Skerries that -in the Middle Ages were a great fishing port where that important -article stromling was caught, and for which a special law of guild -was given and is still maintained up to to-day. The stromling serve -the same purpose in middle Sweden and Norrland as the herring does on -the west coast and in Norway, being only a kind of herring, a product -of the Baltic Sea, and suited to its small resources. It was sought -during the time when herring were scarce and dear, and less sought -after when they were plentiful. It has been for ages the winter food -for middle Sweden, and was eaten so continually that a song is still -preserved from the days of Queen Christina's enticing Frenchmen into -the country, who complained of the eternal hard bread and infinite -stromling. A man's age ago the great land-owners paid their laborers' -wages in natural products which consisted mostly of herring; after -herring-fishing declined they substituted salt stromling. The price -rose and the fishing which previously had been managed moderately and -for domestic use, now became an eager speculation. The shoals of the -East Skerries which are the richest on the coast of Sodermanland, began -to be used on a large scale, the fish were disturbed during spawning -time, the meshes of the nets were made closer and closer, and as a -natural consequence the fish diminished, not so much from extermination -perhaps as from the fact that they left their former spawning places -and sought the depths where as yet no fisherman has had the resolution -to search for the flown prey. - -The learned puzzled long with investigations over the cause of the -diminution of the stromling supply, but the Academy of Agriculture took -the initiative, by appointing skillful fish commissioners, both to -learn the cause and find a remedy. - -This was now Commissioner Borg's mission at the East Skerries for the -summer. The place was not lively as the Skerries are not situated on -one of the main courses to Stockholm. The big vessels from the south -usually pass by Landsort, Dalaro and Vaxholm, those from the east, -and during certain winds, even those from the south, seek passage by -Sandham and Vaxholm, while the merchants' vessels from Norrland and -Finland pass between Furusund and Vaxholm. - -The eastern route is mostly used in case of necessity by the -Esthonians, who as a rule come from south-east, and by others in case -of wind, current and storm, who lie over at Landsort and Sandham. -Therefore the place has only a third-class custom house station under -one surveyor, and a little department of pilots who are under control -of Dalaro. - -It is the end of the world--quiet, still, abandoned, except during -fishing time, fall and spring, and if there comes only a single -pleasure yacht during mid-summer it is greeted as an apparition from -a lighter, gayer world; but fish commissioner Borg, who had come on -another errand--to "spy," as the people called it--was greeted with -a noticeable coolness which had found its first utterance in the -indifference of the past evening and now took its expression in a -miserable and cold coffee which was brought to his chamber. - -Although gifted with a keen sense of taste, he had acquired through -strong exercise an ability to restrain unpleasant perceptions, -therefore he swallowed the drink at a draught and arising went down to -see his environment and greet the people. - -When he passed the custom-house man's cottage everything was hushed -and it seemed as though the occupants would make themselves invisible ---they shut the doors, and stopped talking in order not to be betrayed. - -With this unpleasant impression of being unwelcome, he continued his -promenade out on the rock and came down to the harbor. There was a -group of small huts all of the simplest construction just as though -piled from pickings of stone shingles with a little smattering of -mortar here and there; the chimney alone was of brick, rising above the -fireplace. At one corner was a patched-up wooden addition for storage, -at another only a shed of driftwood and twigs, a harbor for swine, -which were shipped here during the fishing season for fattening. The -windows seemed to have been taken from shipwrecks, and the roof was -covered with everything that had length and width, and would absorb or -shed rain--kelp, sand-oats, moss, peat, earth. These were the shelters -now standing deserted, each of which housed about twenty sleepers -during the big fishing season, when every hut was a kitchen bar. - -Outside the most prominent shanty stood the head man of the island, -fisherman Oman, scratching out a flounder net with a whip. He did not -in the least consider himself beneath a fish commissioner, nevertheless -he felt a pressure from this presence and bristling up, prepared to -answer sharply. - -"Is the fishing good?" greeted the instructor. - -"Not yet, but it may be now that the government has come to do it," -answered Oman impolitely. - -"Where do the stromling shoals lie?" asked the commissioner, -relinquishing the government to its fate. - -"Oh! we thought the instructor knew better than we did, as he is paid -to teach us," said Oman. - -"See here, you only know where the shoals lie, but I know where the -stromling are, which is a straw nearer." - -"So," rallied Oman. "If we dip into the sea we shall get fish!--well -one is never too old to learn." - -The wife came out of the cottage and began a lively talk with her -husband, so that the commissioner found it unprofitable to confer -longer with the hostile fisherman, and started toward the harbor. - -Some pilots were sitting on the pier who zealously increased their -conversation and seemed inclined not to notice him. - -He would not turn back but continued toward the strand, leaving the -habitations behind. The naked rock lay waste, without a tree, without -a bush, for everything that fire could burn was destroyed. He walked -along the water's edge, sometimes in fine soft sand, sometimes on -stones. When he had continued an hour, always turning to the right, -he found himself in the same place from which he had started, with a -feeling of being in captivity. The hillock of the little island crushed -him, and the sea's horizontal circle oppressed him, the old feeling of -not having room enough came over him, and he climbed to the highest -plateau of the hillock, which was about fifty feet above the sea level. -There he lay down on his back and looked up into space. Now when his -eyes could behold nothing, neither land nor sea, and he saw only the -blue cupola over him, he felt free, isolated, as a cosmic particle -floating in the ether only obeying the law of gravitation. He fancied -he was perfectly alone upon the globe, the earth was only a vehicle in -which he rode on its orbit, and he heard in the wind's faint rustle -only the air draft that the planet in its speed would awake in the -ether, and in the din of the waves he perceived the splashing which -the liquid must make as the big reservoir rolled round its axle. All -reminiscences of fellow creatures, community, law, customs, had blown -away, now that he did not see a single fragment of the earth to which -he was bound. He let his thoughts run like calves let loose, dashing -over all obstacles, all considerations, and therewith intoxicated -himself to stupefaction, as the India navel reverencers, who forgot -both heaven and earth in contemplating an inferior external part of -themselves. - -Commissioner Borg was not a nature worshiper any more than were those -navel worshipers of India. On the contrary he was a self-conscious -being, standing highest in the terrestrial chain of creation and -entertained certain contempt for the lower forms of existence, -understanding very well that what the self-conscious spirit produces -is partly more subtle than that of the unconscious nature, and above -all else has more advantages to man, who creates his creations with -regard to the usefulness and beauty they may afford to their creator. -Out of nature he brought forth raw material for his work, and although -both light and air could be produced by machine, he preferred the sun's -unexcellable ether vibrations, and the atmosphere's inexhaustible well -of oxygen. He loved nature as an assistant, as an inferior who could -serve him, and it pleased him that he was able to fool this powerful -adversary to place its resources at his disposal. - -After having lain an uncertain time and felt the great rest of -absolute solitude, freedom from influences, from pressure, he arose and -went down to seek his room. - -When he entered his empty chamber it reëchoed his footsteps and he felt -himself entrapped. The white quadrant and rectangles that enclosed the -room where he must dwell, reminded him of human hands, but of a low -order, mastering only the simple forms of inorganic nature. He was -enclosed in a crystal, a hexaëdron or the like, and the straight lines -and the congruent surfaces, shaped his thoughts into squares, and ruled -his soul in lines, simplifying it from the organic life's liberty of -forms, and reduced his brain's rich tropical vegetation of changing -perceptions to nature's first childish attempt at classifying. - -After he had called to the girl and let her bring in his chests, he -began at once the transformation of the room. - -His first care was to regulate the entrance of light by a pair of heavy -garnet Persian curtains, that instantly gave the room a softer tone. -He opened the two leaves of the big dining table and the emptiness -of the big white floor was filled at once, but the white surface of -the table was still disturbing, so he concealed it under an oilcloth -of a solid warm moss-green color which harmonized with the curtains -and was restful. Then he placed his book shelves against the poorest -wall. This certainly was not an improvement as they only striped it in -columns like a time-table, and the white plastering contrasted more -against the black walnut colored wood, but he would first outline the -whole before he went into details. - -From a nail in the ceiling he hung his bed curtains, this made as it -were, a room within the room, and the dormitory was separated from the -sitting room, as though under a tent. - -The long white floor planks with their black: parallel cracks, where -dirt from shoes, dust from furniture and clothes, tobacco ashes, -scrubbing water and broom splinters, formed hot beds for fungi and -hiding places for wood worms, he covered here and there with rugs of -different colors and patterns, which lay like verdant blooming islets -on the big white flat. - -Now that there was color and warmth added to the space he began to give -the finishing touches. He had first to create a forge, an altar to -labor which would be the center round which everything would be grouped -and radiating from it. Therefore he placed his big lamp on the writing -table, it was two feet high and rose like a lighthouse upon the green -cloth, its painted china stand with arabesques, flowers and animals, -which bore no resemblance to ordinary ones, but gave a cheerful -coloring and reminded with their ornaments, of the human spirit's -power to outrage nature's unchangeable shapes. Here had the painter -transformed a stiff spear thistle to a clinging vine, and forced a -rabbit to stretch himself out like a crocodile, and with a gun between -his fore paws with their tiger claw nails, to aim at a hunter with a -fox's head. - -Round the lamp he placed a microscope, diopter, scales, plumb bobs, and -a sounding rod, whose varnished brasses diffused a warm sunlight yellow. - -The inkstand, a big cube of glass cut in facets, which gave it the -faint blue light of water or ice, the penholders of porcupine quills -which suggested animal life with their indefinite oily coloring, sticks -of sealing wax in loud cinnabar, pen boxes with variegated labels, -scissors with cold steel glance, cigar dishes in lac and gold, paper -knife of bronze, all that mass of small trifles of use and beauty soon -filled the big table abundantly with points on which the eye could rest -a moment getting an impression, a memory, an impulse, keeping it always -active and never fatiguing. - -Now for filling the spaces in the book shelves, and blow the breath -of life into the vacuum between the dark boards. There soon stood row -upon row a variegated collection of reference and handbooks, from -which the owner could get enlightenment on all that had happened in -the past and present time. Encyclopedias, which like an air telegraph -answered with a pressure on the right letter. Text-books in history, -philosophy, archeology, and natural sciences, journeys in all lands -with maps, all of Baedeker's handbooks so that the owner could sit at -home and plan the shortest and cheapest route to this or that place, -and decide which hotel, and know how much to give in drink money. But -as all of these works have an inevitable seed of decay, he had manned -a special shelf with an observation corps of scientific journals from -which he could immediately obtain reports concerning even the smallest -advancements of knowledge, even the slightest discoveries. And at -last a whole collection of skeleton keys to all present knowledge, -in bibliographical notices, publishers' catalogues, book-sellers' -newspapers, so that he, shut up in his room, could see precisely how -high or low the barometer stood with all the science that concerned him. - -When he regarded the wall with the book shelf, it seemed to him as -though the room was now for the first time inhabited by living beings. -These books gave the impression of individuals for there were not two -works of the same exterior. One was a Baedeker in scarlet and gold, -like one who on a Monday morning leaves all behind him and travels away -from sorrow. - -Others solemn, dressed in black, a whole procession, like the -Encyclopedia Britannica, and all the many paper covered ones in light, -gay, easy, spring coats, the salmon red Revue des deux Mondes, the -lemon yellow Comtemporaine, the rush green Fortnightly, the grass green -Morgenländische. From the backs big names saluted him as acquaintances -whom he had in his chamber, and here he had the best part of them, more -than they could give a traveler who came on a visit to trouble their -dinner naps or breakfast. - -With the writing table and the book shelves placed in order, he felt -himself recovered after the voyage's disturbing influences; his soul -regained its strength since his implements were accessible, these -instruments and books which had grown fast to his being as new senses, -as other organs stronger and finer than those nature had given him as -an inheritance. - -The occasional attack of fear which was caused from isolation, solitude -and from being pent-up with enemies--for thus he considered the -fishermen, with reason--gave way before the quiet which the installment -must induce, and now, the headquarters being raised, he sat down as a -well-armed general to plan for the campaign. - - - - -CHAPTER THIRD - - -The wind had shifted north-east during the night and the drifting ice -had floated down from Aland, when the commissioner took his boat to -make a preparatory investigation of the quality of the sea's bottom -depth of water, sea flora and sea fauna. - -A pilot who was with him as oarsman, soon became tired of giving -explanations, when he saw that the commissioner by means of chart, -sounding lead and other different instruments, found out facts that -he had never thought of. Where the shoals lay was known to the pilot, -and he also knew on which shoal the stromling nets should be set, but -the commissioner was not satisfied with this and began to dredge at -different depths, taking up small creatures and vegetable slime on -which he believed the stromling fed. He lowered the lead to the bottom -and drew up samples of clay, sand, mud, mold and gravel, which he -assorted, numbered and placed in small glasses with labels. - -Finally he took out a big spyglass which resembled a speaking trumpet, -and looked down into the sea. The pilot had never dreamed that one -could gaze into the water with an instrument and in his astonishment -asked permission to place his eye to the glass and look down into the -mysteries. - -The commissioner on the one hand would not play wizard, and on the -other did not desire hastily to solve the problem which time would -clear up, or to inspire too high hopes about the results, he therefore -granted the pilot's entreaty and gave some popular explanation of the -living pictures which were unfolding down in the depths. - -"Do you see that seaweed upon the shoal?" began the commissioner, "and -do you see that it is first olive yellow, lower down liver colored and -at the bottom red? That comes from the diminution of light!" - -He took a few pulls at the oars, off the shallow, and kept constantly -to lee of the rock so as to keep free from the drifting ice. - -"What do you see now?" he asked the man who lay on his stomach. - -"Oh Jesus! I think it is stromling, and they are standing close, as -close as cards in a pack." - -"Do you see now that the stromling go not on the shallows only, and do -you understand now that one could catch them from the depths, and do -you believe now when I tell you that one ought never to fish them on -the shallows where they only go up to spawn where the eggs are reached -by the sun's heat better than in deep water?" - -The commissioner rowed on until he saw the water become greenish gray -on account of the nature of the clay bottom. - -"What do you see now?" he continued, meanwhile resting on the oars. - -"I believe, on my soul, there are serpents on the sea bottom! there -are real serpents' tails sticking out of the mud--and there are their -heads." - -"They are eels, my boy!" informed the commissioner. - -The pilot looked incredulous for he had never heard of eels in the -sea, but the commissioner would not give out his best card in advance -or lavish long explanations over intricate things, therefore he left -the oars and, taking his water telescope, leaned over the gunwale for -observation. - -He seemed to seek something with uncommon ardor, something that must be -there, on this or that shoal but which he naturally had not seen there -before, never having investigated that water. - -They rowed around for two hours as the commissioner indicated, -sometimes letting down his dredge, sometimes the lead line, and after -each haul lying face downwards and looking through the glass into the -water. His pale face contracted from the efforts and the eyes sunk -into his head while the hand which held the tube trembled and the arms -seemed stiff and numb as a stake. The cold, humid wind, which passed -through the pilot's jacket did not seem to bite the frail figure which -was only wrapped in a half-buttoned spring coat. His eyes watered -from the sea wind and the endeavor to look sharply down into the -half-impenetrable element which forms three-quarters of the earth's -surface, about the life of which the other quarter generally knows so -little and guesses so much. - -Through the water telescope, which was not of his invention, but one he -had made from what he had heard from bridge builders and laborers in -marine blasting, he saw down into a lower world from which the great -creation above the waters had been evolved. The forest of seaweed which -had just advanced over the border from inorganic to organic life, -swayed in the cold bottom current and resembled whites of eggs just -coagulated, borrowing their shape from the surf and recalling frost -flowers, when water freezes on the window pane. Down in the depths -the kelp spread out like big parks with golden leaves, over which the -inhabitants of the sea bottom dragged themselves on their bellies -seeking cold and obscurity, concealing their shame of being behind -in their long wandering toward the sun and air. Lowest down in the -clay the flounder rests, partly dug into the ooze, lazy, immovable, -without inventive faculty to develop a swim-bladder with which to raise -himself, waiting a happy chance that leads the prey past his nose, -without the impulse of turning the random to his advantage, and from -pure laziness having twisted and stretched himself until his eyes for -convenience' sake have stopped on the right side of the twisted head. - -The blenny has already put one pair of oars out forward, but is loaded -down by the stern and reminds one of the first trial at boat building, -showing between the kelp's heraldic foliage his architectonic stone -head with a Croat's mustache, lifting himself a moment from the mud to -sink again immediately into it. - -The lump sucker with its seven ridges goes with a keel to the air, -the whole fish one enormous nose, smelling only for food and females, -lighting for a moment the blue-green water with its rose-colored -belly, spreading a faint aurora around him down in the gloom, and -hugging again quickly a stone with his sucker to await the issue of the -millions of years, which shall bring delivery to those left behind in -the endless path of evolution. - -The dreadful sea scorpion, that fury incarnate, with malice expressed -in the spines of its face, whose swimming limbs are claws, but more -for torturing than for attack or defense, lying on one side pining for -enjoyment, and caressing his own body with his slimy tail. - -Higher up in lighter and warmer water swims the handsome but profound -thinking perch, perhaps the most characteristic fish of the Baltic -Sea, well built and steady but still somewhat clumsy as a Koster boat, -bearing the peculiar blue-green color of the Baltic and a Norseman's -temper, part philosopher part pirate, a sociable hermit, a superficial -creature who likes to seek the depths, and sometimes reaches them, idle -and eccentric. He stands during long leisure moments and stares at the -stones on the beach until awakening he darts off like an arrow, tyrant -against his own but soon tamed, returns willingly to the same place, -and harbors seven intestinal worms. - -And then the eagle of the sea, the king of Baltic fishes, the -light-built, cutter-rigged pike, who loves the sun and, as the -strongest, needs not shun the light, who stands with his nose at the -surface of the water, sleeping with the sun in his eyes, dreaming of -the flowery fields and birch pastures yonder, where he can never go, -and of the thin blue cupola which arches over his wet world, where he -would smother, and yet where the birds are swimming lightly with their -feathery pectoral-fins. - -The boat had come between floating pieces of ice which cast moving -shadows over the kelp parks on the bottom, like scattered clouds. The -commissioner, who had searched several hours without finding what he -sought, lifted the telescope out of the water, dried it and laid it -aside. - -Then he dropped upon the stern sheets and holding his hand before his -eyes as though to rest them from impression, seemed buried in sleep for -some minutes after which he gave the pilot a signal to row on. - -The commissioner, who had given his attention the whole forenoon to the -depth seemed now for the first time to observe the grand panorama which -was unfolding on the sea surface. Ultra-marine blue the water segment -extended some distance ahead of the boat, until the drifting ice showed -a perfect arctic landscape. Islands, bays, coves, and sounds marked as -on a map, and where the ice rode up on the reef, mountains had formed, -through one block pressing down another and the following climbing -up on the preceding. Over the rocks the ice had likewise piled up, -made arches, formed caves and built towers, church-ruins, casemates, -bastions. The enchantment in these formations lay in the fact that -they seemed to have been shaped by an enormous human hand, for they -had not the unconscious nature's chance forms, they reminded of human -inventions in past historical periods. There had blocks piled into -Cyclopean walls, arranged themselves in terraces as the Assyrian-greek -temple, here had the waves through repeated impact dug out a Roman -barrel vault, and fretted a round arch, which had sunken to an Arabian -moresque, out of which the sunbeams and the spray from the waves had -hacked out stalactites and bicelles, and here out of an already heaped -wall, the whole wave front had eaten a line of arches of a Roman -aqueduct, there stood the foundation to a mediæval castle, marking the -remains of tumble down lancet arches, flying buttresses and pinnacles. - -This fluctuation of thoughts between arctic landscapes and historicized -architecture brought the contemplator into a peculiar frame of mind, -out of which he was drawn by the noisy life which roving flocks of -birds were making all around on floating islands of ice and on the -clear blue waters. - -In flocks of hundreds and hundreds floated the eider ducks, which -were resting here, while waiting for open water to Norrland. The -insignificant rust brown females were surrounded by the gorgeous -males, who floated high with their snow white backs, sometimes -rising for a short flight, exposing their soot black breasts. Loons -in small flocks showing their miniver breasts, their reptile necks -and drooping checkered wings. Legions of lively, long-tailed ducks -in black and white, swimming, diving, skimming. The guillemots and -sea parrots in small bands, mournful coal black scoters in marauding -parties, contrasting with goosanders and red-breasted mergansers, a -more brilliant retinue with panaches on their necks, and over the -whole diving and fluttering host of birds that live an amphibious life -hovered the mews and gulls, which had already selected the air for -their element, only using the water for fishing and bathing. - -Smuggled into this industrial world of labor, on the point half hidden -sat a solitary crow, his low brow, his doubtful color, his thievish -manner, his criminal type, great shyness for water, and dirty look made -him an object of hatred to the strugglers who knew the nest plunderer, -the egg sucker. - -From the whole of this winged world, whose throats could set -atmospheric air in vibration, above the heads of the mutes down in the -water, was heard an accordant sound, from the reptile's first faint -trial to utter wrath by hissing, up to the music from the harmonious -vocal organs of man. There hissed his mate as a viper when the eider -duck would bite her neck and trample her under the water, there quacked -the goosander as a frog, and the terns shrieked and mews cawed, the -gulls emitted childlike cries, the eider ducks cooed as male cats in -rut time, but highest over all and therefore the most charming, sounded -the long-tailed ducks' wonderful music, for as yet it was not a song. -An untuned triad in major, sounding as the herdsman's horn, no matter -how or when it struck in with the three notes of the others making -an incomplete accord, a canon for the hunting horn without end or -beginning, reminiscences from the childhood of the human race, from the -earliest ages of the herdsman and the hunter. - -It was not with the poet's dreamy fancy, with gloomy and therefore -disquieting feelings and confused perceptions, that the contemplator -enjoyed the big drama. It was with the calm of the investigator, -the awakened thinker, that he viewed the relations in this seeming -confusion, and it was only through the accumulated vast material of -recollections that he could connect all these objects viewed with -each other. He searched for the causes of the mighty impression of -especially this nature, and when he found answers, he experienced -the immense enjoyment that the most highly developed in the chain of -creation must feel, when the veils are lifted from the occult, the -bliss which has followed every creature on the infinite course toward -light, and which perhaps constitutes the driving power forwards to -knowledge from dreaming, a bliss which must resemble that of a supposed -conscious creator who is cognizant of what he has done. - -This landscape took him back to Primeval Ages, when the earth was -covered with water and the tops of the highest mountains were beginning -to rise above the surface. These islands around him still retained -their primeval character with the earliest formed crust of granite up -in daylight. - -Down in the water, where the algæ of the period of cooling appeared, -swam the Primary Age fishes and among them their oldest descendant, -the herring, whilst on the islands still grew carboniferous ferns and -lichens. Farther in on the mainland, but first on the largest islets, -the Secondary Age's pines and reptiles would be found, and still -farther in, the deciduous trees and mammals of the Tertiary Age, but -out here in primeval formation whimsical nature seemed to have leaped -over the stratification periods and thrown seals and otters down in -primeval times, casting in the ice period on the morning of this day -in the quarto period, just as soil on primitive rocks, and he himself -was sitting as a representative of the historical times, undisturbed -by the evident confusion, enjoying these living pictures of creation -and raising the enjoyment through feeling himself the highest in this -chain. - -The secret of the fascination of the landscape was that it, and only -it offered a historicized creation with exclusions and abbreviations, -where one in a few hours could roam through the series of formations -of the earth and finally stop at oneself; where one could refresh -himself with a resume of perceptions, that led the thoughts back to -the origin, resting in the past stages, relaxing the fatiguing tension -to win higher degrees on the scale of culture, just as to relapse into -a wholesome trance and feel one with nature. It was such moments that -he used as a compensation for the past-away religious enjoyments, -when thoughts of heaven were only an exchanged shape of incentive -forward and the feeling of immortality was disguised uttering of the -foreknowledge of the indestructibility of matter. - -How serene to feel oneself at home on this earth, which was delineated -to him in childhood as the valley of lamentation, which was only to -be wandered through on the way to the unknown; how firm and full of -trust to have gained knowledge of what was unknown before, to have been -permitted to have seen into, to have looked through God's hitherto -secret counsel, as it was called, all those events which were regarded -impenetrable, and therefore at that time could not be penetrated. -Now man had reached perspicuity about human origin and purpose, but -instead of becoming weary and going to rest as one cultured nation -after another have done when they have thought until destroyed, the -now living generation had taken its part and acquiesced in finding -themselves to be the highest animals, and exerted themselves in a -judicious way actually realizing the heaven idea here, therefore the -present time was the best and greatest of all times, it has carried -humanity farther forward than centuries before had been able to do. - -After these moments of devotional exercise in thoughts of his origin -and destiny, the commissioner let his mind run over his personal -evolution, as far back as he could trace it, just as though to search -for his own self, and in the past stages read his probable fate. - -He saw his father, a deceased fortification major of that undecided -type of the beginning of the century, mixed as a conglomerate, and -cemented of fragments from preceding periods, picked at random after -the great eruption at the end of the past century, believing in nothing -because he had seen everything perish, everything taken up anew, all -forms of state tested, greeted with jubilee at reception, worsted -within a few years, brought forth again as new and greeted over again -as a universal discovery, he had at last stopped at the existing state -as the only palpable, it may have come from a leading will, which was -improbable, or from a combination of chances which was tolerably sure, -but dangerous to say. Through study at the university his father had -come into the pantheism of the young-Hegelians, which was a feint at -turning the current which had then reached its height, and individuals -had become the only reality and God became the comprehension of the -personal in humanity. The living idea about the intimate relation of -man to nature, that man himself stood highest in line in the chain of -the world's process, characterized an elite corps of personalities, -who silently despised the repeated attempts of political visionaries -to place themselves above the governing laws of nature, trying in an -artificial way to make new laws for the world through philosophical -systems and congressional decrees. Unobserved they passed on of -no use to either high or low, above they saw mediocrities through -natural selection amassing around a mediocre monarch, below they found -ignorance, credulity and blindness, while between these two classes the -burghers were bent on business interests so positively that those who -were not merchants themselves were unable to work together with them. -As they were qualified, prudent and trustworthy they were occasionally -promoted to positions of influence, but as they could not join with -any party and had no desire to make a useless individual opposition -and were not numerous enough to form a herd, besides as strong -individualists would not follow a bell-cow, they remained pretty quiet -carrying their discontent hidden under big crosses and decorations and -smiled as augurs when they met at the councilor's table or in the house -of noblemen, letting the world pass as it might. - -The father belonged to certainly not a very old noble family, but -one which through civil merits in retrieving the mining business and -not: through doubtful exploits of war gained by the help of nature's -chances or an enemy's false step, had been rewarded by a coat of arms -and moderate privileges, such as to wear a nobleman's uniform and -unpaid to participate in one-fourth of the ponderous administration -of the country. He counted himself therefore a meritorious noble and -was conscious of having come from talented ancestors, which acted -as a spur down to their now living representative. Property legally -acquired through the qualities and labors of his ancestors gave him the -opportunity to perfect himself in his calling. He became a prominent -topographer, and had participated in the building of Gota canal and in -the first railroad constructions. This employment at a whole kingdom, -which he had become used to look at from above and to take in at one -glance on the map spread over a writing table, gave his mind gradually -the habit of seeing everything on a grand scale. There he sat with -a rule opening communication lines which would change the whole -physiognomy, of the landscape, leveling old cities and creating new, -changing the prices of products, seeking for new resources. The maps -should change, the old water ways be forgotten and the black straight -lines which indicated the new roads would be the determinative. The -heights should be just as fertile as the valleys, the combat of the -rivers should cease, frontiers between realms and countries should no -more be observed. - -There followed a strong feeling of power through this handling of the -fates of lands and peoples, and he could not escape gradual seizures of -the propensity accompanying power, to overestimate himself. Everything -miraged in a bird's-eye-view, countries became maps and human beings -tin soldiers, and when the topographer in a few weeks ordered the -leveling of a height, which would have needed thousands of years to -be denuded by natural agencies, he felt something of the creator in -himself. When he ordered tunnels bored, transferred sand ridges to -lakes, and filled up marshes, he did not fail to perceive that he had -taken in hand a remodeling of the earth ball, throwing the natural -geological formations topsy-turvy, and therewith his personal feelings -swelled incredibly. - -Hereto was added his position as officer with numerous subordinates, -whom he only communicated with as one in authority, and who -consequently were considered as service muscles to his big determining -brain. - -With a military's physical courage and resolution, the profoundness -of a savant, the full deliberation of a thinker, the calm of one -financially independent, and the dignity and self-esteem of a man -of honor, he exhibited a type of the highest rank, where beauty and -prudence combined to produce a well-measured, harmonious personality. - -In this father the son had both a prototype and a teacher, the mother -having died early. To spare the son the bitterness of miscalculations, -and disapproving the whole current method of education, which with -books of tales and terrifying histories, educated the children to -be children instead of men, he raised at once the whole curtain of -the temple of life and initiated the youth in the difficult art of -life; taught him the intimate connection between human beings and -the remainder of the creation, where certainly the human being stood -highest on his planet, but still continued to remain a part of the -creation, able in a measure to modify the action of the forces in -nature but nevertheless ruled by them, this was a rational nature -worship if nature signifies everything existing, and worshiping is an -acknowledgment of the dependency of the existing laws of nature. By -this he removed Christianity's mania for greatness of individuals, fear -of the unknown, death and God, and created a prudent man, watchful of -his actions and personally accountable for his deeds. The regulator -of the lower propensities of human beings he found in the organ, -which through its perfected form separates the human being from the -beasts, the cerebrum. Judgment, founded on liberal knowledge should -govern, and when necessary suppress the lower propensities to keep up -a higher type. Nourishment and propagation were the lowest impulses, -and therefore in common with the plants. The sensibilities, as the -animals? lower rudiments of thinking were called, because they were -localized in the arteries, spinal cord and other lower organs, must be -absolutely subordinate to the cerebrum in a human being of the highest -type, and the individuals, who could not regulate their lower impulses -but were thinking with their spinal cord, were of the lower form. -Therefore the old man warned against believing in youthful enchantment -and enthusiasm, which could just as easily lead to crime as to virtue. -This, however did not exclude the great passions of universal benefit, -which did not belong to the feelings but were powerful utterances of -the will toward good. All that youth could produce was completely -worthless, for as a rule it lacked originality, being only the pure -thoughts of older predecessors which the after-coming youths had -taken up as their own and with great gestures would spread abroad. -Originality could only be said to develop when the brain had matured, -just as true propagation with a following education of the offspring -could only take place when man had reached virility and had the ability -to provide means for existence and education of the children. A sure -sign of the immature brain's inability to judge was the constant -Grossenwahn, in which youth and women were living. Youth has its future -before it, as is habitually said, but that assertion is shattered -because manhood shows a less per cent, of mortality than youth, and -the unwitty reply that if youth is a fault it passes away in time, -does not overturn the precept, that youth is a present defect, an -imperfection, thus a fault, which is admitted by the acknowledgment -that it can pass away, for that which never existed cannot pass away. -All youthful attacks on the existing are hysterical spells of the -inability of the weak to bear pressure, an evidence of the same lack -of prudence as in the hornet when attacking a human being to its own -sure destruction. As a good illustration of the want of judgment and -syllogism in the youths he brought forth the book Robinson Crusoe, -which was written for the plain purpose of showing the inferiority of -a life under natural conditions and isolation, and yet for a century it -had regularly been misunderstood by youths as a psalm to savage life -while the book represented it as a punishment for the foolish youth who -abused culture's wealth like a savage. This little trait at the same -time showed of how much lower ontological form youth was, betraying it -in his sympathy for Indians and other rudimentary laggers-behind, just -as the feelings which eventually would be laid aside, like the thyroid -gland, which has come into disuse by human beings but still remains on -its old place. - -When the son could not refute these bitter truths with rational -arguments, declaring that his feelings, yes his most sacred feelings, -rose against such a dry tenet, the father declared him to be a hornet -which was still thinking with ganglia, and he warned him against -dissolute fancies, or conclusions on insufficient ground and want of -great material, not to be mistaken for scientific quick-reasoning, -where from seemingly few premises--appearing few because the middle -terms were omitted--new conclusions could be drawn, when, as if by -a chemical union, two older ideas enter each other and form a new -thought. Ontogenism had shown how the human foetus was developed through -all the earlier stages from the amoeba through the frog and up to the -anthropomorphic, how then could the youth question but that the -spirit of a child must pass through the history of man through the -animal and the savage upward, as long as the body was growing and that -consequently man stood far ahead of youth! He warned him especially not -to let the lowest of all our propensities, the sexual impulse cloud -his judgment, for by its power it had so long dazzled sound reason, -that erudite men still bore the superstition that woman was as high -a type as man, yes even higher according to the opinion of some men, -whereas she really is but an intermediate form between man and child, -as is shown by the foetal development, where the male at a certain -stage is female but the female never male. To warn the young man of -the danger of being over-powered by sexual impulses, was the same as -to cast a shadow on woman, and the son soon commenced to make what the -father called ganglionic conclusions, the bearing of which was that the -Lieutenant-Colonel was a woman hater. And how could he do otherwise, -when always hearing his father narrating how this or that man had -thrown away his future on affairs with women, and how great geniuses -had wasted their talents by procreation, and sacrificed happiness and -position for a wife, who had been faithless and children who died -before of mature age. Propagation was only for the lesser spirits, the -greater ones should live in their works, and so forth. - -Under such guidance the son grew up. He was born an unusually delicate -child but with a harmoniously developed body; he had finely organized -senses, quick and sure perception, keen understanding and a nobility -of mind which manifested itself in forbearance and approachableness -to mankind. He understood early how to regulate his life, to suppress -the plant and animal propensities, and when he had accumulated a -vast material of observations and knowledge, he began to work it up. -His brain soon showed its prolific capacity--from a couple of known -quantities to find the wanted unknown, from old thoughts to produce new -ones, in a word the capacity of what is called originality. He was the -coming regenerator and possessed ability to see the inter-relations in -disorder, to discover the invisible force behind the phenomena, and -even the concealed and extremely compound motives in the actions of -men. Therefore his schoolmates looked upon him with suspicion, and the -teachers discerned in him a silent critic of what they communicated as -unalterable facts. - -His arrival at the university occurred contemporarily with the great -popular movements which concerned the parliamentary reform. Borg -perceived well the defects of the representation by a four-class -system, while the state consists of at least twenty classes with -different interests and different abilities to judge in so complicated -a problem as that of the government of a people, but on the other hand -he could not consent to revert to the organization of the hord or tribe -where everybody had equally much or equally little to say. He perceived -at once that this simplifying of the method of governing, where the -multitude should do it was not a reform suited to the needs of the -time, moreover he had lately seen the right of universal suffrage -in France produce an Emperor and a sham representation of lawyers, -merchants and army officers, with the exclusion of laborers, farmers, -savants and scientific men, thus only three classes, arbitrarily -selected by the Emperor, were represented. He had calculated that the -most correct would be a perfect class representation with proportional -rights of representation, well balanced according to the interests of -the respective classes and with due consideration given to the highest -interests, or the higher right of the wise to own the preponderance, -as they promote progress more than the ignorant. This, to be sure, -the authors of the two chamber systems had already had in mind, when -they perceived the necessity of referring questions to committees -and disentangling certain questions by special committees, even -by committees of experts. To complete the assembly, so that all -interests would be guarded and all points taken and all information -of the condition of the realm made accessible, each class of people, -from the highest to the lowest, should elect representatives in -proportion partly to their numbers and partly to their importance -for the advancement of the country as a whole. Neglecting the Royal -Court, which together with the monarch ought to be assorted under the -foreign department, to which they properly belong, for the monarch is -only permitted to represent the nation before foreign powers, this -consultative, though not a legislative, class parliament would be -constructed as follows, viz., First class: land owners and renters, -tenants, overseers, foremen on farms and so forth. The second class: -operators of mines and quarries, manufacturers and their laborers. -Third class: merchants, mariners, pilots, hotel owners, porters, -hackmen, and all employed in banks, custom houses, postal service, -railroads and telegraphs. Fourth class: civil and military officers, -clergymen, with servants, janitors and privates. Fifth class: -savants, teachers, literateurs, and artists. Sixth class: physicians, -apothecaries, superintendents of poorhouses. Seventh class: house -owners, capitalists and rentiers. - -In what proportion to elect from each class was the question, which -could not be solved off hand, but it was necessary that skillful men -with knowledge in the science of government should probe the new -order of representation, which would therefore only and always be -provisional. Over this consultative assembly should sit a council of -specialists in the science of government, who had been professionally -trained for that difficult calling, so that this most complicated of -all arts would not be pursued by bunglers and enterprising amateurs, as -had hitherto been done, and statesmen's accession to office would be -preceded by a careful investigation of their past life, their private -financial and social situation. This would spur youth to self-education -and heedfulness of what they were doing, and would form a body of -excellent men, while so called irreproachable conduct, or negative -virtue, without talents would not as hitherto be the short cut to -advancement. This would constitute the new nobility which would succeed -the old military and court nobility, and the fact that this nobility -established itself only through a natural selection of the fittest was -a guarantee that the country would be ruled in the best manner. The -Reichstag by only having to vote an opinion, not any decision, would -thus furnish a vast material of investigation, not a legionary army -that could be bribed and wheedled to commit voting outrages. - -The young man, however, was too prudent to express his opinions, at -a period, when noblemen were synonymous with the degenerated, left -behind and blasé, and the masses were pushing so blindly forward that -the mechanics were the ones that worked mostly into the hands of their -coming class enemies, the peasants; a prudent man could only smile and -wait. And he waited until he saw the four-chamber system succeeded by a -one-class representation, when the realm was henceforth governed by the -former peasantry alone. These historical events had, however, a very -great influence in directing the young man's thoughts and development. -He had there seen in what terrible confusion the thought mechanism of -the majority was, and when he read the protocols of the Reichstag, and -noticed the speeches of the most influential and brilliant speakers, -he observed that what he called ganglionic reasoning, causing valvular -contraction and congestion of the heart, exerted the greatest influence -on the public opinion. It seemed to him sometimes as though it was not -the question of the fatherland or progress, but only the motionary's -triumph to gain his own will by fallacies, gross blunders in logic and -hideous distortions of facts. In him was aroused, through observation, -the great suspicion that everything was intended as a struggle for -power, for the enjoyment of using the power of the brain for putting -other brains into consonance, of sowing seeds of thought in the brain -bark of others, where they would grow as parasites like the mistletoe, -while the mother tree would proudly lift her shoulders at the thought -that the parasites up in the crown still were nothing but parasites. -This was the foundation of his ambition, to satisfy which required -knowledge and experience through study, travel and conversation with -learned and illustrious men. In the midst of this eternally movable -chaos of contending forces and interests, he sought a place of -anchorage for his being, the center of the sphere which reality threw -around him--in himself. Instead of, like weak Christians assuming an -external support in God, he took the real, palpable in his own self and -sought to create his personality to a perfect type of man whose life -and deeds would not violate anyone's rights, convinced that the fruit -of a well-nursed tree could not fail to be of use and rejoicing to -others. All the confusion and awkwardness that he saw in the struggles -of those who say they are living for others while in reality they only -live on others, on others' gratitude, others' opinion and others' -acknowledgment, he avoided, holding his own straight course convinced -that a single great and strong individual could not help doing more -good than these masses of thoughtless people whose numbers stand in -inverse ratio to their usefulness. - -By this setting of his _ego_ he enforced a norm for his life, which -led him to a high degree of morality, for, instead of relinquishing -the final settlement to the uncertain hereafter, he regulated his -deeds so that he had nothing left unsettled, he did not shift the -blame from himself to an innocently suffering Christ, but in conscious -self-responsibility he committed no acts that would awaken the need of -a scapegoat. - -Thereby he learned to rely only upon himself and never to take advice, -always reflecting on the probable consequences of an act. This did not -prevent him from suffering with nervousness like his generation, which -was born and brought up during the period of steam and electricity when -the vital activity was increased in speed. How could it be otherwise -considering that he must destroy millions of old brain cells, storages -for antiquated impressions, that every moment when he would form a -judgment, he must carefully sift out superannuated axioms, which tried -to come forward as premises. It was a work of total reconstruction -which caused these disorders in the nervous system which are all -laid to our ancestors' alcoholism and sexual excesses, but which -pathological symptom was an uttering of increased vitality accompanied -by extreme sensibility, like the crawfish when it shifts its shell, or -the bird when molting. It was the regeneration of a genus or at least -a variety of man which appeared to the old as diseased or unsound -because it was in a process of development, something that they were -disinclined to acknowledge as they themselves would be the norm and -called themselves sound, although they were in a state of decomposition. - -This nervous sensibility of the growing youth was enhanced by -moderation in eating and drinking, and vigorous disciplining of -the sexual desires. He found it debasing to place oneself into the -ungovernable state of a lunatic or a savage through the use of -fermented drinks, and his soul was far too aristocratic to play a -moment's illicit love with a prostitute. With this, however, followed -an increasing acuteness of the senses and a sensibility to disagreeable -impressions which sometimes brought him disgust where others of a -coarser nature would have found enjoyment. - -Thus he felt abased for a few hours when his morning coffee was not -strong enough, and a poorly painted billiard ball or a soiled cue -constrained him to turn away in search of another place. A badly -wiped glass raised his loathing and he felt the smell of human being -on a newspaper which another had read, while he could on others' -furniture see human grease deposited on the polish, and he always -opened the window when the maid had arranged the room. However, if he -was traveling and necessity constrained, then he could shut off, as it -were, all conduits from his organs of perceptions and harden himself -against all disagreeable sensations. - -When he had completed his studies at the University, in natural -science, that least dependent of all sciences, because opinion plays -a lesser roll than a collection of material, he received a place as -assistant in the Royal Academy of Science. - -He had applied for a situation here for the purpose of obtaining a -view of the kingdoms of nature, collected and classified in one place, -and if possible to read therein and discover the great connection if -there was any, or the universal confusion which probably was there. His -intentions soon became manifest, especially when he could no longer -avoid the danger of their enticing from him, his project to classify -the birds after an entirely different method than the current one. The -professors, who of course did not want to be lowered to collectors of -material for a young man, and were not willing to become obsolete with -their works, took an instinctive aversion to the scrutinizer. The first -obstacle to the intruder was made by placing him to detail work of a -subordinate character which was disgusting to his sense of beauty, -during six months he had to change alcohol in the fish collection; -at first he was retching from the nauseating odor, but after he had -overcome this disagreeable perception he turned furiously to the study -of the fishes, and as he worked rapidly he had inside of the half -year thoroughly studied the great material. He had been standing the -whole winter in a cold, dirty and semi-dark kitchen where he had been -smelling bad alcohol, frozen his hands and contracted a severe chronic -cystitis. - -Afterwards he was set to writing labels for the algæ. As he had -received no instructions in calligraphy at the University and by nature -he had a wreak, unsteady hand, all the labels were discarded and he -gained the name of being useless.--He could not even write.--But in -two months, during which time he attended a writing school, and in -the evenings sat at home over writing book and copy, he acquired a -beautiful and legible hand and at the same time gained a more complete -knowledge of the algæ than he had before, while into the bargain he -learned the inestimable art of penmanship. The professors who had -thought he would reject such subordinate work soon saw what kind of -grit he had and that he understood how to use all adversities for his -benefit, increasing his knowledge while turning aside softly from the -leash and warding off the blows. - -His improved penmanship was to be a new source of humiliations, for he -was now placed at copying office records and letters, sinking finally, -as they believed, to an ordinary copyist's rôle. Without complaining he -took the occupation and, at the same time learning foreign languages, -he had the opportunity of glancing into the secrets of all these great -men, which they thought would be worthless to him. Thus he saw the -scientific questions of the period, debated through correspondence and -he discovered the ways to the secret meetings of learned societies, -gained knowledge about the subterranean passages to distinction, and -the opportunities to make his investigations fruitful. Thus he was -unassailable, and just as they believed they had crushed him he arose -again. - -It was owing to this double quality of nobleman and independent -thinker, that he became isolated. His name did not sound scientific -and his fine and modern way of dressing was taken as a proof of -unscientific sense by those who remembered Berzelius' ragged pants; his -patient and apparent submission was taken as inferiority, and all his -meditations over science, as poetical effusions. Regretting to have -let him come behind the curtain, and in order to press him down again -they now placed him at another work which had been rejected by every -newcomer, and was called the proving stone. There was in the garret a -remnant collection of stones and minerals, which had come together -partly through gifts and legacies and partly through circumnavigations -and explorations, and as most of it had been discarded as duplicates, -at a time when geology was in its infancy, increasing knowledge -demanded that they again be overhauled and assorted. They were placed -in an attic room beneath the rooftiles and lay in a big heap decidedly -covered with dust and cobwebs. Borg who must now stand bent beneath -the heated rooftiles and inhale the dust, was about to give it up, -but when on the second day he found a new mineral which he suspected -to be unknown, he at once applied himself to the work and started -classifying. During this he made observations which shook his already -faint belief in the whole system of the science, and he commenced -seeing that the stones were not classified by nature but it was the -brain that classified the phenomena. Besides, everything might be -classified if one could only decide upon a basis of division, and -he soon saw that the basis employed here was not the most rational -one, the very foundation being an unsettled hypothesis; for instance, -that the primitive rocks had been formed through melting by fire, -contrasting with the stratified rocks which were positively regarded -as deposited in water; but some of the primitive rocks were also -stratified like the younger sedimentary formations; then he found -that all of it was twisted and guessed at and the whole system founded -on guess work. In the meanwhile he had analyzed his mineral and found -that it was hitherto unknown, whereupon he gave it to the professor -who sent it to the Berlin Academy and got his name attached to the -new mineral. Borg received no thanks, no mention, only a few taunting -words from the professor. Irritated thereby he undertook himself to -describe the next mineral which he found to be new and sent it to -Lyell; his paper was read in the Geological Society, of which he was -made a member. Comrades and superiors pretended to be ignorant of his -success, which was in a measure disparaging to the professor who had -overlooked the unknown mineral, and now repugnance grew into hate -which developed to persecution. But he turned aside, made himself -invisible and worked. This collection of minerals being gathered from -all countries in Europe, and as Borg understood how to give to each -discovery a touch of direct usefulness for the science of mining in the -respective countries, he succeeded in two years to gain membership in -most of the learned societies of Europe, and was decorated with badges -of the Italian Crown Order, the French "Instruction publique," the -Austrian Leopold order and the Russian St. Annae order, second class. -But nothing availed among his surroundings, and the laughter increased -at each mark of distinction which was nevertheless merited. When they -could not deny the facts, they underrated their value or pretended to -be ignorant of what had happened, which, however, did not prevent them -from using his trodden path in their own hunt. - -When at last after seven years of tormenting service he inherited a -legacy from his father, who had died, and he retired from service -to travel abroad as a private man, he heard alternately that he -had failed in his calling and that it was a pity that he did not -become anything, or that he had been discharged from office. It was -with boundless disdain for human beings that he left his country to -continue his studies abroad. In hotels and pensions all over Europe -he met many, kinds of people with whom he formed acquaintances which -were soon broken by circumstances. But everywhere he saw how people -of the same period expressed the same mind about the same things, -pronounced the opinion of the majority as their own, spoke phrases -in place of thoughts, and he discovered thereby that it really was -the thoughts of a few spirits that were ruminated by the masses. Thus -he found that all geologists spoke Agassiz' and Lyell's ideas from -1830 and '40, all religious free thinkers exhaled Renan and Strauss, -all brisk politicians were living on Mill or Buckle, and all who -spoke up-to-date literature cast up Taine. It was then only a few -main batteries which had an annunciator and which could through the -conducting wires from their talents set all the small bells tinkling. -Through this he soon came to the domain of psychology, visited -spiritualists, hypnotizers and mind readers, saw behind these swindles -some new discoveries which would surely change humanity in its mode of -living thoughtlessly as cattle, perhaps contribute towards adjusting -the thought mechanism, and show that this whole battle about opinions -is only a strife for the power to set other people's brains in motion, -to force the masses to think as I. He had been a witness to scientific -encounters which had resulted in a conquest for the wrong opinion, -only because the victor had sufficient authority and was supported -by a majority. He had seen political and religious combats and in a -legislation directly contrary to sound reason and justice, founded on -approved errors, which were inherited by succeeding generations as -self-evident truths. - -Yes, surely it concerned only how to make one's own will valid, and the -whole driving power behind the vindication of opinions were interest -and passion. Interest, it was nothing else than need, a need of food -and love, and to gain these required a certain amount of power. Whoever -did not strive for power was a weak one, whose desire of life was -attenuated, therefore the weak was always heard to demand rights, -the rights of the weak, while there was only a mathematical justice -given, an arithmetical truth, for the calculating of which was required -a strong mind capable of emancipating itself from the delusions of -interest and passions. When he searched his inner self and compared -himself with a great many others, he found that through a strict -self-education he had freed his judgment to a high degree, and that in -him was a specially developed thrift to seek abstract justice, that -truth which consists in the actual conditions, the pith of fact, why -he called himself a friend of truth in the highest sense, although not -prompted thereby to tell all his thoughts abroad nor prevented from -replying to importunate questions, when need be, with a prevarication. - -In order to trace more closely the organization of the man-brute he -designed a special study of the mental faculties of all the lower -animals and thus guided himself up to man. He then made a ledger -over all the individuals that came in his way, from relatives, -nurses, maids, to schoolmates, university comrades, society friends -and superiors, in one word all who came within the circle of his -observation. This he completed through a collection of personalia, -baptismal certificates, and the testimonies of their acquaintances; he -wrote down their equation and tried a solution of the problem of their -life. It was an incredible amount of working material. When he had -straightened out the confusion he saw that the human beings could be -divided just as the animals and plants into large classes, orders and -families according to the basis chosen. By taking several bases he came -pretty near to the truth and threw the fullest illumination upon the -object of his observation. - -Among other things he made a diagram of the human beings, with three -subdivisions, conscious, self-deceivers and unconscious. The conscious -or initiated stood highest, had discerned the deceit and believed in -nothing and nobody, and were usually called skeptics, feared and hated -by the self-deceivers, but recognized each other at once and usually -parted with the word rascal, and reciprocal accusations of bad motives. -As self-deceivers he counted all religious believers, hypnotic mediums, -prophets, party chiefs, politicians, charity spirits, and the whole -swarm of weak ambitious ones who pretend to live for others. To the -unconscious belonged children, most criminals, most women and some -idiots, all of whom still live on the semi-mammalian plane without the -ability to distinguish between subject and object. - -Proceeding from another basis, or by ontogenesis from the foetus up to -the highest standard of man, he got as the result, children, youths, -women and men. - -He also used to search among his countrymen for ancestral race marks, -distinguished the central Swedes from the southern Swedes, could see -the Norwegian in the Vermlanders and Bohus-landers, pointed out the -Finn in some of the Norrlanders, kept record of immigrated Germans, -Wallons, Shemites and gypsies, which often gave him the key to various -traits in otherwise inexplicable characters. - -He also had another basis for a division of characters according to -the dominant, as he called it, and he got the nutritive as the lowest -group including epicures, drunkards and the avaricious, the sexualic -or licentious, the affective or sensitive, and the intellectual or -thinkers who stood highest. - -This science he developed to a high degree, and after some time -acquired the ability to judge human beings and give their equations. To -verify the truth of his observations he used himself as a psychological -preparation, cut himself up bodily, experimented with himself and -grafted fistulas and fontanelles, subjecting himself to unnatural -and often repulsive spiritual diet, but carefully guarded faults of -observation, and avoided forming a norm for others by his own sayings -and doings. - -When he had finally become weary of traveling abroad, and his soul -was longing for its _milieu_, he returned home to seek a sphere of -activity. As it was immaterial to him what his occupation might be he -applied for the position of fish commissioner. As they were not anxious -to have him too near he was appointed as the first man of the inlet to -Stockholm. - - * * * * * - -Here he awoke from the review of his evolution, from which he used -to regenerate himself by hastily living his life over again, thereby -tracing, as it were, his standpoint and, calculating his resources, he -cleared his course onward to his probable destiny and his prospects of -succeeding in his enterprises. - -The pilot, who in the meantime had rowed the boat behind the rocks and -in lee of the ice cakes, had already decided that the Doctor, who was -sitting with introverted, expressionless eyes, was a little freaky, -took the occasion to ask if they should turn toward the harbor, whereto -the commissioner nodded consent. - -Once more he glanced at the magnificent panorama yonder, where the ice -floes were driven onward, rent asunder, packed themselves, crowded -together, pushed over each other, turned on edge, changed their -horizontal position to big upheavals and tilting of the strata, forming -mountains, dales and hills. It seemed to him as though he beheld the -earth's crust being born, when on the incandescent sea the first hard -cake was broken to pieces, driven forward, pushed on edge, piled in -heaps to form the primitive mountains, skerries, rocks, islets, which -were but enormous packs of ice, icebergs, although formed from another -mineral than water. Over this repetition of the history of creation -vibrated the primitive, undivided white light of the ice beside the -deep blue of air and water, the first breaking of the darkness, and -here the God of the saga of creation who separated light from darkness, -came forth as a sensible explanation to his investigating mind. Once -again the first attempt at harmonious sounds of the reptiles, now -transformed into birds, rang out over the watery circle, the limitation -of himself, which must be the center wherever he went.... - -The boat floated into harbor, the smoke was rising from the chimneys, -it was dinner time. - - - - -CHAPTER FOURTH - - -One Sunday forenoon the fish commissioner sat at his open window; the -early summer had just come, there was a light blue color on the water -and a faint verdure in the crevices of the rocks, on the insignificant -remains of lichens and mosses. The flocks of birds had gone north and -only segregated pairs of eider ducks were swimming, two by two, in -the coves. The great solitude, as he called the Baltic Sea, impressed -him this day as he saw one vessel after another steering southward -under foreign flags with lively colors, perhaps coming accidentally, -perhaps regularly, all of these flags more luminous than the poor -blue and tawny yellow which is so easily soiled. He saw the exciting -tricolor on a brig which was lumber laden from Norrland, where it had -recently been with wine and oranges and was now passing down to more -sunny and populous coasts. The enfeebled dannebrog on a butter schooner -lay in the wake of a great German mail steamer carrying white bunting -with mourning border and the Crown mark like the ace of spades, above -something of red color. England's blood red standard, the Spanish -awning cloth, America's King cotton ticking, each of these was a -greeting from so many foreign nations to which he felt more affianced -than to those strangers whom he was condemned to call countrymen, -for he had a right to carry all of these colors on his gala coat but -not his own country's. And to-day, it seemed, these reminders of his -cosmopolitan citizenship came to him more invigorating than usual, -as during the last few days of his exile in this place he had been -surrounded by a full and open enmity. He had recently undertaken to -enforce a law adopted several years ago, though never applied, about -a certain measure of the meshes in nets and seines, and had thereby -encountered an opposition and open defiance which finally forced him -to send for the sheriff who confiscated the nets. He had, however, -first shown thoroughly how the interference of the government was -only prompted by concern for the welfare of the people, he had held -before them how they, while not wishing to divide a farm, preferring -to have one son prosperous and the family maintainer, still contrived, -by indiscriminate fishing, to make their children dependent of the -almshouse for their support. All to no avail. All these measures and -steps were regarded as the evil contrivance of a pack of idle officers -who were salaried with the people's money, for the special purpose of -tormenting them. He retorted in vain, that it was the farmers in the -Reichstag who had voted this law, whereupon the fishermen turned their -hate towards the farmers and government alike. - -He observed that these fishing people really represent a remnant of -the aboriginal community, careless and inconsiderate, without the -peasant's forethought for the morrow and next year. They were like -the savage who hunts two days and sleeps eight, and like the savage -they possessed certain negative faculties to do without, and endure, -but lacked the positive ability to improve their situation through -investigation, having a decided and instinctive dislike for innovation, -thereby betraying their inability to adapt themselves to a higher -stage of culture. All these fishermen were bottom sediments of the -country's population; when the battle over fertile river valleys and -lake margins was going on they could not maintain their own, and fled -or were pressed out to the headlands where the soil ceased and only -the uncertain water left its winnings. Like gamblers they were as -unreliable as fortune, unscrupulous in their dealings, drawing small -advances beforehand from the ever expected great fishing, which a lucky -shipwreck might bring them. Therefore their hate immediately kindled -towards the new comer, and in their blindness they could not see -how he would if from ambition only improve their condition and free -them from labor. For instance, one duty of the head pilot was to make -meteorological reports; for him he had constructed a self-regulating -wind measure from cleft sardine boxes, which, however, was not accepted -but placed in the garret. He had offered to assist in cases of sickness -but had been rejected. He had offered to teach the wives how to prevent -the stoves from smoking, by the application of a stromling barrel as -a flue at the top of the chimney, but they had made grimaces at him -and continued to lament over the irremediable smoke. He would teach -a fisherman, who had tried to raise potatoes unsuccessfully, how to -fertilize the sandy strand with seaweed and the refuse from fish, as he -had seen the people on the coast of England do with marked success; all -was in vain. When he saw how the surplus of the big stromling fishing -of the spring lay decaying for lack of salt, he would teach them the -Faroe-islanders' method of salting with the ashes of seaweed in case -of necessity and for domestic use, this same preservative being always -used by said islanders in the manufacture of cheese. - -The result of all his endeavors to teach them useful things, was that -he received the nickname of Doctor Know-all, was regarded as a fool, -and became the laughing stock of the coffee gatherings, and drinking -bouts. Even the children made faces as he passed by. - -The incongruity between what he was, and what he was taken to be, -impressed him at the beginning as comical, but afterwards when the -hostilities succeeded the coldness he marked an unfavorable influence -on his mental state. It was as though a thundercloud of unequal -electricities hung over him, irritating his nerve current, trying to -annihilate it through neutralization. He felt as though the thoughts -directed towards him from these many would have the power to gradually -drag him down, cramp his opinion of his own value, so that the moment -would come when he could no longer rely upon himself and his mental -superiority, and finally their views that he was the idiot and they the -sound would grasp his brain and force him to agree with them. - -Meanwhile as his thoughts wandered here and there a new object came -within the forty-five degrees of the horizon, which he commanded at -a glance from his window. A gunboat came to lee of the rock at half -speed, clewed up its sails and dropped anchor. Through the marine -glass he saw the sailors move about apparently in a hurly-burly, but -without crowding; each one hurried to his belaying pin, his line, -and his halyard, when the executive officer's whistle sounded. The -vessel's straight sides, the extended stem where the iron plates seemed -to sprawl asunder but combined their concentrated force In a forward -direction, radiating out as it were at the bowsprit, the exhaust -pipe and the smokestack's energetic smoking, the masts striving with -stay and shroud, the round circle of the cannon's mouth, everything -indicated an array of forces, regulated, curbing each other, reacting -and cooperating, the contemplation of which put him into a harmonic -state of mind. It was to him as though power and order streamed forth -from the wedge-shaped iron hull, where purpose, limitation and measure, -united into a unit of beauty, and conveyed a deeper enjoyment by -reflection than a handsome work of art commonly affords the superficial -observer by the way of feeling. - -Something else came to him through reflecting on this little floating -community surrounded by water. He felt strengthened, as though he -had a support in this symbol of power, that was authorized by the -people's assembly and the royal government, with the appliance of -all the means of culture and science, and which protected the higher -developed against the pressure of barbarism from beneath; he saw with -satisfaction how a couple of the most knowing, who had been qualified -by due examinations, guided with a whistle this hundred of half -savages, who did not dare to pretend to understand, that which they -did not understand. He had never been beguiled to commit the modern -fault of observation of believing that the lower classes suffered from -their subordinate position and coarse food. He knew well that they were -precisely on the plane they should be, and that they suffered just -as little from their station as the fishes beneath would suffer from -not having been developed into amphibians, and as far as their coarse -food was concerned he knew from experience when he had invited a few -fishermen to dinner how they rejected all but that which filled the -belly; yes, he had seen them select the poor rye in the bread basket, -instead of the fine wheat. He had never believed in the talk about lack -of food excepting when misfortune came and then only accidentally, for -there existed state laws for the poor which are so often misused by -sluggards and the shrewd, who feign sickness and force the community -to support them. He had never adored the small, never needed to kneel -to the insignificant, notwithstanding that he himself was cast out -from the upper camp which during the common period of decay tricked -itself up with stolen reputations and lay pressing down that which -should grow. He did not even now let this induce him to overestimate -this approximate picture of the upper stratum, which in the shape of a -man-of-war inspired his admiration from a certain point of view, but -on the other hand was a reminder of a system of state, which executed -outrages on the minds with compressed gas and Bessemer cylinders. - -Downstairs his host's door banged, and the tongues began to wag at the -entrance of Oman, whose net had been confiscated. The gin glasses rang -and the clamor rose at the repetition of yesterday's drunken spree. - -"Idiots and destroyers of the people, who believe they know more than -sensible fishermen and who lie on the sofa and read books, and get -two thousand a year, snots, who would teach their father how to fish, -a pack of thieves and cigarette heroes who go about with sow's tails -under their noses...." - -And now a wave broke against Vestman's elucidation of facts that he had -gleaned on board the "Jacob Bagge" about the commissioner's extraction, -his father's irregular sexual relations, his mother's low descent, and -he alluded to the commissioner's discharge from his first office and so -forth. - -The listener tried to make himself deaf, and indifferent as usual, but -the words cut him, soiled him, hurt him against his will. Old doubts -about his father's integrity began to awaken, doubts of his own value -were aroused and fears as to the possibility of keeping himself dry in -this rain of mud, and to avoid a fight where he perhaps would fail from -nicety in choice of weapons. - -Now struck the bell on the man-of-war, a drum whir rolled, and the -summer wind carried the tunes of a hymn from a hundred throats out -over the water, solemn, rhythmically arranged, submissive, all while -the clamor and threats from downstairs rumbled as from the cages in a -menagerie, and in the psalm's ferment rose to a howl, for a quarrel had -arisen between the parties, at the question of taking back the net by -force. - -The commissioner, who regarded churches as archaeological collections -or interesting pagoda buildings from past times was reminded -involuntarily of the utterance which a young clergyman let fall one -night when at a discussion of the Christian cult. - -"I do not believe in Christ's divinity and all that, but believe me, -the mob must be scared!" "The mob must be scared," repeated he to -himself silently, but dropped the thread immediately when he heard the -fray break out downstairs. Chairs were knocked over, heels were braced -and kicked against the furniture and roaring as from cattle was mixed -with hissing as from reptiles while during all this a woman's voice -sputtered and produced several hundred words a minute. - -At this instant the steamer whistled, weighed anchor and hoisted sail, -the smokestack sent a soot cloud toward the blue summer sky. It was -with a feeling of regret and anxiety that he saw the steamer and its -beautiful cannon disappear southward; he felt as though he had lost a -support and as if the hate closed round him like a sack, he would flee, -out, anywhere. - -Now a child cried, if from fear or pain he could not hear, for under -the tumult he had stolen down the staircase and reached the harbor, -cast off his painter and rowed out from the land as quickly as he could. - -The rock he was in quest of was the eastern-most of a little -archipelago, which he had never paid attention to before, but now for -the first time when in need to be alone, he sought it. A hater of -strong body movements, which he found partly superfluous while there -existed locomotion by machinery, and partly detrimental to his nerve -and thought life for the fine tool which the brain capsule enclosed -could just as little stand jars as the house where the astronomer's -instruments of precision are kept. He had never learned how to row but -his sense of time and his well-weighed motion centers made him at once -a clever oarsman, and his studies of physics taught him how to improve -the old invention so that by raising the seat he economized arm power. - -As he now saw the skerries receding from the stern of his boat he began -to breathe easier, and when he shortly landed on the first rock he was -seized by an irrepressible feeling of happiness. It was a sunny, long, -low islet whose strand rocks of gray gneiss formed a little harbor -into which the boat sped. The water near the beach was transparent -as condensed limpid air, and the soft color of the kelp shone at the -bottom as though molten into a mass of glass. The stones on the beach -lay washed, dried and polished, offering a variation in colors that -never tired, for there were no two alike, while between them the velvet -grass and sedges had sought hold for their tufts. Slowly the ledge -rose upward and in depressions in the moss lay the mews' eggs, three -by three, coffee brown with black spots, while their owners cried and -cawed above his head. He climbed higher up to where a pile of stones -had been laid up by marine surveyors, and were whitewashed by the -gulls, mews and terns. A few juniper bushes spread out as carpets -and beneath them a profusion of the white, subtle star flower had -improvised its bed, a connection of Middle Europe's highlands and the -shade of northern forests. - -The little turnstone daring and gay fluttered uneasily around the -disturber of the peace to mislead him from her nest. - -Not a shrub, not a tree pointed over the half naked ledges, and this -absence of shadows from coverts, gave the visitor a lighter and gayer -mood. Everything was open, overlooked at once, sunlit on this ledge -of rock, and the water which separated him from his lately left home -among the savages, seemed to surround him with an insurmountable limit -of pure transparency. The half arctic, half alpine landscape with its -primeval formation refreshed and rested him. When he had become rested, -he took the boat and rowed on further. He passed three polished rocks, -resembling three petrified waves, naked as a hand, without a trace of -organic life and which only aroused a scientific, geological interest -concerning their origin; he grazed a flat rock of reddish gneiss; -on its lee side stood a hundred years' mountain ash, solitary, moss -bedecked, gnarled, and in its ragged trunk a white wagtail hatched its -brood for lack of rooftile or stone wall. The little charming bird dove -down among the strand stones and would make the foe believe that in no -wise there existed a nest or gray white eggs there. - -The solitary mountain ash stood on a grassy carpet of a few square feet -and looked so lonely, but so unusually strong in lack of competition, -and could better defy storm, salt water and cold than with jealous -equals wrangling over earth crumbs. He felt attracted to the lonely -veteran and longed, during a transitory moment, to raise a hut at its -feet, but he passed on and the feeling blew away. - -A dark cliff came to view behind the last point, it was coal black -from the volcanic mineral diorite, and, as he approached it, he became -depressed. The black crystallized mass seemed to have been cast up -from the sea bottom, and after hardening had come into a terrible -fight with water or a thundercloud and had cracked into eight parts, -which had afterwards been carried away by the sea and ice or dragged -down into the depth. Steep, perpendicular stood the black glittering -wall out along the little harbor, and when the boat landed below it -he felt as though he was down in a coal mine or a sooty blacksmith's -shop. It depressed and awed him, he climbed up on the cliff, there -rose as a landmark a pole with a white painted keg at the top. This -trace of human beings out here where no people were to be seen, was a -mixed reminder of gibbet, shipwreck, coal, a crude contrast between -the unmixed colorless colors, black and white, of barren violent -nature devoid of organic life, there being no lichens or moss on the -whole body of the rock; further, this carpentry work without vegetable -transition between primeval nature and human hand work, was irritating, -disquieting and brutal. In the great Sunday stillness he heard beneath -his feet, where stones had rattled down and formed a roof over a -crevice, how the long breakers sucked in half way under the point, and -pressed the air forward with muffled sound, then drew back again with a -hissing and hollow sighing. - -He stood a moment enjoying the oppression, while his thoughts wandered -back to old memories which always brought him loathing. He smelt coal -gas, saw manufactories, sooty, discontented people, heard machinery, -city rumbling and human voices, which spoke words that would eat their -way through his ears into his brain and sow seeds that would spring -up as weeds smothering his own sowing; transforming the field he had -cultivated with so much pains to a wild meadow like those of the others. - -He climbed into his boat and turned his back on the gloomy sight; again -he enjoyed the infinite purity of the waters, the empty blue which -like an unwritten slate lay soothingly before him, for it did not -raise any memories, develop any inspirations, or call forth any strong -sensations. And now when he approached a larger island, he greeted it -as a new acquaintance who should tell him something else and efface the -recent impressions. New points and rocks were passed, each offering its -surprise, its special physiognomy, often with such small differences -that it required a sharply trained eye to see them. These small -cliffs, which seemed so naked, so tiresomely alike when viewed from a -passing boat, offered at nearer view the most changeable scenery, just -as variance of the same coins only to the numismatist betray their -secrets. - -He now landed on a somewhat larger islet whose irregular jagged -appearance had allured him, especially when he saw protruding over the -tops of the rocks the crowns of trees with dense foliage. When he had -climbed up on the northern point, the black base of which was polished -smooth by the waves, he saw that the island was a cluster of at least -four others, that seemed to have been drifted together by different -winds, and by the congestion of different geological formations, -forming a whole conglomerate of landscape pictures, brought from every -zone. The northern part was composed of a cone of hornblende schist -which, down on the strand, was cleft in enormous blocks that had -fallen from the rocky wall, and was as yet unpolished by the water, -while between these cubes grew strangely, as though allured by secret -sympathy, an immense number of black currant shrubs, dusky in color -and harmonizing in tone with the black sparkling stones. It was so -unexpected to find these cultured deserters from the garden out here -in the wilderness that it appeared as a joke of nature, perhaps laid -in the bill of a wounded black-cock that had flown out here to die, -carrying the seeds of dawning culture. Farther up in the rock pile -stood a grove of deciduous trees with light verdure, but with cut tops -and white trunks, as though whitewashed with lime by fostering human -hand. He tried from a distance to guess their species, but they were -so different from all others he had seen in this latitude that his -thoughts revolved between acacias, beeches and Japan varnish trees, so -common in southern Europe, and when he finally heard the well known -rustle of the common aspen he would not believe his ears. He quickly -shunned a viper, which ran down between two stones like a stream of -water, and coming nearer, he saw that he had heard aright. It was the -slender and trim aspen of the groves and pastures, that the northern -wind, stony ground, drifting ice and salt water had pruned and trained -to this unrecognizable variety, and which in the battle against tempest -and cold had turned gray and lost its top, and therefore only consisted -of frozen sprouts that were continually shooting out indefatigably -renewing themselves, while the goats had peeled off the protecting bark -and let the sap run out. There was eternal youth in those soft light -green shoots on the gray whiskered branchless trunk, old age without -maturity, an abnormality which was refreshing because it was new and -transcended the banal. - -When he had climbed up between the sharp stones and reached the height -it was as if he had ascended a field in ten minutes. The region of -deciduous trees lay below him, and upon the plateau appeared already -the alpine flora, with the field form of the juniper, and close by the -veritable northern cloud berry in the white moss of the moist crevices, -and here and there the little civilized cornel, perhaps the only -Swedish shrub on the seaboard. He slowly descended the southern slope, -through cowberry and bearberry vines, hair grass, sedges, cotton grass -and springy mosses, until suddenly he stood on a ravine, where the -islet had cracked and formed a channel between the black rocky walls. - -With wild shrieks the saucy auks flew up as he stepped on a natural -stone bridge across the shallow channel, climbed another cliff of -lighter formations, and reached a new section of this wonderful islet. - -The light elegant eurite, in which faint rose-colored feldspar was -mingled with a delicate blue-green quartz while mica was only betrayed -through a glistening like microscopical hoar frost, gave the little -landscape a gay aspect, and being cleft infinitely, it offered sofas -and real armchairs at every step. A compact vein of granular white -limestone passed as a belt straight through the rocky mass, and the -fertile gravel from this which had crumbled from rain and frost, was -amassed below between the rocky walls. And here a ravine began to -present such an enchanting view that he stopped amazed and sat down on -one of the stone stools to enjoy the surprising fairy scenery. - -Before him, between the perpendicular walls whose bases disappeared -in the soil, there unfolded a grassy carpet interwoven with endless -flowers, choicer and more thrifty than those on the mainland. The blood -red geranium had stepped from the rock and sought moisture down here, -the honey white grass of Parnassus from the wet sedgy mead had here -met with the forest's blue yellow lily of the valley, and the southern -orchids, perhaps wind driven from the vineland Gotland, had fled here, -the hyacinth like orchis-sambucina, the pompous orchis militaris, the -stately cephalanthera, a kind of embellished lily of the valley, had -sought their nursery here in the forcing lime and moist sea air between -protecting walls in the most luxurious grass. - -And far in the distance the walls of the cliffs were hidden by birch -and alder trees, which rose modestly in the air without daring to raise -their tops to the wind; self-sown here and there stood the cranberry -trees in the midst of the grassy carpet, with their white snowballs -hanging to the grapelike leaf; the dark green buckthorn leaned like an -espalier against the precipice and its glossy leaves faintly reminded -of the orange so famed in song, but were more juicy, more varied in -color, finer in design and more delicate structure. - -It was a park with the characteristics of the mainland floating out -here, and when through a rent or depression in the rocks he saw a blue -horizontal streak of the sea, the contrast in the wonderful scenery -struck him. - -After he had sat a moment and listened to the chaffinch's spring -time song, which was interrupted by the gulls' and guillemots' caws -and shrieks, and he felt the solitude enwrap him like a slumber, and -when the birds for a moment were hushed and only the faint sea breeze -rustled in the birch tops without reaching farther down, he heard -unexpectedly a cough. He started and looked around but saw no trace of -man. - -The painful hollow sound from the chest of a human being in the midst -of this quiet nature awoke him suddenly and brought a disagreeable -feeling of loathing. Was it a lonely one like himself who sought -rest, or a nest plunderer? In either case he would free himself from -uneasiness, and find out who this was that disturbed him. Therefore he -climbed the rocky wall on natural steps in the limestone dyke and he -beheld now the third section of this polyp-like islet. Over a low stone -wall, apparently to protect the blooming field from grazing cattle, -he passed to a pine tree region on gneiss, walked under the branches, -trampled knee deep in ferns which formed an underbrush beneath the pine -trees and resembled dwarf palms but of fresher green and more elegant -foliage, while at their feet were seen the blushing strawberries. - -When he came up out of the ravine he saw a cove with rushes where some -abandoned pole hooks were driven in the mud. He stopped to listen, and -soon he heard a voice which came from the other side of the knoll. -It rang high and soft as a child's and sank again so that he thought -it was some young yachtsman who had ventured out here. But the words -fell so passively, attractively, winningly, and invitingly, and he was -surprised to hear a boy expressing himself in so careful language. The -vocabulary was small and the language was that of ordinary conservation -in cultured society, but without force or diversity of expression, -and the objects spoken of were called by incorrect terms. The speaker -talked about the verdure of the trees without naming them, called the -mews gulls, the chaffinch a bird, gneiss granite and the bulrush a reed. - -It might be a youth that insisted upon being heard and spoke so long -without allowing himself to be interrupted by the slow mumbling voice -of an old man, who every now and then muttered an objection or -information. Now the youthful voice laughed, a laughter without cause, -to judge from the conversation, a laughter to let the beautiful voice -be heard or show a set of white teeth, a laughter without merriment, a -succession of ringing sounds without other meaning than to jealously -divert the attention from something real, which would come between. A -signal, a bird call! There was no doubt, it was a young woman's voice. - -He stepped unresistingly up onto the last knoll after having felt -of his necktie and hat, and he now saw beneath him a picture, whose -details ever after remained in his memory. On a little upland meadow, -under a group of old white beam trees around a white linen damask -tablecloth, in the center of which was a butter dish of Kolmord marble, -surrounded by the contents of a lunch basket, sat an old lady with -beautiful gray hair and a well fitting gown, and close beside her stood -a fisherman in his shirt sleeves with a sandwich in his hand, while -before him stood a young lady holding in her hand a glass of beer, -which she with a merry curtesy and the ripples of a dying laughter on -her lips, reached to the embarrassed boatman. - -He was captivated at once by the young woman's looks, and although -his reflection at once whispered that she coquetted with the churl, -he felt an irresistible attraction in the dark olive complexion, the -black eyes, and the stately figure. It certainly was not the first -woman which had attracted him at once, but she belonged to that class -of women which never failed to attract him to them. The solitude and -absence of others was not the reason of the quick selection, because -he felt exactly the same as when he sought a color for a necktie and -after walking dejectedly from store to store without experiencing the -pleasant feeling that the article sought after would give, he finally -stopped before a show window where the right one was, and in the same -moment felt free from pressure as he quietly said to himself, this is -_the one_! - -After having hesitated a moment whether to step forward and introduce -himself, or turn back, he made a movement which betrayed him. The girl -observed him first, her arms fell to her sides and she looked with the -expression of a frightened child at the unexpected appearance, which at -once gave the intruder courage to step forward and reassure the group -with an explanation. - -Raising his hat with a low bow he stepped up to them. - - - - -CHAPTER FIFTH - - -Half an hour later the commissioner sat in the little company's -sailboat with his own dory in tow, he was already installed in the -position of guide to the two ladies, who had for their health sought -a resort for the summer on Fish Skerry and would consequently be -his neighbors. The conversation ran agreeably between the three new -acquaintances with a somewhat precipitate ardor to compete and show -their readiness and best side which is called forth in all who meet for -the first time. The one who made the least effort was the elderly lady, -who had introduced herself as mother of the young beauty. She seemed to -have reached a perfect harmony and resignation, worn off all corners -and was living in her memories and semi-indifferently regarding what -was going on around her, expecting nothing from others, prepared for -everything that life could offer her of good or ill and charming with -her even mild disposition. - -An affinity had already arisen between the young man and the young -woman, and she seemed to enjoy receiving, and he, who had so long -waited to give, felt his powers growing now that the long-accumulated -surplus had found an outlet. And he gave for half an hour with lavish -hand from all he had stored of information that could be of interest -to them who were unacquainted with the conditions which would surround -them for awhile. He delineated all the resources of the skerry and its -deficiencies, depicted the life very alluringly as it at this moment -appeared to him to become, now when he was no longer alone. And the -young woman, who had never seen the skerry, received her first actual -impression of the same from his description. In imagination she saw -the red cottage where she was going to live with her mother, so neat -and cosy just as he wished that she would see it in order to feel at -home and tarry there. While he spoke it seemed to him as though he -received in return something good and strong, as though he heard new -thoughts, new points of view spoken by her lips which stood half open, -not as though to swallow what he reached her, but as though they spoke -themselves, and when her two big, faithful eyes looked admiringly -and surprisedly up to him he believed that all he said was true and -felt with rising esteem for himself new powers awakened, and old ones -growing in strength and tenacity. He felt so really thankful when the -boat touched land, just as after having received benefices when in -need, that he involuntarily thanked them heartily as he helped the -ladies out of the boat and carried their heavy valises on shore. - -The young girl returned the politeness with "not at all," but as though -out of her treasures she had really given a trifle compared with what -she had in reserve. - -When the commissioner had escorted the ladies to their new home which -turned out to be Oman's cottage, the young girl broke out into a flow -of rapture, being still under the influence of Borg's enchanting -description. The dilapidated house had something unusually picturesque -in its exterior, for there was not a single straight line. Storms, salt -water, frost and rain had destroyed every straight outline, and since -the mortar had fallen from the chimney it looked like a big tufa. Still -more agreeably surprising was the really homelike interior with its -old-fashioned comfort. The two rooms were located one on each side of -the hall, with a kitchen between them at the end; the best room was -spacious, with dark brown paper, which from smoke and age had assumed -a pleasing, quiet, even brown tone with which every color harmonized. -The low ceiling, which left no vacant space to be peopled by fancies, -showed the beams on which rested the attic floor. Two small windows, -with panes about half a foot square discolored by age, allowed a view -of the harbor and the sea, and the mass of light from outside was -pleasantly subdued by the white lace curtains which protected against -glances from outside without shutting out the daylight, and hung like -light summer clouds down over balsam and geraniums in English faience -mugs with Queen Victoria and Lord Nelson in yellow and green. The -furniture comprising a big white folding table, a Gustavian bedstead -on which were piled numerous eiderdown beds, a white painted wooden -sofa, a clock of Mora make that struck the hours, a bureau of birch -with its mirror frame veneered with the root of the alder, draped with -a bridal veil and loaded with porcelain knickknacks. On the bureau -stood a mounted parrot under a glass case, and on the wall hung colored -lithographic pictures from the Old Testament, among which the two -over the bed seemed to have been placed with questionable purpose, -one representing Samson and Delilah in a very unveiled delineation, -the other was Joseph and Potiphar's wife. In one corner was an open -fireplace which occupied considerable space and would have been -dreadful had not the black gap been covered by a white draw curtain. - -It was homelike, idyllic and cleanly. - -The other chamber was like the first, but had two beds and a commode; -the floor was covered with a rag carpet which with its variegated -colors formed an album of memories, from grandfather's jacket, -grandmother's blouse, mother's cotton gown and father's pilot uniform. -There were the red garters of the girls and the yellow gallows of the -land-wehr boys, blue bathing suits of the summer guests, beaver and -corduroy, cotton and baize, wool and crash, from all fashions and -wardrobes, poor men's and rich men's. - -In this room stood a big white cupboard with fancy paintings on the -door panels, framed in ivy, wreaths painted with mosaic bronze, -wonderful small landscapes with dark blue coves, banks of rushes and -sailboats, trees of unknown species, from paradise or the carboniferous -age, turbulent seas with waves straight as furrows in a potato field, -a lighthouse like a column on a rocky ledge, everything as naïve as -a child's simple comprehension of rich nature's infinite variety of -shapes and colors, which only the highly trained eye can discern. - -In all this old-fashioned simplicity lay the essential part of the cure -for a tired brain, which would seek rest in the past. The worn movement -of the watch would lay unwound awhile and let the spring be relieved -of tension to regain its spent powers. The association with the lower -classes which did not entice to battle for the morsel of power, but -themselves involuntarily every day and hour reminded those of the upper -class of their dearly earned position, would diminish the stimulus -and quiet those desirous of power by the thought that there already -existed passed by periods. - -The commissioner had already prepared the minds of the visitors to -see and know all this, and neither of the ladies tired of expressing -their satisfaction with the new quarters and were so occupied by -investigating the location that they did not observe that their guide -had retreated to leave them undisturbed. - - * * * * * - -The commissioner sat at his window on this Sunday afternoon and watched -the two ladies put things in order down in their cottage. When he -followed with his eyes their soft, but irregular movements, it was to -him as though he heard music. The same modulations that a series of -harmonizing tones develop on the ear drum and communicate to the nerve -system, the same mild vibrations were now produced through the eye, and -rang through the white strings which stretched from the cranium shell -out over the sounding board of the chest and transmitted the vibrations -through the foundation of his soul. A feeling of general pleasure -streamed through his being, when he saw these women's hands moving in -waving lines, as they picked trifles from their trunks and laid them on -the table and chairs, the rising and sinking of the hips and shoulders -imperceptible to the untrained eye, but still so elastic. And when the -young woman passed through the room, there arose no straight line, no -corners or edges when she turned, no angles when she bent over. - -He was perfectly captivated in regarding this, so that for a moment he -did not notice the noise in the garret and the creaking of the stairs -and the raising of latches. - -He was deeply occupied regarding the young lady whose exterior seemed -to him perfectly beautiful except in one point, which deficiency he -would try and accustom his eyes not to see. Her chin was a few lines -too big and indicated a lower jaw unnecessarily developed in one who -had ceased to catch, hold and tear uncooked meat, and when he saw it in -profile he could picture the coming witch physiognomy, when the time -came that the old woman's teeth loosened, the lips sunk and formed an -obtuse angle and the nose dropped down over the prominent chin. But he -must overcome this reminder of a beast of prey, and he pursued her face -with his glance and reshaped it in his fancy, forced his eyes when they -were fixed upon her face to see it in its entirety. - -Now he heard footsteps and shouts down on the hill, and in a wild -rage Oman's wife appeared with a swarm of women, who were carrying in -triumph the rescued net down to the beach. - -He instantly felt his authority infringed on, and taking his hat -went down to the surveyor to demand his help as he was in the Crown's -service and in duty bound to assist him. - -In the room sat the custom house man at the coffee table, and as usual, -when Vestman was out fishing, he had his arm around the waist of his -sister-in-law. At the entrance of the commissioner he dropped his hold -and under influence of the fear of being discovered he showed a greater -officiousness than he otherwise would have done. He put on his uniform -cap and went out and in a hasty desire to be a just man he stormed -against the women and caught hold of the net. - -"Damned old women, don't you know it is penitentiary to break the -Crown's lock and seal!" - -The women answered in a chorus of imputations, which alluded to both -the commissioner and surveyor, the principal ones being that they did -not care and that the devil might take the Crown's lock and seal, and -that both gentlemen were of such characters that they could be put in -penitentiary at any time. - -Whereupon the surveyor became enraged and cried to a subordinate to -bring the sheriff. - -At the word sheriff the people gathered, crawled out of every hole and -corner like ants, when one scratches in an ant-hill. - -The people seemed ready at once to take part with the women, -threatening words were uttered. The commissioner found it time for -him to interfere to avoid coming under a subordinate's protection. -Therefore he went up to the crowd and asked what they wanted. - -But he received no answer, and turning to the women he spoke to them in -a polite but stern manner, saying: - -"As I before informed you, the Reichstag or your own elected -representatives decided for the sake of your children and descendants -that the fishing must be protected through prohibiting the use of such -implements as spoil it without bringing you any advantage, and when you -have had three years to wear out your old nets, but are still making -new ones against the law, I have in the name of the Crown been forced -to confiscate the unlawful implements. Nevertheless and in spite of -the statute law you have broken the Crown's lock and seal, which can -be punished with penitentiary. Still I will use clemency instead of -justice if you comply and obey, therefore I ask you for the last time, -if you will willingly give back the nets." - -To this the women answered with new shriek and a new shower of epithets. - -"Well," finished the commissioner, "as I am not a policeman, and you -are the multitude, I beg the custom house surveyor to send for the -sheriff and his assistants and at the same time I will solicit an -order from the provincial governor to arrest Oman's wife." - -As he spoke the last word, he felt two soft, warm hands grasp his right -hand, and two big childish eyes looked into his, while a falling voice -like that of a mother who begged for the life of her child, said: - -"In the name of Heaven have compassion on a poor unhappy woman and -don't do her any ill;" it was the supplication of the young girl who -had at the beginning of the scene come out of the cottage. - -The commissioner would free himself and turned away from the big eyes, -whose glance he could not endure, but he felt his hand clasped harder -and finally pressed against a soft bosom, heard words in melting tones, -and, completely vanquished, he whispered to the beauty, "Let me go and -I will drop the whole affair." - -The girl loosened her hold, and the commissioner who made his plan -in half a minute caught the surveyor by his arm and led him up to -the custom house cottage, just as though he would give him some -orders. When they reached the door, the commissioner said shortly and -decisively as though he had come to a new conclusion. - -"I shall communicate with the provincial governor myself in writing. -However, I thank you for your assistance." - -Thereupon he went up to his room. - -When he was alone and had collected his thoughts, he was obliged to -acknowledge that his last act had been dictated by lower motives, as -his sexual impulses had prevailed to such a high degree that he had -been fooled into an act contrary to the law, for one could not speak -of pity, for people who were comparatively well off, as they were -owners of houses, fishing grounds, boats and implements valued at many -hundreds of dollars, also owners of seal rookeries and bird islets, -and, besides, paid taxes on capital and a few small places that they -rented out. The false idea that a woman had vanquished him, however, -did not hold a place in his thoughts, for he knew very well, conscious -as he was in all points that he had fallen by his own propensity or -interest to gain something from this woman. But before the throng of -people his authority was ended, his reputation shaken and hereafter -there would not be an old woman or a boy but felt themselves above him. -This, to be sure, might be immaterial for it made no difference to -him whether he had power or not over these poor wretches. What seemed -worse to him was that this woman whom he now felt he must be bound to -in order to be happy, should from the first moment inure herself in the -belief that she had gained a conquest of him and thus the equilibrium -in a future union would be disturbed. - -He had had many fancies for and engagements with women before, but his -distinct consciousness of man's superiority over the intermediate form -between man and child, which is called woman, had made it impossible -for him to conceal it long, and therefore his engagements had had but -short duration. He would be loved by a woman, who should look up to -him as the stronger, he would be the adored, not the adorer, he would -be the main trunk on which the frail shoot should be grafted, but he -was born at a period which was full of spiritual pestilence, when -womankind was devastated by an epidemic mania for greatness, produced -by degenerated, sickly men, and by political pygmies, who were in need -of the masses to vote. Therefore he had been obliged to live alone. -Well he knew that in love, man must give, must let himself be fooled -and that the only way to approach a woman was on all fours. And he had -crawled at intervals, and as long as he crawled everything had gone -well, but when he had finally straightened up, that was the end of it, -always with a multitude of reproaches that he had been false, that he -had dissembled submission, that he had never loved, and so on. - -Moreover, as a possessor of the highest intellectual enjoyments, and -feeling himself an exceptional being, he had not harbored a lively -desire after the lower affections, never desired to be the supporter -of a parasite, never longed to feed competitors, and his stronger self -had rebelled against being the instrument of propagation for a woman's -lineage, the rôle he had seen most men of his age play. - -But now he stood in just such a dilemma again, to assimilate a woman by -allowing himself to be assimilated. To dissemble or let his exterior -express what he did not feel, he could not, but he had a great ability -for adapting himself to his associations, and comprehending other -people's way of thinking and suffering, for he had never found in -the lives of others anything but past stages that he himself had -lived through, and consequently he had only to draw from memory or -experience, letting go his hold, and diminishing the tension onward. He -had always found pleasure in woman's company as a rest and diversion on -exactly the same ground and from the same reason that keeping company -with children makes one grow younger and is a strengthening amusement, -when it is not continued too long or becomes an effort. - -Now he had felt the desire growing in him to own this woman, but -notwithstanding he was an investigator and knew that man was a mammal, -it was perfectly clear to him that human love had developed as -everything else, and has taken up the elements of a higher spiritual -quality without leaving the sensual foundation. He knew precisely -how much of unsound heavenliness sneaked in with the reaction of -Christianity against the purely brutish, should be eliminated, and -he did not believe in a primness which conceded matters that could -not be shown, just as little as he admitted that the only purpose of -the conjugal state was the bedfellowship. He wished for an intimate, -complete union as to body and soul, where he as the stronger acid -would neutralize the passive base, but not as in chemistry form a new -neutral body, but, on the contrary, would leave a surplus of free acid, -which would always give the union its character and lie in readiness -to neutralize any attempt of the combination to liberate itself, for -human love was not a chemical union, but a physical and organic, which -resembled the former in certain respects without being identical -with the same. He did not expect any augmentation of his own self, -no addition to his strength, only an increase of his vitality, and -instead of searching for a support he offered himself as a support to -learn his strength and feel the enjoyment of measuring out his power, -strewing with open hands his soul without being weakened thereby or -made destitute. - -During these thoughts he glanced out of the window and saw at once what -he sought, for the young girl was standing on the door stoop receiving -hand shakings from women and men, patting the children on their heads -and seemed overcome by feelings, which so much public sympathy had -aroused. - -"What a peculiar sympathy for criminals," thought the commissioner; -"what a love for the mentally poor! And how well they understood each -other's propensities, which they boasted of as feelings and which they -believed to be something more than clear, mature thoughts." - -The whole scene was such a tangle of absurdities, that it could not be -cleared, reflecting the chaotic in the first weak attempt at reasoning, -by these brains and spinal cords. - -There stood she who had fooled him into violating the law, and received -worship like an angel. Even now if his violation of the law was from -their point of view a fine noble action, then he who gave pardon -instead of justice ought to have the thanks. The opinion of the horde -was that he should not, for they well knew that the motive for his -action was not kindness towards them, but perhaps tender feelings for a -young girl, gallantry, or the hope of winning her. Yes, but the motive -for her appearance might then be to gain the good will of the crowd, to -become beloved and popular, and receive hand shakes; the horde here -played the same role as the society of the ballroom, the promenaders on -the street or in the square. And she had fooled him through personal -contact, innocently, perhaps, possibly with calculations, probably half -of each, to commit a weak action, for which she was worshiped. - -But now he must win her, therefore he pocketed all of his reflections; -he saw in an instant that through this medium he could pass his ideas -and schemes down to the horde, that through this conductor he could -move the masses and force upon them his benefactions, make them his -vassals, and that he could afterwards sit and smile like a God at their -foolishness, when they believed that they themselves had created their -happiness, but were only pregnant with his thoughts, his schemes, were -eating the dregs from his great brewage, the strong malt drink which -would never reach their lips. For what did he care if these deserted -skerries supported a half starving, superfluous population or not. What -compassion could he feel for his natural enemies who represented the -inert mass, that had lain smothering his life, impeding his growth, who -were themselves lacking in every trace of pity for each other, and who -with the fury of wild beasts persecuted their benefactors whose only -revenge was new benedictions. - -It would be his great and strong enjoyment to sit unobserved, regarded -as an idiot, and guide these peoples' fates, while they believed that -they had subdued him, cut off his connections, tied his hands. He would -strike them with blindness, pervert the vision of the fools, that they -should believe themselves to be his superiors and he their servant. - -While these thoughts gathered and grew into a strong decision, there -was a knock at the door, and at the Commissioner's "come in," the -surveyor appeared to deliver an invitation to tea from the ladies. - -The commissioner accepted it, and sent his thanks. - -After he had arranged his toilet and thought over what to say and what -not to say, he went down. - -On the porch he was met by Miss Mary, who with an excessive warmth took -his hands and pressed them, saying with emotion: "Thanks for what you -did for the poor woman! It was noble, it was grand!" - -"No, madam, it was neither," replied the commissioner hastily; "for on -my side it was a bad action which I regret and it was dictated only -from politeness to you." - -"You malign yourself from pure politeness, and I should appreciate much -more a little sincerity," replied the lady, and at the same moment the -mother appeared. - -"Oh! You are a good child," interrupted the mother in a tone of the -most immovable conviction, and bade the commissioner step into the best -room where tea was ready to serve. - -To avoid engaging in an endless conversation he went in. He saw at a -glance how the plain furniture of the fisherman's cottage had been -mixed with remnants of worn city luxury. On the bureau had been placed -alabaster vases yellowish from age, photographs in the windows between -the flowers; on one side of the fireplace stood an arm chair with -figured cretonne and brass tacks, a few books on a center table round a -parlor lamp. - -It was neatly arranged, but with a careful mathematical exactness, -everything symmetrical but still a little awry and askance where it -was intended to be straight. The tea set of old Saxony china with -gold edges and cherry red monograms was cracked here and there and -the teapot cover had been mended with clasps. After he had studied -the portrait of the deceased father of the family without daring to -ask what position he had held, he saw that he had been a government -official, and he understood that here was _pauvres honteux_. In further -looking around the room, he noticed a knapsack left under a table and -bearing a tag which indicated that the old lady was the widow of a -councilor of the exchequer. - -At first the conversation touched the objects that presented themselves -to the eyes, and then passed on to the event of the day, coming -finally to the people. The commissioner saw at once that the ladies -were interested in the affairs of other people and lived in a morbid -uneasiness for the welfare of the lower classes. As he had observed -that his sincerity had offended and the purpose of his visit was not -to hurt their feelings by giving them his ideas, he laid to and let -himself drift. Sometimes his resentment was aroused and he would -venture a little remark or information, but he felt at once as though -soft hands were placed on his mouth, and round arms wound about his -neck, so that the words were smothered. Besides, the views here were -so rooted, everything so fixed, and all questions settled, that they -only smiled in a friendly way, with mild forbearings, when they read -a doubt in him regarding their axioms. Then the conversation turned -to the moral and spiritual condition of the population, and here the -commissioner perfectly agreed with them. He delineated with fervor the -rudeness of the forenoon with its drunkenness and fray, pitying the -want of enlightenment, and finally narrating scenes which betrayed -complete paganism. He spoke of how the fishermen cast offerings on -stones, loaded their guns with lead from church windows, how they -talked about Thor's bucks when it thundered, and of Oden's wild hunt -when the gray geese came in the spring, and how those on the inner -islands let the magpies destroy the chickens for the people did not -dare to tear down the nests from fear of unknown avengers. - -"Yes," completed the old lady, "it isn't their fault, and if they were -not so far from the church, it would be entirely different." - -Thither the commissioner's thoughts had not gone, but in an instant he -saw what a great power he would get as an ally, and developing the seed -of thought he had got in the morning from observing the divine service -on board the navy steamer, he burst out with real rapture: - -"Well, but one can build a meeting house at small cost. Just think of -it, if I should address a letter to the Home Mission Institute." - -The ladies embraced the subject with the greatest ardor and promised -themselves to write to that institution and some societies and -projected a fair, but recollected that here was no dancing public. - -The commissioner removed all difficulties by offering to advance the -money and provide the building, which could be bought ready made at -the factory, if the ladies would only find a preacher. "Yet," added -he, "one ought to select for this place now at the beginning, one of -the stern kind, who can lay hold of the people and produce a revival -movement of the most earnest nature, for no half measures will do here." - -The ladies made mild objections and recommended charitable means, but -the commissioner showed, how fear was the elementary foundation on -which to build a first education; afterwards one could come with love. - -A great common interest had welded these souls together, while -they overheated themselves at the great fire of love, and worked -themselves up to an overflowing omni-benevolence towards every living -thing, pressed each other's hands and separated with blessings and -congratulations that fate had brought together three good people, who -would work unanimously for the good of humanity. - -When the commissioner came out, he shook himself, as though to clear -off some dust, and felt as when he had visited a flour mill, and taken -delight in seeing all objects coated with the soft, white tone of -flour, which harmonized Iron, wood, linen and glass in one accord, and -the same feeling of subdued pleasure as in touching locks, banisters -and sacks powdered with a soft dust of flour, but had at the same -time found it hard to breathe, obliged to cough and to take out a -handkerchief. - -Nevertheless it had been a pleasant evening. This imperceptible -radiation of warmth from the mother which thawed the frigid thoughts, -this atmosphere of cordiality and childishness in the young woman, -which made him grow young again, this childish belief in that which -in his youth was the naïve idea of the day to lift up that which -was cast down, to protect what was dwarfed, sick and frail, all of -which he now knew was directly against everything that could promote -humanity's happiness and increase, and which he hated from instinct, -when he saw how all strength, every burst of originality was persecuted -by the unfortunate. And now he would form an alliance with them -against himself, work to his own destruction, lower himself to their -level, dissemble feeling for the enemy, bestow the war cash on the -antagonists. The thought of the enjoyment these proofs of power would -give intoxicated him, and he turned his footsteps towards the beach -that in the solitude he might recall himself. And when he now in the -still, mild summer night wandered on the sand, where he recognized -his own footsteps from previous days, where he knew every stone and -could tell where this or that herb grew, he noticed that everything -looked differently, had assumed a new form and gave entirely different -impressions than when he had walked there the day before. A change had -occurred, something new had intervened. He could no longer evolve the -great feeling of solitude, where he had felt as though alone before -nature and humanity, for somebody stood at his side or behind him. The -isolation was abolished, and he was soldered to the little banal life, -threads had been spun round his soul, considerations began to bind -his thoughts, and the cowardly fear of harboring other thoughts than -those his friends harbored clutched him. To build happiness on a false -foundation he dared not, for if he had it all hewn even to the ridge -pole it might sometime tumble, and then the fall would be greater, the -grief deeper, and still it must come to pass if he would own her, and -that he would do with all the mighty power of a mature man. Lift her -up to him? But how to do it? Not that he could make her from woman to -man, or redeem her from the uncurable propensities her sex had given -her. Not that he could give her his own education which had taken him -thirty years to acquire, nor could he give her the same evolution he -had passed through, the experiences and the knowledge he had battled -for and won. Therefore he must sink down to her, but the thought of -this sinking tormented him as the greatest possible evil, as sinking, -going down, beginning over again, which besides was impossible. It only -remained for him to make himself double, split himself in two, create -a personality, intelligible and easy of access to her, play the duped -lover, learn to admire her inferiority, get used to a role as she liked -to have it, and so in silence live the other half of his life in secret -and to himself, sleep with one eye and keep the other open. - -He had mounted the skerry without observing it. And now he saw the -lights down in the fishing village and heard wild shrieks, the cries -of jubilee over the beaten foe, who would raise their children and -their children's children from poverty, save them labor, give them -new enjoyments. Once again there awoke in him the desire to see these -savages tamed, to see these worshipers of Thor kneeling for the white -Christ, the giants falling before the pale Asas. The barbarian must -pass through Christianity as a purgatory, learn veneration for the -power of the spirit in the frail bundles of muscles, the remainder of -the wandering tribes must have their middle age before they can reach -the renaissance of thinking and revolution of action. - -Here should the chapel be raised on the highest ridge of the skerry -and its little spire point upwards over the look-out and flag pole to -greet the sailors at long distance as a reminder of.... Here he stopped -and reflected. With a look of scorn on his pale face, he bent over and -picked up four gneiss scales, which he laid in a rectangle from east -to west, after having measured thirty steps in length and twenty in -breadth. - -"What an excellent landmark for the sailors!" he thought as he -descended the hill and went home to bed. - - - - -CHAPTER SIXTH - - -The commissioner had confined himself to his room two days to work, -and when on the morning of the third day he went out for a stroll on -the beach, he met by chance the widow of the deceased officer of the -exchequer. She had an anxious look, and when the commissioner inquired -after her daughter's health, he learned that she was indisposed. - -"It is lack of entertainment," said he at random. - -"Yes, but what shall one do in this solitude?" responded the anxious -mother. - -"The lady must go out to sea, fishing and yachting and get exercise," -prescribed he without thinking of what he said. - -"Oh, yes," continued the mother; "but my poor Mary cannot go alone." - -As there was only one reply, he answered: - -"If it would please the ladies to have my company I shall be glad to be -of service to you." - -The mother found him very good and accepted the offer, saying that she -would at once tell Mary to dress. - -The commissioner went down to the harbor to outfit the boat, and on the -way his steps began to falter, as though going down hill, where the -weight pushed him faster than he would go. He felt reluctant at having -been so suddenly put in motion by an outside power, before he had had -time for deliberation, and now he would make resistance but could not. -It was too late and he let himself drift, conscious that nevertheless -he would always tend the rudder and determine the course. - -He had hoisted the jib on his Bleking boat, shipped the rudder and -loosened the bowline ready to be cast off, when Mademoiselle and her -mother appeared on the beach. The girl was dressed in an ultra-marine -blue gown with white trimmings and wore a blue scotch woolen cap which -was very becoming and gave her something of a boyish, brisk expression, -totally unlike the angelic one she had shown a few days before. - -As the commissioner greeted her and asked after her health, he offered -his hand to help them on board. The girl took the outstretched hand -and with a light bound was in the boat, where she was placed in the -stern at the tiller, but when afterwards the same hand was reached to -the mother, she explained that she could not accompany them as she -must prepare the dinner. The commissioner, who was suddenly surprised, -felt again the desire to make resistance against this soft power -which led him where he would not go, but was kept from doing so by the -fear of seeming ill-bred; so after a short regret that he must spare -the agreeable company of the mother, he threw off the bowline and -commanding Miss Mary to throw over the tiller, he put the main sheet in -her hand and hoisted the sail. - -"But I cannot manage a boat," cried the girl; "I have never had my hand -on a tiller!" - -"It is no art! Do only as I tell you and you will at once be able to -navigate a boat," replied the commissioner as he placed himself in -front of the girl and helped her with the maneuvering. - -A light soft breeze was blowing and the boat glided out of the harbor -with the wind abeam. - -The commissioner held the jib sheet and began by instructing the -beautiful navigator, grasping every now and then her wrists and -pressing the tiller to windward, until they were clear of land, had -speedway and were lying on the tack they were to keep to until they -reached the skerries. - -The responsibility, the effort and the feeling of controlling the boat -which held two lives, awoke the numb powers in the woman's frail form, -and her eyes which attentively followed the position of the sails were -glowing with courage and reliance, when she saw how the boat obeyed -the slightest pressure of the hand. If she committed a fault, he -corrected it with a kind word, gave her courage to continue by praising -her watchfulness, removed difficulties through explaining the whole -proceeding as something that clears itself. - -She was radiant with happiness, and commenced to talk of the past, of -her thirty-four years of life, how she had believed life and the desire -of living was past, how she felt herself young again, how she had -always dreamed of a life of activity, of manly activity above all else, -and to devote her powers to humanity, to others. She knew that she as a -woman was a pariah.... - -The commissioner listened to the whole as to well-known secrets, -formulas of an absurd struggle to make that equal which nature had -made purposely as unequal as possible, to spare humanity labor, but -to answer this now he regarded as without reward and he stuck to his -role as an appreciative listener, allowing her to give vent to her -diseased imaginations which the fresh wind would blow away. Instead -of taking out a knife and cutting off the tangled skeins which her -confused thoughts offered to him, he would simply pretend not to notice -them, but tuck them under and through gathering impressions which he -purposely developed, wind on the old tangles and use them as bobbins, -which should only serve as an underlayer for the new yarn, spun out -from his rich distaff. - -In haste he improvised a scheme, how using the material which the -skerries afforded for object lessons, he would in living pictures, -without her observing it, in a few hours let her pass through -sensations which she should believe came from without, and in such a -manner he would smuggle his soul's net over her, and tune her strings -in harmony to his instrument. With a movement of the head he now -signified that the boat should tack, he slacked the sheet a little, and -the boat cleared land and dashed out on the open sea. The wide horizon, -the infinite sea of light where no object intervened, threw a light -over her beautiful face, the small lineaments were as magnified, half -perceptible wrinkles were smoothed out, the whole expression assumed -the character of freedom from daily cares, paltry thoughts, and the eye -that in one moment could overlook such a big part of the earth's body -seemed to see on a grand scale, so that the little self swelled and -felt its relative power, and when now the long sea waves slowly raised -and lowered the boat in powerful rhythm, he saw how transport was mixed -with a grain of fear, which kept it in check. - -The commissioner, who observed that the grand scenery did not fail in -its impression, concluded now to place the text under the frail music -of the swells of the senses, and guide her dawning thoughts out on the -great highway, he would loosen the tegument on the swelling seed, so -that the plantlet would push out. - -"It has the effect of a planet!" improvised he. "The earth, the banal, -the tiresome, the moldy, becomes a celestial body. Do we not feel as -though we were already participants of heaven, when the opposition -is dissolved, the false opposition between heaven and earth, which -are one, like the part and the whole. Don't you observe how you grow -instead of shrink when you outwit the wind and make it take you to the -right when it wants to go to the left? Don't you feel what great power -is within you, as you ride upon a wave, when it with a thousand pounds -of weight would press you down into its depth? He, who is supposed to -have created the wings of the birds, and who needed fifty thousand -years to make a flyer out of a creeper, was less quick than he who for -the first time put canvas on a pole and instantly invented navigation. - -"Is it then so strange if man created God out of his own image, -conceiving from his ingenuity one still more ingenious?" - -The girl having listened attentively to his effusion, regarded his -face uninterruptedly as if she had turned her own towards a fire to -warm it. The unusual words she heard seemed to have sunk into her -mind and acted as a leaven. Benumbed, lulled by the soft, persuading -intonation, she received without deliberation the new views he gave to -her previously lifeless and monotonous landscape, of the origin of life -and its meaning, and without seeing that her own religious conviction -was buried before dissolution, she took up the new and piled it upon -the old. - -"I never before heard anyone speak as you do," she said dreamily; -"speak more!" - -He kept silent and with a new motion he gave the boat another course. - -They approached Svartbodan's sinister volcanic formation. The black -sparkling diorite with its death-white landmark, called "the white -mare," looked still more strikingly awful in the sun's rays, which in -vain tried to lighten the extreme tones of its black and white. - -A cloud passed over the girl's face, her expression shrunk, the -eyebrows contracted in rolls as though they would drop down and shut -out the depressing picture. A visible movement on the tiller signified -that she would fall off from the skerry, but he gave the boat its -course forwards, and with the wind's compressed power sped it into -the ravine between the black cliffs where the sighing waves sucked it -forwards. - -It became silent in the boat, and the commissioner would not try to -guess at the gloomy recollection that awoke in his companion, but -limited himself to pointing to the bleached white skeleton of a long -tailed duck, which was still left on the black ledge. - -And the wind took the sails again, filled them and wafted the boat out -onto the open sea. - -They passed the rock with its single mountain ash and its wagtail and -approached Sword Island where he for the first time had seen her. -There they landed and he guided her the same way that he had passed -that Sunday morning, and let her receive the same impressions that he -had felt, led her down into the blooming field and showed her where, -looking between the wild buckthorns, he had seen her for the first time. - -She was now in a wanton mood because all these small observations, even -the details of the circumstances, had remained in his memory and must -signify that he was smitten. She laughed when he spoke of the first -time he had heard her cough, and in a playful humor she told him to go -down to the same place and speak and she would guess who it was that -spoke. - -He obeyed, and jumping down from the rocky footstool placed himself -behind the white beam trees and imitated the bellowing of a bull. - -"Nay, how beautiful he can sing," joked the girl. "It is surely a -Hottentot actor." - -The commissioner, who found pleasure in her childishness and had -not played with children for many years, continued the role and -stepping out on the green field with his coat turned inside out -and the lorgnette hanging on one ear, he improvised a savage dance -accompanied by a song that he had heard Hottentots sing in the Jardin -d'Acclimatation. - -The girl seemed both surprised and amused. - -"Do you know," said she, "I much prefer you like that when I see that -you can be human for a moment and put aside that philosophical face?" - -"Is a Hottentot then more of a human being in your eyes than a -philosopher?" let fall the commissioner, but at once regretting that -he had aroused her to consciousness, he broke a branch from the white -beam tree, and wove a wreath and gave it to the girl who had become -sober when she saw she had betrayed herself by committing such extreme -stupidity. - -"Now you shall wreathe the victim, Miss Mary," said the commissioner as -a cover. "I wish instead of one I were a hundred and permitted to go as -a hecatomb to the slaughter for you." - -Kneeling he received the wreath from the pacified beauty, whereupon he -started on a run towards the beach with the girl after him. - -Down at the water's edge they stopped. - -"Shall we throw skipping stones?" proposed she. - -"If you please," answered he and selected a flat stone. - -They threw stones out over the water a few moments until they became -warm. - -"Shall we take a bath?" suddenly exclaimed the girl, as if she had for -a long time hatched the thought which must now come out. - -The commissioner did not know where He was, whether it was a joke or a -project coming in earnest, with the mental reservation of keeping on -part of the clothing, or for one of the parties to withdraw. - -"You take a bath and I will go on farther," he found this the only -thing to answer. - -"Don't you bathe then?" asked the girl. - -"No, I have no bathing suit with me," answered the commissioner; "and -besides, I do not bathe in cold water." - -"Ha, ha, ha!" rang a cold, disagreeable, scornful laugh from the girl's -throat. "You, afraid of cold water," sneered she; "perhaps you cannot -swim?" - -"Cold water is too coarse for my fine nerves. If you will take a cold -bath here I will go to the northern point and take a warm one." - -The girl had already pushed off her shoes and throwing a look of -disdain and injured vanity at him, she said: - -"I suppose you cannot see me from there?" - -"Not unless you swim out too far," answered the commissioner and went -away. - -When he had reached the northern slope of the islet, he searched for -a cleft in the rock, which was protected from the northern wind by a -rocky wall about fifty feet high. The black hornblende gneiss was as -polished as agate by the waves and curved in frail delicate rolls which -resembled the muscles of the human body and clung to the bare feet soft -as a bolster. No breath of wind reached here, and the sun had burned -six hours against the dark ledge so that the air was heated several -degrees above body temperature, and the stones almost burned beneath -his feet. He had been down to the boat and brought an ax with which he -now cut oft the driest heath and sand oats and made up a blazing fire -on the rock; in the meantime he undressed. When the fire had quickly -burned out he swept the ledge clean as a baker's oven, and with a -bailer poured the crystal sea water over the heated stones and let the -vapors lap his nude body. Then he placed himself in one of the arm -chairs which the sea had sculptured from the cliffs, wrapped a blanket -round him and with his knees crouched under his chin shut his eyes and -seemed to fall asleep. But he did not sleep; he used this method as -he called it to wind himself up and for a few moments let his brain -rest and resume its elasticity. For it was too much of an effort to -fit himself into companionship with the confused thoughts of others. -His mechanism of thought suffered by contact with others, so that it -wavered and became unreliable as the compass needle in the presence -of iron. Each time he would think clearly about something or form a -conclusion, he placed his soul in harmonious numbness by a warm bath, -extinguished consciousness in a half slumber for a brief moment by -not thinking, during which time all the received observation material -seemed to become melted, and afterwards when he extinguished the fire -and awoke himself to consciousness the alloy welled up. - -When he had sat a moment and the sun had warmed him through, he -suddenly arose and stood as though awakened after having slept a whole -night. His thoughts labored again, and he looked happy, just as though -he had solved a problem. - -"She is thirty-four years," he thought; "this I had forgotten under the -impression of her youthful beauty, therefore this chaos of past stages, -these parts of roles she has successively played in life, this mass of -shifting reflexes from men that she had tried to win and fit herself -to. Now lately she must have been wrecked in some love affair. _He_, -who had held together all these rag pieces of a soul, had turned aside, -the sack had rent and now the whole thing lay as a pile of ragpicker's -rubbish. She had shown sample pieces of the romantic parsonage of 1850 -with a regurgitation from the beginning of the century for saving -humanity, zealous faith from 'The Dove's Voice,' and 'The Pietist's' -streams of conjuncture, cynicisms from George Sand and the androgynal -period. To search the bottom of this sieve through which so many soups -had passed, to solve the enigma which was not one, he was too prudent -to spend time on. Here only remained to pick out of the heap of bones -that which was suitable to form the skeleton, which he would afterwards -cover with living flesh and blow his breath into. But this she must not -observe for then she would not permit it. She must never see how she -was held by him for that would only raise hate and resistance. He would -grow underneath the ground as the rhizome, and graft her on himself -that she would shoot up, show herself to the world and bear the flower -which humanity should admire." - -Now he heard the mew's cry and understood that she had swam out from -shore. Therefore he dressed quickly and after he had gathered up his -belongings he took from under the sheets of the boat material for a -small breakfast and laid it out on the moss under an arborescent pine -which resembled an Italian stone pine. - -There was not a great variety, but everything was costly, choice -and served on the remnants of a collection of porcelain which he -at one time had begun to gather. The butter shone egg yellow in a -serpentine dish with screw cover that stood in a fragment of Henry -II faience filled with ice, the crackers lay on a lattice-braided -dish of Marieberg and the sardels were on a saucer of blue mottled -Nevers. Fear of the general banality breaking forth in arts, industry -and daily life, had urged the owner to the modern search after the -unusual, the dreadful triviality of the present age and its hate of -originality had forced him like so many others into superrefinement -to try to save his personality from being ground among the bowlders -in the big glacial flow. His finely developed senses did not search -after frugal beauty in shape and color, which so easily grows old; he -would see history and memories of exploits from the world in that which -surrounded him. This fragment of Henry II faience, with its cream white -pipe-clay incrusted with red, black and yellow, aroused memories of -the beautiful Loire landscape with its renaissance castles, while its -ornamental bookbinding style reminded of Madame Hélène de Genlis and -her librarian, who together with a potter pressed out a style, purely -personal, which still could not escape the coloring of the century of -chivalry, when beauty in life was venerated and even the trade was -subordinate to science and art, realizing the advantageousness of a -system of intellectual rank. - -When he had spread breakfast and looked at his work it was to him as -though he had placed a piece of culture up here in this semi-arctic -wilderness, sardels from Brittany, chestnuts from Andalusia, caviare -from Volga, cheese from the Gruyère alps, wurst from Thuringia, -crackers from Britain and oranges from Asia Minor. There was a flask in -basket work of Chianti wine from Tuscany to be served in goblets with -Frederick I's monogram in gold. All were topsy-turvy without a savor of -collector or museum; there were slight touches of color thrown in here -and there, like flowers pressed as souvenirs between the leaves of a -guide book but not in a herbarium. - -Now hearing the voice of the girl cry from her bathing place a halloo, -he answered, and immediately she stepped out of the shrubs, straight, -brisk and radiating with health and the joy of living. When she saw -the breakfast spread she raised her cap jokingly with a bow, impressed -against her will by the aristocratic in the arrangement. - -"You are a wizard," said she; "permit me to bow!" - -"Not for so little," answered the commissioner. - -"Yes, you indicate that you can do more, but to rule nature as you -lately chattered about, that will be beyond you," opposed the girl in -a superior motherly tone. - -"My lady! I did not express myself so categorically; I only reminded -you that we have partly learned how to subdue the powers of nature, -by which we are partly controlled--observe the little important word -partly--and that it is in our power to both change a landscape's -character and the whole soul life of its inhabitants." - -"Good! Conjure up an Italian landscape, with marble cottages and stone -pines, out of this dreadful granite _paysage_!" - -"I am certainly no juggler, but if you challenge me I promise you by -your birthday, in three weeks to transform this fresh piece of nature, -whose equal you may search after through all Europe, to a treeless, -scorched cabbage landscape to your taste." - -"Well! Let us wager! And if after three weeks I lose, what then?" - -"Then I win--but what?" - -"We will see then!" - -"We will see! But will you attend to my duty during that time?" - -"Your duty! What is that? To lie on the sofa and smoke cigarettes?" - -"Yes, if you can as I attend to my duty on the sofa,--with pleasure. -But you cannot do that and now you shall learn the reason and meaning -of my stay on this skerry! But first take a glass of wine with your -wurst!" - -He poured a glass of the dark red Chianti wine and passed it to the -girl who emptied it at a draught. - -"You know," began the commissioner, "that my official commission here -at this fishing port is to teach the population how to fish." - -"It must be a nice one, you who brag that you have never had a tackle -in your hand." - -"Don't interrupt me--I shall not teach them how to fish with tackle. -You see, things are thus, that these lingerers are conservative as all -rabble--" - -"What language is this?" interrupted the girl again. - -"Plain language! However! From indiscretion and conservatism these -aboriginals go on undermining their own interests as fish eating -mammals, and therefore the state must place them under guardians. The -stromling--God bless the fish!--that constitutes the most important -livelihood of these autochthones, threatens to come to an end. -Certainly I don't care at all, if a few hundred ichthyophageus more -or less increase or diminish a superfluous horde of people, it is -completely Immaterial. But now they shall live since the Academy of -Agriculture wishes it, and therefore I shall hinder them from fishing -their scanty supply. Is this acknowledged logic?" - -"It is inhuman, but you are made of material for a hangman!" - -"For this reason I have on my own accord, without asking for the -decoration of Vasa or any kind of thanks, found out a new means of -sustenance which shall replace the old, for even if the stromling -should shoal for half a man's age after the fishermen have emigrated, -still this means of sustenance is threatened by a competition, which -after a hundred years of rest has again arisen more formidable than -ever. Do you know that the herring will return to the coast of Bohus in -the fall?" - -"No, I haven't had any letter from them for a long time!" - -"They do so at any rate. Therefore we must stop the stromling fishing -and fish for salmon instead." - -"Salmon? In the depth of the sea?" - -"Yes! It shall be found there, although I haven't seen it. Yet you -shall find it out!" - -"But if it isn't there?" - -"I told you that it was there! You shall only catch the first one and -then salmon fishing is open." - -"But how do you know salmon exists when you haven't seen it?" argued -the girl. - -"By a mass of investigations too complicated to explain in -conversation, partly done at sea.... - -"Only once!" - -"I work as quickly as twenty, thanks to my superior -intelligence--partly on my sofa but mostly in books. Anyway, will you -insist to destroy the people, first with salmon and afterwards with a -mission house which you have forgotten?" - -"You are a demon, a devil!" exclaimed the girl between scorn and -earnestness. - -The commissioner, who only from a caprice had turned into skepticism, -and now saw that just this made the most impression, found it best to -continue this role. - -"Surely you do not believe in God?" asked the girl with an air, as -though she would eternally despise him if he answered in the negative. - -"No, I do not." - -"And you would be an Ansgarius and introduce Christianity on the -skerry?" - -"And the salmon! Yes, I will be a demoniac Ansgarius! But will you -also let down the salmon trawl and be blessed by the revisors of the -Reichstag?" - -"Yes, I shall work for these people whom I believe in, I shall devote -my feeble powers for the oppressed, and I shall show you that you are a -blasé, a roué and a scorner.... No, you are not, but you make yourself -out worse than you are for you are a good child anyway, I saw that last -Sunday...." - -She said a good child, as if with a sure calculation that he would snap -at the bait, and place himself under her care as the child, no matter -whether a good or bad one. But now he had already formed a fancy for -the demon as being superior and more interesting, therefore he held to -the more grateful task. Surely he knew from experience that the easiest -way to insinuate oneself into a woman's favor was to let her play the -mother with all the freedom changed to intimacy, but it was a worn-out -play and could so easily lead to an inextirpable hectoring on her part. -Better then to give her the more grateful part of a redeemer, where -nothing that was absolutely superior entered, only the mother of God's -intervening purpose, where she was mediator between two equally strong -powers. - -But the transition was not easily found, and in a moment of loathing -at the whole play, which was still necessary if he would win her, and -that he would, he pretended to go down and see if the boat was safely -moored, as a breeze was beginning to blow. - -Upon reaching the beach he drew a long breath as though he had been -exerting himself beyond his strength. He unbuttoned his vest as though -he had been wearing a coat of iron, and cooling his head he threw a -longing glance out over the free water. Now he would have given much -to have been alone, to shake off the chaff which had fallen upon his -soul during his contact with a lower spirit. In this moment he hated -her, would be free from her, own himself again, but it was too late! -Cobwebs had fastened to his face, soft as silk, slimy, invisible and -impossible to remove. At the same time--when he turned back and saw her -as she sat peeling a chestnut with her long fingers and sharp teeth--he -was reminded of a mandrill he had seen in a menagerie, and was seized -with an infinite compassion, and a wave of sadness, such as the more -fortunate feels when he looks upon the lowly. He immediately thought -of her delight at seeing him as a Hottentot, and became vexed again, -but calming himself with the self-possession of a man of the world he -approached her, and to speak the first cloaked word he reminded her -that it was time to go, as the wind had risen. However she had observed -the tired and absent-minded look upon his face and with a sharpness, -which completely calmed his feeling for an instant, she responded: - -"You are tired of my company! Let us go." - -When he did not answer with a courtesy, she resumed with feeling, which -it was difficult to judge whether real or pretended. - -"Excuse me, I am naughty! I have grown so, and I am ungrateful! Never -mind it!" - -She wiped her eyes and began with a house-wife's trained care to put -the dishes together. - -And now, when she bowed down, leaning over the remainder of the -unwashed dishes with the tablecloth tied round her waist for an apron -and started to carry the service to the beach to wash it, he hastened -to relieve her of the load, urged by an irresistible desire not to see -her in a servant's place, and feeling the sting of being served by one -whom he would raise far above himself at the same time she was to look -up to him as one that had granted her the power over him. - -At this pretended combat that arose over which one should serve the -other, the girl dropped the dishes. She gave a cry, but when she looked -at the pieces, her face cleared up. - -"Fortunately they were all old! My God, I was so frightened!" - -He suppressed his paltry thoughts of the loss by at once placing -himself on the side of her who had had the misfortune, and glad to have -a noisy ending to the various feelings that rent him, he threw the -shivers of porcelain like skipping stones out over the bay and rounded -off the pointed situation with a jocose, - -"Now we do not need to wash dishes, Miss Mary!" - -Whereupon he reached her his hand and helped her into the boat, which -was already pulling at the painter under the increasing dash of the -waves. - - - - -CHAPTER SEVENTH - - -A bright, sunny summer morning the commissioner is sitting with his -pupil up in the wooden pavilion, which he has had set up on the highest -point of the skerry close to the newly laid foundation of the mission -house. Down in the harbor lies a schooner, from which the frame for -the new building is being unloaded and carried up to its place to be -joined together by the foreman and his laborers. Therefore it has been -unusually lively on the skerry for some time and small skirmishes have -already arisen between the fishermen and the city workmen, in which the -latter have treated the former with insolence, which has given rise -to a series of feasts of atonement followed by drunkenness and new -frays, attacks of immorality and appropriation of other's property. -Therefore the commissioner and the elderly lady have a momentary -regret at having undertaken the civilization of these people, when the -first steps already showed such a sad result; so much more so as the -nightly noises, singing, crying and complaining disturbed all work and -all rest for them, who had come out here solely for the purpose of -seeking quiet. The commissioner, who had lost all reputation by once -yielding a little of his authority, could not restore the peace, but -Miss Mary on the other hand succeeded better and understood how by a -prompt appearance, and a good word now and then, to suppress the storm. -This she would not impute to her beauty and agreeable manner; she had -credited herself with a higher degree of strength and understanding -than she possessed, and thus imbued herself in the belief of having an -unusual faculty of mind, so that even now, when she sat as a pupil with -her teacher, she received his instruction as though she were already -acquainted with them, and answered with remarks more pointed than -sagacious, seeming to correct and explain rather than to learn. - -The mother, who was sitting beside her embroidering an altar cloth for -the new mission house, seemed occasionally amazed at her daughter's -penetrating insight and great knowledge, as she with a simple question -nonplussed her teacher. - -"See here, Miss Mary," lectured the commissioner, always deceiving -himself with the hope of being able to educate her; "the untrained -eye has a propensity to see everything simple; the untrained ear to -hear everything simple. You see here around you only gray granite, -and the painter and the poet see the same. Therefore they paint and -depict everything so monotonously; therefore they find the skerries so -monotonous. And yet, look at this geological map of the surroundings -and then throw a glance out over the landscape. We are sitting on the -red gneiss region. Look at this stone you call granite, how rich is the -variety; it is the baking together of the black mica, the white quartz -and the pinkish feldspar." - -He had taken a sample from the pile which the foundation layers -had blasted from the skerry and laid in a heap for the building's -foundation. - -"And look, here is another. It is called eurite! See what fine shades -of color, from salmon red towards flint blue. And here is white marble -of primeval limestone." - -"Is there marble here?" asked the girl, her imagination stirred at the -mention of this valuable stone. - -"Yes, there exists marble here, although it looks gray on the surface -without being gray. For, if you observe it closer you will find what an -infinite variety of color there is in the lichens. What a scale of the -finest colors from the ramaline lichen India-ink black to the crottle's -ash-gray, the ground liverwort's leather-brown, the parmelia lichen -seal-green, the tree lungwort's spotted copper-green and the wall moss -egg-yellow. Look closer out over the skerries as they are now lit by -the sun, you will see that the rocks have different colors, and that -the people who are used to seeing them, even give them names after -the scale of colors, which they are acquainted with without knowing -it. Do you see that the Black Rock is darker than the others, because -it consists of the dark: hornblende; that the Red Rock is red, because -it is composed of red gneiss, and the white skerries of clean washed -eurite? Is it not more to know why, than to know that a thing is so; -and still less to see nothing but an even gray, as the painter, who -paints all the skerries with a mixing of black and white? Hear now the -roaring of the waves, as the poets summarily call this symphony of -sound. Close your eyes for a moment and you will hear better while I -analyze this harmony in simple notes. You at first hear a buzzing which -resembles the noise heard in a machine shop or a big city. It is the -masses of water dashing against each other; next you hear a hissing; -it is the lighter, smaller water particles which are lashed to foam. -And now a grating as of a knife against a grindstone; it is the wave -tearing against the sand. And now a rattling like the dumping of a -load of gravel; it is the sea heaving up small stones. Then a muffled -thud as when you clap the hollow of your hand to the ear, it is the -wave which presses the air before it into a cavern; and lastly this -murmuring as from distant thunder, it is big bowlders, rolling on the -stony bottom." - -"Yes, but this is to spoil nature for us!" said the girl. - -"It is to make nature intimate with us! It gives me composure to know -it, and thereby frees me from the poet's half-hidden fear of the -unknown, which is nothing else than memories from the time of savage -fiction, when explanations were sought but could not be found quickly; -and in the emergency the fable of the mermaids and the giants was -caught at. But now we pass on to the fishing, which shall be retrieved, -leaving the salmon for some other time, and try new methods for -stromling fishing. In two months the great fishing begins, and if I -have not calculated wrongly it is going to be a failure in the autumn." - -"How can you foretell that from your sofa?" asked the girl more -cuttingly than inquisitive. - -"I foretell it by the facts that I have seen--from my sofa--how the -drifting ice in the spring scraped the shoals clear of kelp and -other algæ, in which the stromling go to spawn. I foretell it by the -scientific fact that the small crustaceans--no matter what they are -called--on which the stromling feed, have stayed away from the banks -since the seaweed was scraped away. What shall we do then? We shall try -to fish in the deep water I If the fish don't come to me then I must -go to the fish. And therefore we shall try with nets drifting after a -floating boat. It is simple!" - -"It is grand!" said Miss Mary. - -"It is old," protested the commissioner, "and it isn't my discovery! -But now we shall as prudent beings think of a last resort, for even if -we get stromling and don't get a price for it on account of herring -being caught again on the west coast, we must have something else In -readiness." - -"It is the salmon?" - -"It is the salmon, which must be found here, but I haven't seen it." - -"You have told me this much before, but now I should like to know how -you can know it." - -"I shall reduce the fraction and in a few words tell the reason of my -stay here. The salmon wander as do the other migrating birds." - -"The salmon a bird?" - -"Certainly, a perfect migratory bird. It is to be found near the rivers -of Norrland, and has been caught twice in nets round the islands of -the north passage. It has been taken near Gotland and in the whole -southward passage; therefore it must pass by here. Now it is your task -to trace it out with floating trails. Have you the desire to do it, in -the capacity of my assistant, to obtain my salary?" - -The last word came suddenly, but with calculation, and did not fail in -its intent. - -"I shall make money, mamma," cried Miss Mary in a playful tone, -intended to hide the joy she really felt. "But," added she, "what will -you do then?" - -"I shall lie on my sofa, and spoil nature for you." - -"What are you going to do?" asked the mother, who believed she had not -heard aright. - -"I shall make an Italian landscape for Miss Mary," answered the -commissioner, "and now I will leave you, my ladies, and make the -sketch." - -Therewith he arose and making a polite bow walked down to the beach. - -"He is an odd being," said the mother, when the commissioner was out of -hearing. - -"An unusual being at the least," answered the girl; "but I don't -believe he is perfectly sane. He seems to have principles, and on the -whole is a kind man. What have you to say about him?" - -"Hand me my yarn, child," said the mother. - -"No, but say something ... tell me whether you like him or not," -continued the girl. - -The mother only answered with a half sad and half resigned glance, -which expressed indifference. - - * * * * * - -Meanwhile the commissioner had gone down to the harbor and taken his -boat to row out among the skerries. The summer heat had lasted out here -a month, so that the air was hot; but drifting ice still coming from -the north, where an unusually severe winter on the coast had caused -bottom freezing, was now drifting southward, cooling the water, so -that the lower air strata had greater density than the upper ones. -The consequent refraction disfigured the aspect of the skerries and -had caused the most magnificent mirages during the past few days. -This scenery had given rise to long continued disputes between the -commissioner and the ladies in which the fishing population had been -summoned as judges, being the most competent because they had seen -these phenomena of nature from childhood. And when on a morning the -light red gneiss skerries through refraction stretched upwards and -by the varying density in the strata of air seemed stratified as -the cliffs of Normandy, Miss Mary argued that it really was those -limestone cliffs, which were reflected as far up as the Baltic Sea, -through a law of nature still unsolved by science. At the same time -the white swell of the breakers in the strand stones was magnified -and multiplied through refraction so that it really looked as though -a flotilla of Normandy fishing boats were beating the wind under the -cliffs. The commissioner, who had tried in vain to give the only -correct explanation, in order to take away the supernatural, the -more so as the people saw in the phenomena predictions, of course, -of coming misfortunes; belief In ill luck, which acted as a damper -on their enterprise, now found himself obliged to appear first as a -wizard to win the ear of the populace, with the intention, however, to -subsequently remove the mystery by telling them how he made his magic. - -Therefore he asked the believers, whether they would also believe -themselves to see a mirage of Italy, if they should see an Italian -landscape, and when they answered, "Yes," he decided to combine the -useful with the pleasant and by a few small changes fulfil his promise -to form an exotic landscape for Miss Mary's birthday, so that by the -next mirage it would loom up against the horizon on a grand scale when -seen through the colossal magnifying glass, that the different density -of the air strata afforded. - -Sitting in his boat, he aimed towards the Sword-islet with his diopter, -the lenses of which he had considerably increased in power. Now the -first question was how to get the most characteristic features of the -formation, viz., the stratified rocks, to come forth, and this nature -had partly done. After this he needed a stone pine, a cypress, a marble -palace and a terrace with oranges on espaliers. - -After scanning and outlining the skerry, he had the scheme clear and -soon landed with his boat in which was stowed a crow bar, a ship -scraper, a roll of zinc wire and a bucket of yellow ocher with a -big tar brush, besides an ax, a saw, nails and a stock of dynamite -cartridges. - -When he had landed and packed up his belongings, he felt himself a -Robinson Crusoe, who had taken up a battle with nature, but much -sharper and surer of victory as he had brought along the means of -culture. After he had placed the plane table on a tripod and upon this -the alidade, he started to work. - -The mountain ridge, whose tilted folds happily imitated the southern -sedimentary strata, needed only to be scraped so as to remove the -lichens, where there were any, leaving some horizontal stripes darker -than the folds. It was not heavy work; the ship scraper glided over the -smooth surface as a retouching brush on the scene painter's big canvas. - -Sometimes he felt with disgust that he was throwing time and power away -on childish things, but the bodily exertion sent the blood to his head, -so that he saw small things bigger than they were; felt something of a -Titan, who stormed the universe, corrected our Maker's mistakes, and -wriggled the earth's axis so that the south came a little northward. - -After he had striped the rocky wall, for a few meters, which was all -that was needed as it was to be multiplied by the air strata, he went -to manufacture the stone pine. On the hillock's crest stood a group of -low arborescent pines, which together only miraged as the border of a -forest. The thing was to cut down half a dozen trees to isolate the -best one which would be silhouetted against the sky. - -To saw down the supernumerary trees was the work of half an hour. The -one that was left was slender with all its vegetative energy gathered -at the top, because the others standing so close had hindered the -formation of branches on the trunk. But now he must thin the crown with -an ax so that the characteristic umbrella frame with its ribs came -out. It was easily done, but when he afterwards looked at his creation -with the diopter he still saw that the style was not perfect and that -the top branches must be stretched upwards with zinc wire and the side -branches somewhat downwards and outwards. When the stone pine was -completed, he took a glass of wine and selected the material for the -cypresses. This soon presented itself in the form of a pair of pointed -junipers, which he only needed to select so that they rose against the -sky, and trim them with an ax and the knife. But as they were somewhat -too light, he took a pail of water and stirred some ivory-black in it -and sprinkled them with the wash until they had a perfect churchyard -green. - -When he contemplated his work, he became dejected, and recollected a -dark story of the girl who stepped on the loaf of bread; and when the -white mews gave forth dreadful cries above his head, he thought of the -two black ravens which came from heaven to take her soul down to hell. - -After he had sat a moment and the blood had returned to his brain, he -smiled at his work and at his childish fear. If nature herself had not -gone exactly so hastily to work with the origin of species it was not -lack of good will, only lack of ability. - -Now to make a marble palace; and as that had been his starting point -and he had planned it all at home on his sofa, this work was not more -difficult than the other. - -The limestone ledge stood perfectly vertical, ready for a facade; true -there were only a few square meters of it but no more was needed, and -it was only to loosen the eurite slabs, which from weathering had -cracked from the limestone. The crowbar proved sufficient at first, but -at the base he found it necessary to use a dynamite cartridge in the -crack. - -At the report of the cartridge and the raining down of shivers he felt -something of the poet's longing to dump all at once the ammunition of -the standing armies into a volcano and relieve humanity of the pain of -existence and the trouble of development. - -Now the marble slab was cleared and the crystals of the limestone -sparkled like loaf sugar in the sunbeams. With his paint buckets he -marked out a rustic base and outlined two small quadrangular windows. -On the rocky ledge above he drove two poles and laid a third one -across, tying them so that the whole formed a pergola. Afterwards he -needed only to lift up the bearberry vines, which were a couple of -yards long, and twine them round the poles; thus the grapevine was in -place, and hanging down in festoons. - -At last he retouched the soil with a gallon of muriatic acid diluted -with as much water, whereby a brilliant variegation of colors was -produced on the grassy carpet, to represent patches of Bellis or -Galanthus which flowers he had found characteristic of the Roman -Campagna at the coming of the "second spring" in October after the wine -harvest has ended. - -And therewith his work was completed! - -But it had taken him until evening. In order that the miracle should -have a proper effect there remained, however, to announce its -appearance in advance and best if he could predetermine the day. -He knew that there had been great heat in the south of Europe, and -therefore it would not be long before a north wind would come. It had -been from the east for some time now, while the barometric pressure in -the North Sea had been low. According to reports, drifting ice lay off -Arholma, and as soon as the wind would veer a few points to northward -the ice drift must follow the current which passes to the west of -Aland, where the Gulf of Bothnia empties into the Baltic Sea. If he -could only get a north wind in the evening of some day then he was sure -it would last a couple of days, and as it is always accompanied by -clear air he would be able to foretell the appearance of the phenomenon -at least one day in advance, and if he got that far it would be an easy -matter to tell the hour, for the mirage only appeared a few hours after -sunrise, usually between ten and twelve o'clock. - -As he entered his chamber, he locked the door to devote himself to -his work, his great work, which he had been planning for the last ten -years and expected to complete when he was fifty; this was the goal, -which had inspired his life and which he carried as his secret. He -enjoyed the thought of owning himself for a few hours, for during the -weeks which had passed since the arrival of the two ladies, he had -been occupied every evening with keeping them company, and that, which -should have been a rest and a pleasure, had become a constraint, a -labor. He loved the young girl and would live with her in wedlock, in -complete unification, when leisure moments would afford unpremeditated -confidences and rest; but this state of semi-familiarity where he -at fixed hours must appear whether he was disposed to converse or -not, pained him as a duty. She had caught hold of him and never -tired of receiving as he possessed the ability to be always new and -entertaining; but he who never received anything, could in time find -the need of renewing himself. But when he then stayed away, she became -uneasy, nervous and tortured him with questions whether she was too -importunate, to which he as a well-bred man could not answer in the -affirmative. - -Now he opened his manuscript case, where the cartons lay arranged with -notes, small slips of paper with improvised thoughts on observations, -stuck on half sheets as in a herbarium, and which it amused him to -arrange and rearrange after new classifications in order to find -out whether the phenomena could be arranged in as many ways as the -brain willed, or they really could be arranged according to only one -classification, viz., as nature had placed them, if indeed nature -in its operations had followed any particular law and order. This -occupation awakened in him the idea that he was the real arranger -of chaos, who separated light from darkness; and that the chaos -first ceased with the evolution of the discriminating organ of -self-consciousness, at a time when light and darkness in reality were -not yet separated. He intoxicated himself with this thought, felt -how his ego was growing, how the brain cells germinated, burst their -capsules, multiplied and formed new species of concepts, which should -in time crop out in thoughts, and fall into the brain substance of -others as yeast plants and cause millions after his death, if not -before, to serve as hot beds for his seeds of thought.... - -There was a knock at the door, and with an excited voice, as though he -had been disturbed in a secret meeting, he asked who it was. - -It was a greeting from the ladies and an inquiry if the commissioner -would come down. - -This he answered by returning his regards, but he had no time this -evening because he must work, unless some urgent circumstances required -his presence. - -There was silence for a moment. As he thought he surely knew what would -follow he left his interrupted work and placed his manuscript in order; -he had just completed this when he heard the mother's step on the -staircase. Instead of waiting for her to knock he opened the door and -greeted her with the question, "Miss Mary is sick?" - -The mother started, but recovered herself at once and asked the doctor -to come down and see her as it was impossible to get a physician. - -The commissioner was not a physician but he had acquired the elements -of pathology and therapeutics; had observed himself and all the sick -that had come within his circle; had philosophized over the nature of -diseases and their remedies, and finally, made up a therapy, that he -applied to himself. Therefore he promised to come in about half an hour -and bring the medicine with him as he heard the girl lay in convulsions. - -It certainly was not difficult for him to guess the nature of her -sickness. As the first messenger had said nothing about illness, it -must have occurred between the two messages and had been caused by -his refusal to go. It was a psychical indisposition, which he so well -recognized and which passed under the yet undefined name of hysteria. -A little pressure on the will, a thwarted wish, a cross plan, and at -once followed a general depression under which the soul tried to place -the pains within the body without being able to localize them. He had -so often seen in the pharmacodynamics beside the names of remedies and -their action small cautious remarks as "acts in a yet unexplained way," -or "action not yet fully known," and he believed that he had found by -observation and speculation, that just because of the unity of mind and -matter the remedy acted both chemico-dynamically and psychically at -the same time. Recent medical ideas had left out the medicine or the -material basis and assumed in hypnotism a purely psychical, or in diet -and physical exercise a vulgar and often detrimental mechanical method. -These exaggerations he regarded as necessary and beneficial transition -forms, although their trial had demanded its victims as, for instance, -when one with cold water excites a nervous person instead of soothing -them with warm baths, or tired out the weak with violent exercises in -the raw air. - -He believed he had found that the old remedies could still be of -service as a kind of instruction material, to use the popular -expression, in order to awaken and change impressions, and just as the -group of astringents really cause a contracting of the stomach, just so -do they cause a concentrating of the soul's scattered powers, which the -dissipated drinker knows from experience when he in the morning winds -up his run down movement with an "Angostura." - -This woman felt herself bodily indisposed without directly being so. -Therefore he now composed a series of remedies, of which the first -would cause a real physical ailment whereby the patient should be urged -to leave the sickly condition of the soul and localize it definitely -in the body. To this purpose he took from his family medicine case -the most nauseating of all drugs, asafoetida, which could best develop -a condition of general illness, and in such great doses that actual -convulsions would result; that means, the whole physique with the -senses of smell and taste should rise in revolt against this strange -substance in the body, and all the functions of the soul should direct -their attention to its removal. Thereby the imaginary pains would -be forgotten, and it would only remain then to cause in succession -transitions from the one nauseating sensation down through less -unpleasant ones, until finally the release from the last stage, by -means of an upward grade of cooling, covering, softening, mitigating -remedies, should awaken a complete sensation of vivacity as after -having passed through troubles and dangers, which are delightful to -recollect. - -After having dressed himself in a white sack coat of cashmere and tied -on a cream colored necktie with pale amethyst stripes, he for the -first time since the arrival of the ladies put on his bracelet. Why -all this he could not explain, but he did it under the influence of an -impression, brought from the sick bed he was to visit, and which he -produced in himself. And when he looked in the mirror without observing -his face, he noticed that his exterior gave a mild sympathetic -impression, but also with a touch of the unusual and that it would -attract attention, without exciting a nervous person. - -After this he collected his requisites like a magician who is going to -perform, and went to the sick bed. - -When he was shown into the chamber, he saw the girl lying on the sofa, -with disheveled hair and dressed in a Persian morning-gown. Her eyes -were unnaturally big and stared contemptuously at the intruder. - -The commissioner felt for a moment embarrassed, but only for a moment, -and then he stepped forwards and grasped her hand. - -"How is it with you, Miss Mary?" asked he sympathetically. - -She looked at him piercingly, as though she would penetrate him, but -did not answer. - -He took out his watch and, counting her pulse, said: - -"You have fever." - -Here he lied, but he must gain her confidence, that was part of the -cure. - -The expression on the girl's face changed immediately. - -"If I have fever! Oh, I believe I shall burn up!" - -She was allowed to complain, and the hostile mood against the visitor -had passed so that contact closing the current could occur. - -"Do you promise to obey my orders? If so, I will cure you," the -commissioner began, meantime laying his hand on her forehead. - -At the word obey he felt how the patient twitched as though she would -not obey at all, but at the same moment his bracelet slipped below the -cuff and the resistance of the imaginary sick ceased. - -"Do with me as you please," answered she submissively; meanwhile her -eyes were fastened on the golden serpent which fascinated her and -aroused her fears of something unknown. - -"I am no physician by profession, as you know, but I have studied the -art, and know all that is necessary for this occasion. Here I have -a drug which is very diagreeable to take, but is infallible in its -action. It is no secret and I shall tell you what I am giving you. This -is a resinous gum which is prepared from the root of a perennial herb -which grows in stony Arabia." - -At the word Arabia the girl listened, for it probably aroused some -thoughts of incense, which could not hide Lady Macbeth's foul crimes. - -Therefore she took the spoon and smelt of its contents; but at the same -moment she threw her head backwards and cried: "I cannot take it!" - -He placed his arm round her neck, firmly and gently, and reached the -spoon to her once more and coaxingly said: - -"Show now that you are a good child!" Thereupon he poured the drug into -her mouth, before she could make resistance. - -She fell backwards upon the sofa pillows and her body writhed under -the pains and nauseating effects which the resin with its smell of -white onion had produced, and her face expressed a horror as though -all things bad and disgusting in this world had piled upon her. With a -supplicating voice she beseeched him for a glass of water to free her -from her agony. - -This he would not give her; she must lie down and, whether she would or -not, submit to the disagreeable feelings the remedy caused. - -Now when he saw her melted by disgust, he took up his drug number two. - -"Now, Miss Mary, the wandering in stony Arabia's desert is ended and -you shall go up on the Alps and inhale the mountain air, concentrated -in the vigorous gentian's bitter root, yellow as sum light," said the -commissioner in an encouraging, manly voice. - -The girl received the bitter drug unresistingly and shrank as though -stabbed with a knife; but directly after she aroused as though her -scattered powers had rushed together and her energy had returned. -The violent remedy had taken away the previous obnoxious taste but -irritated the mucous membranes of the stomach by its sharpness, and -increased the pulse. - -"Now we shall put out the fire with quilts," continued the -commissioner. "And let us go to Brittany's seashore to fetch balsam in -the mild Carrageen alga. Do you feel how soft the mucilage lays itself -protectingly over the irritated lining of the stomach and do you notice -the odor of the sea salts?" - -A quiet calm spread over the patient's heated face, and as the -physician now considered her strong enough to listen to him, he began -with reminiscences of the coast of Brittany, the yachting on the -Atlantic, the life with the fishermen in Quimper, and the hunting for -seabirds at Sarzeau. - -She followed his narrative, but still seemed somewhat tired, so he -broke off and gave her a symphony, as he called it, which was composed -of the classical route, well known as the wine spice of bridal parties -in the Middle Ages; the heavenly Angelica, the spearmint with its -household odor and a little touch of _Carbenia benedicta_ to preserve -vigor, and a grain of juniper oil to tell of the forest. - -It was as though he rubbed her with impressions, snatched her away from -sickly thoughts by letting her travel in fancy from place to place; -make the tour of the whole old and new world, get visions of all kinds -of landscapes, all races of people, all climates. When she seemed tired -he gave her a spoonful of lemon juice with a little sugar, which cooled -and eased her, so that after a dreadful half-hour passed she received -this simple refreshment as a great enjoyment, that made her smile. - -"Turn now towards the wall," said the commissioner, "and pretend to -sleep for five minutes while I go out and speak to your mother." - -The commissioner, who felt his powers failing, was obliged to go out -into the fresh air to recover. And now he need only to throw a glance -out over the half lighted evening sky, out over the steel blue sea, -shut his eyes and try not to think, to feel, how the disordered, -brain regained its place again and continued its accelerating motion -forwards, after having been turned backwards awhile. - -While he stood thus with his arms on his chest, half asleep, he heard a -thought still buzzing in one ear: a child of thirty-four years! - -Thus he awoke and went into the cottage again. - -Miss Mary was sitting on the sofa with her hair loosened and thrown -gracefully around her, but otherwise looked perfectly well and cheerful. - -The commissioner took from his basket a bottle of Syracuse wine and a -package of Russian cigarettes. - -"Now you shall pretend you are well," said he, "and that we have met -after a long journey, upon which you shall drink a glass of sweet -Sicilian wine and smoke a cigarette, for it is part of the cure." - -The girl seemed to make an effort to hide her secret suffering, and -drank the wine while she kept her eyes on the bracelet. - -The commissioner broke the silence with, "You look at my bracelet?" - -"No, I did not," denied the girl. - -"I got it from a woman who of course is dead, as I have not returned -it." - -"Have you been in love?" asked the girl with a strong doubt. - -"Yes, but with open eyes! When one usually considers it commendable -to use sense, why quench it when one is going to take one of the most -important steps in life?" - -"So, one should be calculating in love?" - -"Strongly, incredibly calculating when it is to let loose one of the -wildest propensities!" - -"Propensities?" - -"Propensities! Yes!" - -"You don't believe In love?" - -"You propose questions which have no answer! Believe in love in -general? What do you mean by that? There exists a mass of species of -love, as much contrasted as black and white! I cannot believe in two of -them at the same time, or all of them at once." - -"And the highest species?" - -"The intellectual; in three stories but as the English house. Above is -the study, beneath the sleeping room and in the basement the kitchen." - -"So practical! But love, a great love, is not calculating, that I have -imagined as the highest, as a storm, a lightning stroke, a cataract!" - -"As a rude, uncurbed power of nature? So it appears to the animals and -the lower varieties of human beings...." - -"Lower? Are not all human beings alike?" - -"Oh, yes! All beings are alike as two berries, youths and old men, men -and women, Hottentots and Frenchmen, certainly they are alike! Look -at us two only! Perfectly alike, the only difference is that I have a -beard! Pardon, my lady, now I see that you have recovered I will leave -you. A pleasant sleep!" - -He had arisen and taken his hat, but the next moment the girl stood at -his side with both his hands clasped in hers and with the same glances -with which she for the first time had vanquished him, she begged him to -stay! - -Under these burning glances and hand pressures he felt something as he -thought a young girl might feel when she stood under the influence of -a seducer's passionate attack. He became perturbed and inwardly there -arose a feeling of violated bashfulness, and injured manliness. He -freed his hands, drew himself back and said in a calm voice, cutting in -its affected coldness: - -"Consider!" - -"Stay, or I shall seek you in your room!" rang the excited voice of -the girl, which seemed to imply a threat from which there was no appeal. - -"Then I shall lock my door!" - -"Are you a man, you?" rang the challenge with a hard laugh. - -"Yes, in such a high degree that I will be both the selector and -attacker, and I do not like to be seduced!" - -With this he went out and heard behind him a noise as from a human body -falling and striking against furniture. - -After he was out he felt like turning back, for through mental strain -he was in a condition of weakness that made him susceptible to -impressions of the sufferings of others. But after having been alone -for a few seconds and collected himself, so that his powers returned, -he firmly decided to break this engagement, which threatened to usurp -his whole soul-life; and in time cut off all relation with a woman, -who had showed so plainly that it was only his body she desired, while -she ejected his soul, which he would pour into this lifeless image of -flesh. She enjoyed the sound of his voice, but the thoughts she did -not receive only in such cases as when they were of direct benefit. -He had often caught her looking at the lines of his figure, and she -used sometimes thoughtlessly to grasp his arm whose swelling muscles -formed a ridge beneath the soft cloth. He remembered now these many -overtures at the bath, on yachting; on going up to the lookout, which -he never visited because it upset his nerve system to stand on a bluff -without sufficient support. And now this evening, when he had seen -this eruption of uncontrollable passion, he saw with fear that this -woman was not of the developed race, which could individualize its -love to a certain one, and that he to her only played the rôle of the -indispensable opposite sex in general. - -He had strolled down to the strand for a breeze, but the night was -sultry. The sea had ceased to roll, and in the northwest the heaven was -a faint melon color, while out in the east over the water rested the -night. The strand cliffs were still warm, and he placed himself down on -one of the many arm chairs, that the cold had blasted out and the waves -had polished smooth. - -The events he had just lived through passed before him, and now, when -his senses were cooled off, he saw them in another light. His dream had -always been that he should awaken a woman's love to such a degree that -she should come begging, crawling to him, saying, "I love you, deign -to love me!" Such was the order of nature, that the weaker approach -the stronger with a submissive mind and not vice versa, although the -latter still was the case with those who were living with a trace of -superstitious ideas about something supernaturally exalted in woman, -notwithstanding that investigation had made it manifest that the -mysterious was only confusion and the exalted only a collection of -poems by the suppressed desires of male propensity. - -Now she had come as he had dreamed it, the woman of the new time free -from prejudice, had shown all her inward incandescent nature, and he -had recoiled! Why? Perhaps tradition and conventional habits still -governed him! For there was nothing bold in her effusion, no trace of -the harlot offering, no immodest behavior or impudent mien! She loved -him in her way. What more could he desire, and with such a love he -could safely bind himself to her, for perhaps not many men could boast -of having lighted such a flame. But he felt no pride over having gained -her, for he felt his own value, and rather a pressing responsibility -which he would get rid of; and therefore he must depart from the island. - -In thought now he sat and packed his belongings. He gathered the things -from the writing table and saw the green empty spread, took away the -lamp that shed light in the evening and sparkled colors in the daytime, -and there was a vacuum. Stripped the walls of their pictures and -draperies, and the white, sad, mathematical figure came forth. He took -the books from their shelves, and the dreadful solitude faced him, -monotony, nudeness, poverty! - -And then came the fatigue from bodily efforts, fear of traveling and -its tiring effects; anxiety of the unknown where he now might be cast, -deprived of his accustomed surroundings and her company. And he saw -the young girl in her childish but still majestic beauty; heard her -complain, saw her whitened cheeks, which another would cause to blush -again as time passed. - -Thus he suffered all the pangs of separation through a whole quarter -of an hour, which had seemed to him as long as hours, when in the dusk -of the summer night, he saw a woman's figure up on the rock outlined -against the light sky. The splendid contours, that he knew so well, -assumed still nobler proportions against the now pale yellow sky, -which could just as well be the end of a sunset as the beginning of -sunrise. She seemed to have come from the custom house cottage, and to -be searching for someone. Bareheaded and with her hair still hanging -over her shoulders, turning her head to spy, she seemed suddenly to -discover what she sought, and with brisk steps she hurried down to the -beach where the object of her search was sitting, immovable, without -the power to flee, without the will to proclaim himself. And when she -reached him she fell down and laid her head in his lap and talked -wildly, modestly, beseechingly, as though she was annihilated with -shame without being able to hold her tongue in check. - -"Don't go away," sobbed she. "Despise me, but have mercy! Love me, love -me or I will go where I shall never return!" - -There now awoke in him the mature man's intense longing for love. And -when he saw the woman at his feet, it aroused the inherent chivalry -of man, who would see in its mate the mistress not the slave; and he -arose, lifted her up, placed his arm round her waist and pressed her to -him. - -"At my side, Mary, not at my feet," said he. "You love me, for you knew -that I loved you, and now you belong to me for life. And you will never -leave me alive, do you hear! For our whole life long. And now I place -you on my throne and give you the power over me and my belongings, my -name and my property, my honor and my actions, but if you forget that -it is I who gave you the power, and if you misuse or give it away, then -as a tyrant I will overthrow you to such a depth that you shall never -see the sunlight more! But you cannot do it, for you love me, is it not -true that you love me?" - -He had placed her on the stone stool, and kneeling he laid his head in -her bosom. - -"I lay my head in your lap," continued he, "but do not cut off my hair -meanwhile I sleep on your bosom. Let me uplift you but do not drag -me down. Become better than I am, for you can when I protect you from -contact with the world's corruption and misery, in which I must delve. -Ennoble yourself with great faculties which I do not possess, so that -we together shall become a perfect whole." - -His feelings began to take the cooler tone of reason and seemed to -quench her exaltation, so that she interrupted him by placing her -glowing face to his, and when he did not answer her caress, she pressed -a burning kiss on his lips. - -"You child," said she, "don't you dare to kiss when nobody can see it?" - -Then he sprang up, clasped her round the neck and kissed her throat -repeatedly until she freed herself from him with a laugh and stood -erect before him. - -"You are a perfect little savage," scolded she. - -"The savage is there, be careful!" answered he, and grasping her round -the waist they wandered onwards on the warm sands which whispered round -their feet. - -And now the lighthouse in the distance blinked, as the air had cooled -off and the dew had fallen. Out from the rookeries they heard the cries -of the seals as from the shipwrecked. - -They wandered an hour or more, and spoke of their first meeting, about -their secret thoughts from time to time; about the future, about the -coming winter; about traveling in foreign countries; meantime they came -out on the point where the pile of stones with a cross was selected in -memory of a shipwreck with loss of life. - -Suddenly they caught a glimpse of two shadows that sneaked away and -disappeared. - -"It is Vestman and his sister-in-law," said Borg. "Fie! If I were her -husband I would sink her!" - -"Not him?" came from the girl more hastily than she intended. - -"He is not married!" answered Borg shortly; "that is the difference!" - -There was a silence, a disagreeable silence, such as makes one seek -for a topic for conversation; and meantime whispered the thoughts, now -untied from the enchantment: and he already longed for the enchantment -again, for the intoxication, which blinded him, which turned gray to -rose color, which built pedestals; which placed gilded edges on cracked -china. - -At this they turned from the rocky wall to go home. The wind which had -been quite asleep, now began to waft against them and in his anxiety -the awakened lover felt how freshly it blew. It was the north wind -which he had waited for, and which he now greeted as a rescuer. For in -a second when the girl's contradiction in a serious matter had just as -though broken something in him, so that he felt that her being could -only be soldered to his, not melted together with it, unless he gave up -resisting and delivered himself to her wholly and fully, he now grasped -the opportunity to raise himself again without treading upon her. - -"Why do the people hate me?" asked he suddenly. - -"Because you are superior to them," slipped from the girl without her -observing the confession she made. - -"I do not believe it," answered he, "for their intellect is not -sufficient to value my superiority." - -"Their hate can pervert their vision!" - -"Superbly answered! But if they should see the miracle, would their -eyes open?" - -"Perhaps! If the wonder aroused fear." - -"Well, they shall have the miracle! To-morrow at ten o'clock it will -appear!" - -"What?" - -"That which I have promised you!" - -The girl looked into his face with amazement as though she did not -believe what he said. After which she laughingly interposed: - -"If it should be cloudy weather then?" - -"But it won't be," answered the commissioner with decision. "However, -now we have already come so far as to speak about weather, we can even -think of what your mother will say about us." - -"She won't trouble herself about it," answered the girl at once. - -"It is astonishing that a mother does not pay any attention to what man -her daughter is to bind herself in relationship, and whose name she is -to carry! Can that be immaterial to her?" - -"Good night, now!" interrupted Miss Mary and reached her mouth for a -kiss. "To-morrow morning you will come and visit us! Is it not so?" - -"Certainly," answered he, "certainly!" - -She walked away. - -But he still stood on the same place and saw her slender figure rise -against the now sulphur yellow sky as she stepped upwards on the -hillock, and when she came to the highest point she turned back and -threw a kiss to him, and then she seemed to sink behind the slope -until he only saw her head with its loose hair which fluttered in the -northern wind. - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHTH - - -When the commissioner sat the following morning at breakfast with his -betrothed, after having been received without comment as the future -son-in-law, he felt again the combined impression of a great calm at -having been received in a little circle, where common interests formed -a tie to unbounded confidence; and at the same time an anxiety over the -necessity of giving himself up for these manifold considerations which -sympathy and relationship bring. The past evening had rushed into his -life mixing great and small, as life offers it, his whole history of -love, which he had dreamed of with open eyes, had passed with his eyes -purposely blindfolded. He had closed his eyes to the girl's pretended -or imaginary illness; closed them completely, so that he had deceived -himself into taking it seriously; for if he had not done so, and -instead had said plainly from the first moment: rise up and be well, -you are only sick in imagination, then she would have hated him for -life; and his aim was to win her love. Now he had gained her love, -perhaps because she believed that she had deluded him; therefore his -love stood in direct relation to his credulity; and when now in the -morning he repeated to himself again and again the question: Do you -believe in your Mary? his rested reason translated it thus: Am I sure -I can delude you? No, there does not exist a love with open eyes; and -to gain a woman by frankness is impossible; to approach her with raised -head, and with plain words is to drive her away. He had begun with lies -and must go on with dissembling. However, now while the conversation -drifted between trifling things and effusive expressions of feelings, -it gave no time for worry, and the pleasure of being in a home between -two women made everything so bright and soft, that he delivered himself -up to the enjoyment of being the petted one, the child, the little one, -the son of the mother-in-law; and he did not observe that the daughter, -who had already outgrown her mother, treating her as though she the -mother was her child, by simple syllogism gradually took authority -over him, who called her equal "mother-in-law." It amused him, this -reversing of nature's order, and he had always before him the image of -the giant, who let the children pull out three hairs from his beard, -but only three. As they were sitting at their coffee and chatting, -there was heard a murmuring from the people down on the beach. - -From the window they saw them gathered on the landings, sometimes -standing immovable, with hands shading their eyes: sometimes rocking on -both feet, as though the ground was burning beneath them, or as if they -could not stand still from fear. - -"It is the miracle!" cried the girl, and hastened out accompanied by -her mother and her betrothed. - -Coming out on the slope the ladies stopped as though struck by fright, -when on this clear sunny morning, they saw a corpse-white colossal moon -rising above a graveyard with black cypress, floating on the sea. - -The commissioner, who had not calculated the effect at this point -of view, did not see quickly enough the relation of things, and -stood deathly pale from the shock which follows something monstrous -and unexpected in the otherwise law-bound nature. He hastened past -the ladies who stood petrified and unable to move, and came down -to the strand where the people were gathered. In a moment he found -the solution of the riddle. His intended marble palace had become -involuntarily framed between a projecting, rounded cliff on one side -and a pine top on the other, so that the limestone slab showed as a -round circle and, with the two windows which were too faintly painted, -it imitated the map of the moon's disk. - -The people who had been posted as to the exact hour when the miracle -would appear, as promised by the commissioner, regarded the approaching -man with frightened but venerating glances and the men contrary to what -had been their habit to him raised their hats and caps. - -"Now what do you say about my mirage?" asked he jokingly. - -Nobody answered, but the head pilot, who was the most courageous, -pointed northwest towards the heavens, where the real moon was hanging -pale in its first quarter. - -The miracle thus was crushing, and the strong impressions which the -two moons had already produced was too deep to be effaced with an -explanation. And when the commissioner made an attempt to the beginning -of which nobody listened and the people stood infatuated just as though -enamored of the fear of the inexplicable, he ceased trying to remove -their belief. He had wished to give them a proof that neither he nor -nature could break laws, and, nevertheless, chance had made him a -wizard. - -When he turned back he found his betrothed in an ecstatic state -restrained by her mother, but when he appeared, she freed herself and -falling on her knees she cried with half insane gestures, and words -which seemed to have been borrowed from some spiritualistic circle. - -"Mighty spirit, we fear thee! Take away our fear, that we may love -thee!" - -The case had already assumed a hazardous turn and the commissioner -tried with all his art to explain the involuntary miracle, but in vain. -The enjoyment of being infatuated, the numbness of fear and, behind it, -the lurking feeling of ambition not to admit the confusion of senses, -had so taken possession of the young girl's mind that no remonstrances -or assurances availed. The mother with her unchanging, even temperament -did not seem to know where she was and had forgotten the whole -phenomenon of nature through her daughter's disquieting behavior. - -But now the mass of people on the beach had, through Miss Mary's -cries and gesticulations, turned their attention from the performance -out on the sea towards her, and when they saw the young woman on her -knees before the white dressed man, with his deep dark glances and -bare head, out here on the rock, there must have passed before them -some reminiscences from the Bible history about a young man who did -miracles; for they crowded together in haste and began to whisper, -while at the exhortation of the head pilot one of the women hastened -into the nearest cottage and returned with a three-years-old child -which had a foul ulcer on its cheek. - -With the ability to call forth a mirage there should also follow a -supernatural knowledge of healing. - -The role which was thrown on the commissioner, began to trouble him -beyond measure, and when he saw the fishing population, pilots and -custom house men, leave their work, and carpenters and finishers leave -the building of the chapel to listen to his words as to prophesies with -miraculous power, he became afraid as though before a power of nature -that he had conjured up, but could not check. The moment, however, had -come when he must express himself exactly, plainly, and turn them away. - -"Good people," commenced he. But silently the reflection came: how to -go on, what words to use, when each expression required an explanation -which again presupposed foreknowledge, which was lacking. And during -the second he meditated over the distance that lay between him and -them, he heard steps approaching, and turning around, he saw a man who -resembled an old sailor on his leave. - -The man lifted a round felt hat and looked somewhat timorous at first, -but coming nearer he straightened himself up and was just going to say -something, when the commissioner relieved him from his embarrassment by -the question: - -"Perhaps you are the Home Mission preacher whom we expect?" - -"I am the same!" answered the newcomer. - -"Will you not say a few words to the people here, who are in a state -of tumult on account of a phenomenon of nature which they do not wish -to have explained and which I at this moment cannot elucidate"--the -commissioner grasped at this in his eagerness to get out of his false -position. - -The preacher at once declared himself prepared. Stroking his long chin -whiskers he took a Bible from his pocket. - -When the people saw the black book a tremor passed through them and -some of the men uncovered their heads. - -The preacher turned the pages a moment and finally stopped, cleared his -throat and began to read. - -"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a -great earthquake; and the sun became black as sack cloth of hair, and -the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, -even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a -mighty wind. And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled -together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. -And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, -and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, and -every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the -mountains. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide -us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath -of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath has come; and who shall be -able to stand?" - -The commissioner, who at once observed the dangerous turn the affair -had taken, had drawn his betrothed half forcibly from the dangerous -neighborhood, and got her down to the beach so that he could give her -the right views and show, that it was no moon which had fallen from -the heaven, that it was only the Italian landscape he had promised to -arrange for her birthday. - -But now it was too late. The girl's inner eye had already seen the -vision in its first form, and the preacher's exciting interpretation -had etched in that first delusion. He had toyed with the spirits of -nature, conjured a foe to help him, as he believed, and then all had -gone over to the foe so that he now stood alone. - -While Mary's glances were still riveted to the preacher on the rock, he -turned, as a trial, to the mother and whispered: - -"Help us out of this. Follow me out to the skerry and see that it is -only a plaything, a birthday joke." - -"I cannot judge in these things," answered the mother, "and will not -judge. But I believe ... that you should be married soon." - -It was an advice, sober, prosaic, but from this old lady, who was -herself a mother, it sounded so prudent, especially as it agreed -with his own sharp understanding, he found, however, the explanation -somewhat simplified. And after the hint he had received he went -straight to the girl, and placing his arm round her waist, looked into -her eyes with a smile, which she could not fail to understand, and -kissed her lips. - -At the same moment the girl seemed released from the wizard up on the -rock, and without resistance she clung to her friend's arm and followed -him almost dancing to her mother's cottage. - -"Thanks," whispered she as she glanced into his eyes, "I thank you that -you--how shall I say it?" - -"Delivered you from the hobgoblin," filled in Borg. - -"Yes, from the goblins!" - -And she turned to look at the passed danger. - -"Do not look back!" warned her betrothed as he pulled Mary through the -cottage door, while fragments from the preacher's flow of words were -wafted down to him by the wind. - - - - -CHAPTER NINTH - - -When the commissioner awoke one morning eight days later after a night -of perfect rest, his first clear thought was that he must leave the -skerry, go anywhere to be alone, collect himself, find himself again. -The preacher's arrival had the desired effect in one way, namely to -"scare the mob," so that the tumult and rudeness ceased; but on the -other hand the commissioner had not been able to enjoy the newly -gained peace, for the exalted condition of his betrothed obliged -him to keep her always in his sight. So he had accompanied her, and -formally guarded her from morning to night; and by endless talk upon -the questions of religion tried to keep her aloof from the preacher's -seducing talk. All these matters which he had fought through in his -youth, he now had to fight over again; and as new counter-proofs had -been brought forth since then, he must reedit his whole apology. He -improvised psychological explanations of God, faith, miracles, eternity -and prayer; and he imagined that the girl understood him. But when -after three days he found that she held the same position and that -this matter of feeling lay outside the conversation, he dropped the -whole subject and sought by awakening the erratical with its new sphere -of feeling to drive away the first. But this he must soon give up, -for to speak of that which should be lived only excited the girl's -feelings still more, and he soon observed that there existed secret -bridges between the religious ecstasy and the sensual one. From the -love of Christ she ran so easily over to love of the man on that broad -drawbridge the love of one's neighbor, and from abstinence one could -trip over the footbridge renunciation to its neighbor penance; a little -contention awakened the disagreeable feeling of debt which must be -resolved in a lustful feeling--the reconciliation. - -In his need he must first tear up the bridges, place her face to -face with carnal desire, awake her avidity for the temporal, which -he delineated in glowing colors. But when he had so succeeded -and retreated at the last moment, there arose the coldness of -disappointment in her, and when he then tried to cultivate her -feelings, and lead them out to the thoughts of offspring and family, -she withdrew and explained to him with determination, that she would -not have any children. She could even use a phraseology which is -current among a certain group of women, saying that she would not be -the womb which he lacked; or carry his heirs, whom she must with danger -to her life bring to the world for him. - -Then he felt that nature had placed something between them which he did -not yet understand. He consoled himself by imagining that it was only -the butterfly's fear to lay its eggs and die, the flower's suspicion -that its beauty would fade away with the setting of its seed. - -But he had worn himself out in these eight days; his fine wheels of -thought had begun to halt in their pivot holes, and the spring in the -movement had become relaxed. - -After such a day of exertion, when he would have worked for a couple -of hours, his head was filled with trifles. Small words repeated -themselves almost audibly to his ear; gesticulations and mannerisms, -that she had used in their conversation, miraged themselves, -suggestions how he ought to have answered now and then, and the -recollection of an appropriate repartee which he had made gave him a -momentary pleasure. In a word, his head was full of bagatelles, and now -he observed that he had tried to straighten out a chaos; that he had -conversed as a schoolboy instead of exchanging thoughts with a mature -woman; that he had given out from himself masses of power without -getting anything in return; that he had placed a dry sponge in the -center of his soul, and that the sponge had swelled, while he himself -had become dry. - -He loathed everything; was tired, and longed to get out for a moment; -for be free forever he could not. - -When he now looked out through the window, about five o'clock in the -morning, he saw only a dense fog which stood immovable notwithstanding -a light breeze from the south. But far from being discouraged thereby, -he felt attracted by this light, white obscurity, which would hide him -and seclude him from the little fragment of the earth, where he now -felt himself tied down. - -The barometer and weather vane told him that there would be sunshine -later in the day, and therefore he stepped into his boat without long -preparations; only provided with chart and compass, on which, however, -he did not intend to rely, as he could hear the whistling buoy three -miles out at sea, just in the direction in which he would seek a -landing. - -He therefore put full sail on and was soon in the fog. Here, where -the eyes were free from all impressions of color and form, he felt -first the pleasure of isolation from the medley of an outer world. He -had as it were his own atmosphere around him, soaring onwards alone -as on another celestial body, in a medium, which was not air but -water vapors, more agreeable and more refreshing to inhale than the -exsiccating air with its superfluous seventy-nine per cent of nitrogen, -which had remained without evident purpose, when the elements of the -earth emerged from the chaos of gases. - -It was not an obscure, smoke colored mist, through which the sunlight -shone. It was light, like newly melted silver. Warm as wadding it lay -healingly round his tired ego, protecting it from jars and pressure. -He enjoyed for a moment this fully-awake rest of the senses, without -sound, without color, without smell, and he felt how his pained head -was soothed by this safety from contact with others. He was sure of not -being questioned; needed not to answer, nor talk. The apparatus was -standing still a moment, now that all conducts had been cut off; and -so he began again to think clearly, systematically over all that had -passed. But what he had just gone through was so inferior, so trifling, -that he must first let the bilge water run off before the fresh came in. - -In the distance he heard the whistling buoy cry at intervals of several -minutes, and guided by the sound he steered his course right into the -mist. - -It became silent again, and only the splashing of the boat at the bow -and the purling aft in the wake made him conscious that he was moving -forwards. Immediately after he heard a sea gull cry in the fog, and at -the same time it seemed to him that he heard the dashing and rustle -about the prow of a boat coming abaft, and when he shouted to avoid the -danger, he received no answer, but heard only the hissing of the water -as when a boat is falling off. - -After a moment of sailing he observed to windward the top of a mast -with mainsail and jib, but nothing was to be seen of the hull or -helmsman for they were hidden by the high swells of the sea. - -This occurrence under other circumstances would not have disturbed -his thought, but now it made an impression which was momentarily -inexplicable, and which caused a fear, which was only one step removed -from thoughts of persecution. The newly awakened suspicions were -further aroused, when he shortly after caught sight of the haunting -boat which shot by him on the lee side, as though painted on the mist, -without his being able to get sight of the helmsman who was hidden by -the mainsail. - -He now hailed again, but instead of an answer he saw only the boat fall -off so much that he observed that the stern sheet was empty; and then -the apparition vanished in the all devouring mist. - -Accustomed to free himself from fear of the unknown, he at once formed -suggestions to explain it, but stopped finally at the question, why the -helmsman hid himself, for that there must be a helmsman on a sailboat, -which did not drift, he had no doubt. Why did he not want to be seen? -In usual cases one does not want to be seen when going on a bad errand, -wishing to be by oneself, or intending to frighten somebody. That the -unknown sailor did not seek solitude was probable, as he held the -same course, and if he would frighten an intrepid person, who was not -susceptible to superstition, he could find some better way. However he -held his course onward towards the buoy, incessantly, doggedly pursued -by the haunting boat to the leaward, still at such a distance, that it -appeared only as condensed fog. - -Upon coming farther out where the wind was stronger the mist seemed -to grow somewhat thinner, and like long silver bullion lay the -fog-silvered sunlight on the crests of the waves. With the rising of -the wind the crying of the buoy increased, and now he steered straight -into the sunlight where the mist had parted, and ran at highest speed -towards the buoy. There it lay swinging on the wave, cinnabar-red -and shining, moist as a taken-out lung with its great black windpipe -pointed slanting upwards into the air. And when the wave next time -compressed the air, it raised a cry, as though the sea roared after the -sun, the bottom chain clinked until it had run out, and now when the -waves sank and sucked back the air, there arose a roaring out of the -depth as from the giant proboscis of a drowning mastodon. - -It was the first mighty impression he had had after a month of prattle -and trivialities. - -He admired the genius of man, that had hung this buoy on the insidious -wolf, the sea, that it should itself caution its defenseless victims. -He envied this hermit, who was permitted to lie fettered to a bottom -rock in the middle of the sea and with its roaring to beat the wind and -wave day and night so that it could be heard miles around; to be the -first to give the voyager a welcome to his land; and to wail forth its -pain and be heard. - -The sight was quickly passed, and the demi-darkness again closed round -the boat, which now fell off towards the skerry for which he had -started to rest. For half an hour he lay on the same tack until he -heard the breakers beating on the strand; then he fell off to leeward -and soon sped into a cove where he could land. - -It was the last skerry outside the channel and consisted of a couple -of acres of red gneiss without any vegetation other than a few lichens -on places where the drifting ice had not scraped the rocks perfectly -clean. Only sea gulls and mews had their resting place here, and now as -the commissioner moored his boat and stepped up on the highest point of -the skerry they gave forth cries of alarm. Here he wrapped himself in -his blanket, and placed himself in a well-polished crevice, which made -him a comfortable arm chair. Here, without witness, without auditors, -he gave himself up to thoughts and let them loose, confessed himself, -scrutinized himself inwardly and heard his own voice from within. -Only two months of rubbing against other beings, and he had through -the law of accommodation lost the better part of himself, had become -used to acquiescing to avoid disputes, drilled himself to yield to -avoid a break, and developed into a characterless, malleable, sociable -fellow; with his head full of bagatelles and being urged to speak in an -abbreviated, simplified vocabulary, he felt that his scale of language -had lost its semi-tones, and that his thoughts had been switching -in on old worn rails, which led back to the ballast place. Old lax -sophisms about respecting others' belief, that everybody will be happy -in his grime, had crept back into him, and he had from pure politeness -performed as a wizard and finally got a dangerous competitor on his -hands, who every moment threatened to liberate the only soul he would -unite with his own. - -A smile crossed his lips when he thought of how he had fooled these -people, who believed they had fooled him: and with a subdued voice he -involuntarily ejaculated, "asses," which made him start, frightened at -the thought that somebody might have heard him. - -And so the silent thoughts continued: They believed they had caught -his soul, and he had caught them! They imagined that he went their -errands, and they did not know that he used them as a gymnastical -exercise for his soul and to feel the enjoyment of power. - -But these thoughts, which he had not dared to acknowledge before as -his own, proclaimed themselves now as the children of his soul, big, -healthy children, whom he acknowledged as his own. And what had he done -otherwise than the others had willed to do, but could not! And this -young woman, who believed she had turned a hand organ for herself, did -not suspect that she was selected to the sounding board of his soul.... - -At this moment he jumped up, and interrupted the course of his -dangerous thoughts, for he plainly heard footsteps on the flat rocks -in the fog, and although he at once guessed that it was an error of -hearing, caused by the solitude and fear of being taken unawares, -he turned his steps towards his boat. But when he found it in good -condition, he decided to go around the skerry to search for the other -boat, for there must be one here, since another being had come over. He -climbed on the strand bowlders and soon found behind the next point on -the lee side a boat with the same sprit sail rig, as he had seen out on -the sea. It was thus evident that the sailor must be on the skerry, and -now the commissioner began a razzia in the fog, but always kept in the -neighborhood of the boats, so that he could cut off retreat. When after -having cried out several times without getting an answer he finally saw -that he must leave the boats in order to catch the mysterious being, he -went down to the boats, and took off the tillers to make every escape -impossible, and so he went into the mist again. He heard steps before -him and followed them by the sound, but soon heard them in an entirely -other direction. Tired of the hunt and provoked by the fruitlessness of -the endeavors, he decided to make a short ending to the scene, as he -had no mind to wait until the fog had disappeared. - -With as loud a voice as he could command, he cried: - -"If there is anybody there, answer, for I am going to shoot." - -"Lord Jesus! Do not shoot!" was heard in the fog. - -The commissioner seemed to have heard this voice before, but a very -long time ago, perhaps in his youth. And now when he approached the -place, where the unknown stood, and saw its silhouette outlines gray -to gray, there awoke old memories of these contours of a human being. -The inward bowed knees, the arms all too long and the deformed left -shoulder had a counterpart picture in memory's storage of a schoolmate -in the third class in the high school. But when he caught sight of the -colporteur's American whiskers appearing through the mist, the picture -did not correspond longer, and he only saw the man upon the rock, who -had applied the Revelation to the mirage. - -With a raised cap and a frightened look he approached the commissioner, -who did not feel himself safe with this sneaking pursuer, for in -reality he carried no firearms. To disguise his uncertainty he assumed -a sharp tone, when he asked: - -"Why do you hide from me?" - -"I have not hidden myself, the mist did it," answered the preacher -softly and insinuatingly. - -"But why were you not sitting at the tiller in your boat?" - -"Hm, I did not know that one was obliged to sit on the stern sheet and -therefore I sat to windward to keep the boat buoyant! For you see I had -a sheet on the end of the tiller such as we use up in Roslagen." - -The explanations were acceptable, but still did not answer the -question, why he followed the commissioner out here. And he felt now, -that here must be a close fight of souls, for it was not by chance that -they had met out here. - -"What do you seek out here so early in the morning?" the commissioner -took up the broken thread. - -"Yes, how shall I say it, I feel sometimes, as though I am in need -of being alone with myself." The answer found a certain echo in the -questioner, and at the expression of sympathy, which the preacher could -read in his face, he added: - -"For, you see, when I search myself in meditation and prayer and find -myself, even so I find my God." - -A naïve confession lay in these words, but the commissioner would not -translate the involuntary heresy and draw such conclusions as: God is -thus my own self or in my own self, because he held a certain esteem -for this man, who could be alone with a fiction, and thus to a certain -degree alone. - -While the commissioner regarded the preacher's face, which was -overgrown with long brown whiskers except on the upper lip as sailors -and colporteurs usually wear them, probably to let out the spoken word -and still resemble an apostle, he seemed to perceive a face behind this -face, and annoyed by this labor which his memory had unconsciously -undertaken, he asked bluntly: - -"Have we not met each other before?" - -"Yes, certainly we have," answered the preacher; "and you, sir -commissioner, have, perhaps without knowing it, had such a great -influence on my life, that it might be said you determined my path." - -"Oh, no! Tell me about it, for I do not remember it!" said the -commissioner, and placing himself on the rock, he invited the other to -sit down. - -"Yes, it is certainly about twenty-five years ago that we were together -in the third class at school ... - -"What was your name then?" interrupted the commissioner. - -"At that time I was called Olsson and nick-named Ox-Olle, because my -father was a farmer and I was dressed in homespun clothes." - -"Olsson? Wait a moment! You could reckon best of us all." - -"Yes, so it was! But there came a day, and it was the principal's -fiftieth birthday. We had dressed the school with leaves and flowers, -and after the lessons were ended someone proposed that the boys in our -class should take the bouquets and carry them home to the principal's -wife and daughter. I remember that you thought it unnecessary as -the family of the principal had nothing to do with the school, but -often encroached on its affairs in a disturbing manner. However, you -went--and so did I. As I walked up the steps, you caught sight of my -homespun clothes I presume, and noticing that I carried the nicest -bouquet, you burst out: 'Is Saul also among the prophets!'" - -"That I have entirely forgotten," said the commissioner very shortly. - -"But I never forgot it," responded the preacher with trembling voice. -"I had had it thrown in my face, that I was the scabby sheep, the -intruder, who could never seriously extend homage to a woman of -station. I quit school in order to devote myself to business and -thereby gain money and fine clothes quickly, and learn manners and -refined language. But I never gained a first class position. My -exterior, my language, my appearance were against me. Then I began to -go alone by myself, and in the solitude I found powers growing in me -which I had never suspected. Clergy-man I had first thought to be, but -now it was too late. The solitude gave me fears of human beings, and -these fears of human beings made me entirely alone, so alone that I -must search for my only acquaintance in God, and in the Saviour of the -neglected, the scabby, the outcasts, Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ. -This I have to thank you for!" - -The last words were spoken with a certain bitterness, and the -commissioner found it prudent to have fair play and broke out. - -"Then you have gone on hating me for twenty-five years?" - -"Excessively! But no longer since I have left the revenge to God." - -"So, you have a God who revenges! Do you believe that He selects you -for an implement, or do you think that he will let His electric spark -strike me, or that He is going to blow over my boat or mark me with the -smallpox?" - -"The ways of the Lord are past knowing, but the ways of iniquity are -manifest to everybody!" - -"Do you see such gross iniquity in a boy's thoughtless talk, that God -should persecute him a whole man's age? I wonder if that revenging -God is not in your heart, where you lately insisted that you made -appointments with Him?" - -Snared by his own words the preacher could not longer control himself. - -"You blaspheme! Now I know who you are! The apple does not fall far -from the tree! Now I understand the whole craft of Satan. You build the -Lord a house for a brothel as an offering to a harlot! You play wizard -and magician to get people to fall down and worship the denier. But the -Lord says: 'Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may -have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into -the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and -murderers, and idolators, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie!'" - -The last words he had thrown out with an incredible volubility and -exaltation, without seeking for them elsewhere than on his lips, and -just as though he feared a crushing answer which would weaken their -impression, he turned his back and went down to his boat. - -Meantime the mist had lifted, and the sea spread its pure blue water -soothingly and acquittingly. - -The commissioner remained awhile in his rocky chair, and meditated on -the subjection of the soul under the same laws that govern the physical -forces. The wind tore up a wave down on Esthonia; that wave chased -another, and the last which transmitted the motion to the Swedish -coast, removed a small pebble, which had afforded support to a rock; -and after a man's age the results would be shown in the tumbling down -of the rock; and this would be followed by a new undermining of the -uncovered rock which now lay exposed. - -His brain twenty-five years ago had thrown out what was to him a -meaningless word, that word had penetrated an ear and put a brain -into such a strong agitation that it still vibrated after having -given direction to the whole life of a human being. And who knows, -if this innervation current had not again been reënforced by contact -and friction, so that it once more with invigorated force would -unload itself and bring other counter forces into action, producing -disturbances and destruction in the lives of others! - -Now when the preacher's boat sped into sight round the point, bearing -down to East Skerry, the commissioner got such a sure feeling that -there sat a foe who was marching down to his forts, that he arose and -went to his boat, to go home and place himself on the defensive. - - * * * * * - -When he was well seated in the boat and calmed by the gentle rocking of -the waves, he was seized by a strong desire to still tarry a few hours -on the sea in perfect solitude and let the last disquieting impressions -blow away. - -Why should he even fear this man's influence on his betrothed, as she -would still show herself unsuited to a union for life, if she sunk back -to a level with the uneducated. But nevertheless it grieved him that -there existed this fear. It reminded of the behavior of those men, who -were living in the fear of losses and which is stamped with the name -jealousy. Was it the feeling of an inability to keep, which betrayed -a frailness in him? Or was it not rather a frailness in her not to -be able to retain a hold, when the balloon should ascend, leaving -the sheet anchor religion, and throwing away the sacks of ballast, -the feelings? Certainly the latter would have been the better way, -notwithstanding they had got a certain authority with those, who had -nothing to lose. - -He now tacked and lay oft the skerry to south-east, a point from which -he had not seen his prison before. Highest up on the hill he saw the -skeleton of the unfinished chapel with its staging, but he did not see -any laborers, although the morning was far advanced. He did not even -notice any boats out fishing. There was on the whole a great stillness -on the skerry, and no people were to be seen even by the custom house -cottage or the pilots' outlook. He turned and stood on another tack -to sail round the skerry. But when he came outside of the same, the -sea became higher and he gained only a little by the tack, so it took -a whole hour before he could scud down to the harbor. Now he saw the -cottage where the ladles lived, and as soon as he had sped by the point -of the harbor, he observed all the inhabitants of the island gathered -round the house, on the porch of which the preacher stood bare-headed, -speaking. - -With a clear insight, that here impended a battle, he landed, furled -the sail and went up to his chamber. - -Through the open window he heard the people singing a hymn. - -He would have liked now to sit down to his work, but the thought that -maybe he would soon be interrupted, hindered him from beginning it. - -A painful half hour passed during which he learned more plainly than -ever before, that he did not own himself longer, did not rule over two -square meters, on which he could lock himself up to avoid the touch of -souls, which like barnacles on the whale's hide fastened themselves -there to finally by their mass impede his motion. - -The door opened now after a short knock, and Miss Mary stood before -him, with a new expression in her face, resembling pained reproach and -superior compassion. - -She came besides with the feeling of being backed by the universal -opinion of the people, and therefore felt strong against this solitary -man. - -He let her speak first so as to have a point to start from. - -"Where have you been?" commenced she with an attempt not to sound too -arrogant. - -"I have been out for a sail!" - -"Without inviting me?" - -"I did not know that you were particular about that!" - -"Yes, you did know it, but surely you would be alone with your dark -thoughts!" - -"Perhaps!" - -"Certainly! Don't you think that I have observed it? Don't you believe -that I have seen how you are becoming tired of me?" - -"Have I proved tired of you, I who follow you day in and day out, -though on a morning, when you usually are asleep, I took the liberty to -sail for a couple of hours? But maybe you have become tired of learning -to fish, for I have not seen you once out at sea." - -"It is not the time to fish now as you well know," answered Miss Mary -fully persuaded that she spoke the truth. - -"No, I see that!" interposed the commissioner with the purpose of -approaching the very mine, with the risk of an explosion. "I see how -the people abandon their work to listen to sermons...." - -Now an eruption was ready. - -"Was it not you, who wished to have a church out here?" - -"Yes, Sundays. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh go to -church. Here no work is done any day, but there is preaching every day. -And instead of making themselves and families an honest income here -on this earth, they all race after such an uncertain thing as heaven. -The very laborers on the chapel have left their work, so that we shall -never see a roof on that church, and I expect every moment to hear that -poverty has broken out, so that we must be prepared for charity...." - -"That is just what I was going to speak about," interrupted Miss Mary, -glad to have avoided taking up the subject herself, still overlooking -that it was exhausted in advance by the commissioner. - -"I have not come here to exercise charity; I am here to teach the -people how to get along without charity." - -"You are at the bottom a heartless person, although you appear to be -otherwise." - -"And you would show your big heart at my expense without being willing -to offer a yard of the trimming from your gown." - -"I hate you! I hate you!" burst out the girl with a hideous expression -on her face. "Surely I know who you are, I know all, all, all!" - -"Well, why not leave me then?" asked the commissioner in a steel cold -tone. - -"I shall leave you! I shall!" cried she and approached the door, but -without going. - -The commissioner, who had taken a seat at the table, took up a pen and -began to write to avoid all temptation of taking up a conversation, -which was ended, as everything had been said. - -He heard, as in a dream, sobbing and how the door closed, how steps -sounded in the hall, and squeakings of the stairs. - -When he awoke and read the paper, over which his pen had been flying, -he saw that the word Pandora was written there so many times, that he -could calculate that a long while had passed since the scene was ended. - -But the word struck him, and his inquisitiveness awoke as to its -meaning, which he during the lapse of years had forgotten, although he -had a faint memory about it from the mythology. He took his dictionary -from the table, opened it and read: - -"Pandora, the Eve of the ancients, the earth's first woman. Sent by the -gods for revenge on account of Prometheus having stolen the fire, and -given it to human beings, with all its misfortunes, after which they -inhabitated the earth. Represented in poesy under the form of something -good, which is an evil illusion, a creation, intended for deceit and -surprise." - -This was mythology like the tale of Eve, who debarred human beings -from Paradise. But when the tale was confirmed from century to century -and he had learned himself, how the presence of a woman on this little -piece of earth out in the sea had already made dusk, where he would -spread light, then there must have lain an idea in the Hellenic and -Jewish poet's figurative style. - -That she hated him, that he felt and knew, as she took sides with the -low crowd down there, but, nevertheless he would not doubt her love, -even if this love only consisted of the dandelion's attraction to the -sun to borrow beams of light for a poor imitation of the yellow disk. -But there existed besides something low as in that which is base, -something evil with the desire to injure, a battle for power, which was -out of place, as his aim was a victory over the irrational. To tell -her this, yes, that would be to break the relation when this depended -on his submission or at least his acknowledging her superiority, and -this would be to build a life on a white lie, which would grow, wax and -perhaps smother all possibility of an honest cohabitation. Just in this -lay the deepest reason of all the relative misfortunes of marriage, -that the man goes into the union sometimes with a willful lie, often -the prey of an hallucination, when he fancies his ego into the being -whom he would assimulate. Of this illusion; _second sight,_ Mill had -become infatuated to such a degree, that he believed he got all his -sharp thoughts from the simple woman whom he had lifted up to himself. - -It was love's prize from time immemorial, that the man should conceal -what the woman was, and on this secrecy centuries had built a chaos -of lies, which science did not dare to disturb, which the bravest -statesmen did not dare to touch and which cause the theologian to deny -his Paul, when it comes to "women in the churches." - -But his love had just begun and taken fire, when he saw her look up to -him with beseeching glances; and that love had fled, when she came with -the vanquishing smile of stupidity after having trampled down what he -would have formed for her happiness and that of many others. - -"Ended!" said he to himself, arose and locked the door. - -Ended with his youthful hopes of finding the woman he sought. "That -woman, who was born with the sense to see her sex's inferiority to the -other sex." - -He had certainly now and then met one or another, who admitted the -fact, but who finally and always reserved themselves as to the reason -of the fact, laying the blame on a non-existing oppression, and -promising themselves that with greater liberty they would soon surpass -the men; and then the battle was in full sway. - -He would not wear out his intelligence in an uneven fight with -mosquitoes, whom he could not hit with a cane, because they were too -small and too many, therefore there must now be an end forever to this -fruitless searching after the non-existing. He would let all his power -go out in labor, lay aside kin, family, home and sexual impulses and -leave the multiplying to other "reproductive animals." - -The feeling of being free placed his soul at rest, and it seemed to -him as though a pall had lost its hold in his brain, which began to -operate without concern. The thought that he did not need more to -make his exterior agreeable, caused him to lay aside a certain kind -of collar which annoyed him, but which his bethrothed had explained -to be _chic._ He arranged his hair in a more comfortable manner and -observed how it calmed his nerves, for he had been in constant strife -about the coiffure his betrothed liked best. The tobacco pipe which -he loved as an old acquaintance and which he had been obliged to lay -aside, was taken out again, the dressing gown and moccasins, that he -had not dared to use for a long time, again gave freedom from pressure, -which reminded of a more airy medium In which he could breathe without -difficulty, and think without restriction. - -And now, freed from all these accommodation constraints, he observed -what tyranny even in small details he had lived through. He could walk -in his room without the fear of being embarrassed by a knock at the -door, deliver himself up to his thoughts without feeling himself false. - -He had not long enjoyed the newly gained liberty, when somebody rapped -at the door. His body jarred as though some mooring still held him, and -when he heard the mother's voice, the oppressing thought struck him -like a club, that it was not ended, that it must begin over again. - -His first intention was to let the door remain closed, but a sense of -propriety, the fear of being regarded as a coward determined him to -open it. And when he saw the old lady's cheerful, prudent eye, as she -with a kind smile and a roguish shake of her head stepped in, it was to -him as though the last half hour's scene had been only a dream after -which he had awakened glad that it was past. - -"Have we now squabbled again?" commenced the old lady, taking away the -disagreeableness of the remark by the familiar _we_. "You must get -married, children, before there is a rupture I Believe an old woman's -word; and don't think that you test your hearts as engaged, for the -longer you are engaged, the worse it will become!" - -"But after that it is too late to break it," answered the commissioner. -"And when one has already discovered such a difference in disposition -and opinions, so...." - -"What are these opinions? You cannot have different opinions, no, -though the girl did have it lonesome when Axel was away, and therefore -she run after the colporteur. And as far as disposition is concerned, -it comes and goes, according to the condition of the nerves. And Axel, -who is such a knowing man, ought to know how women are!" - -He could have kissed her hand at the first enchantment of finding that -woman, who knew her own sex, but then he remembered that he had heard -this manner of speaking ill about other women each time a woman would -gain him, and that it was more of flattery than an admission, for -when it came to earnestness, the utterance was always taken back with -interest. Therefore he limited himself to answering: - -"Let time pass, little mother! Get married out here I cannot, but let -us only return to the city in the fall ... supposing that Mary shows -more sympathy in my work and less repugnance to my way of seeing the -world and living." - -"Axel is so dreadfully profound, and if a poor girl cannot always -follow it, why it is nothing to be astonished at." - -"Yes, but if she cannot follow me upwards, I cannot on the other hand -follow her downwards; but the latter seems to be her precise will, so -precise, that it appears to me to-day, as though there lay a hidden -hate behind it." - -"Hate? It is only love, my friend! Come down now and say something -friendly, and she will be all right again." - -"Never, after the words we exchanged to-day! For either these words -mean something and then we are foes, or they mean nothing, and then one -of the party is irresponsible." - -"Yes, she is irresponsible, but Axel should well know that a woman is a -child until she becomes a mother. Come now, my friend, and play with' -the child, otherwise she will select other playthings, which may be -more dangerous." - -"Yes, but, dearest, I cannot play the whole day without being tired, -and I do not believe either that Mary is pleased to be treated as a -child." - -"Yes, she is, only it don't look so! Ah, what a child Axel is in such -affairs!" - -Again a politeness, which from anyone but a mother-in-law would have -been an insult! And when she now took his hand to lead him out, he felt -all resistance cease. She had by leaving his argument unanswered led -the conversation away from the question; she had blown at the skein -instead of untangling it, caressed his doubts to rest and stroked away -the disquiet and by her womanly atmosphere, her motherly manner got him -to lay aside his will and personal liberty. - -And after he had changed his coat, he followed obediently, almost -with pleasure the incessantly chatting old lady down the staircase to -continue the play and put on handcuffs. - -Upon reaching the hall he met the preacher, who delivered a letter to -him with the Academy of Agriculture's stamp. - -The commissioner broke the seal on the spot, and put the letter in -his pocket, as though glad he had got something, a substitute for -conversation, a lightning rod; he burned to communicate the news to the -mother who was waiting. - -"We are going to have a visitor," said he. - -"The officials have sent me a young man who wants to learn to fish." - -"So, it is delightful that Axel is going to have some man for company," -said the mother with true sincerity. - -And the commissioner went with light steps down to his waiting -betrothed, sure that with a novelty on hand he could immediately pass -over the most disagreeable of explanations. - - - - -CHAPTER TENTH - - -A few days later, the commissioner had been out sailing alone to lay -down salmon trails secretly, and now after having delayed his dinner -hour as he went up from the harbor, he heard chatting and laughter from -the porch of the ladies cottage. Without intending to listen he went -thither, and when he reached the westerly gable wall, he saw through -the two windows in the large chamber, which were in the angle of the -cottage corner, that the two ladies were eating dinner on the porch and -had a male visitor at the table. He took a step forwards and caught -sight of Miss Mary, who with sparkling eyes raised a glass of wine -to pass it over the table to the guest, of whom he only saw a pair -of broad shoulders. Suddenly it came to him, that he had seen these -movements and expressions before in the girl's eyes, and he remembered -her first appearance on the islet, when she treated the boatman to a -glass of beer, and he had thought she coquetted with the churl! But now -he was astonished, that he had never seen this expression in her eyes, -when she looked at him. Could her glances only have reflected his? Or -did she always hide her inner-most thoughts from him, who should be her -victim? - -He regarded her for a moment, and the longer he looked, the more -strange seemed the expression in the girl's face, so strange, that -he became frightened, as when one discovers a deceit in his nearest -related. - -When one can see so much, when not seen, what then shall one not hear? -he thought and stopped behind the corner to listen. - -The mother arose now and went into the kitchen, so that the young -couple were left alone. - -At the same time they lowered their voices, and Miss Mary's glances -became humid, while she listened to the stranger's passionately spoken -words. - -"Jealousy is the dirtiest of all vices, and in love there does not -exist any right of ownership...." - -"Thanks for these words! A thousand thanks!" said Miss Mary, and raised -her glass, while her eyes were moist with some half-shed tears. "You -are a real man, although you are young, for you believe in woman." - -"I believe in woman as the most magnificent the creation has brought -forth, the best and the truest," continued the young man with rising -transport. - -"And I believe in her, because I believe in God!" - -"You believe in God?" Miss Mary continued. - -"It shows that you are also intelligent, for it is only stupidity that -denies the creator!" - -The commissioner considered that he had heard enough, and to see at -the same time how great the power of dissimulation his chosen friend -for life could possess, he stepped forth suddenly, after he had gained -control of all his facial muscles and assumed a beaming expression, as -though he was charmed to see again his desired one. - -The girl retained the expression of enchanted revelry in her face, and -with the same fire as the just expressed confession of faith in women -had produced she received her betrothed's embrace and returned it with -a kiss, more burning than ever before. - -Thereafter she jokingly introduced Assistant Blom, who had arrived -early in the morning and had gained all hearts on the skerry, being a -fisherman unequaled before. - -"And we were just talking about the herring off Bohus, when you came -and disturbed us!" the girl ended the presentation with. - -The commissioner let the lie, and the dangerous word "disturbed" -and the challenge "all hearts" pass, while he reached his hand to a -giant youth of about twenty and some years, who had less ability to -dissimulate, and with a guilty look grasped the outstretched hand, and -stuttered a few incomprehensible words. - -At the same time the mother came out, greeted her future son-in-law and -began to arrange the table. - -A conversation was soon started, and Miss Mary, very likely in the -feeling of having a support, began to joke at her betrothed's toilet. - -"That veil there, is precious you know," joked she; "you should also -have a parasol when you are sitting at the helm." - -"That will come, that will come," answered the commissioner, hiding the -disagreeable impression which this exposure before a subordinate and a -stranger had made on him. - -The assistant, who already felt himself above the considerate foreman, -but still could not help feeling uncomfortable at the cruel treatment -he received, was seized with a tactless compassion, and drumming with -his long fingers on the veil, which the commissioner wore on his hat, -he said: - -"Yes, but this here is very practical!" And hastily falling again into -the flirting manner he had begun at the first moment, he added: "And if -Miss Mary were just as careful of her beautiful complexion...." - -"As you about your beautiful hands--" slipped from the girl, while she -touched the hand that rested on the table and which was rolling balls -from bread; and she seemed at once to be back in the humor, which her -betrothed could guess had prevailed the whole forenoon. - -Feeling himself ridiculous like one who is eating alone in the presence -of those who are satisfied, he needed all his nerve power to disguise -the depression which the overheard conversation had produced. "They -already compliment each other's members in my presence," thought he -with loathing. But perceived at once, that he would be lost if he -showed a single sign of discontent over the improper behavior, which -discontent would immediately be stamped as that dirty vice, he had -lately heard spoken of. - -"The assistant has indeed an unusually beautiful hand bespeaking -intelligence," said he, as with the mien of a connoisseur he examined -the object of his betrothed's admiration. - -But she, who did not wish for this agreement with her views, switched -aside and searched for a new lash for his supposed stupidity. - -"One cannot speak of intelligent hands," she broke out with a laugh, -which sounded somewhat tipsy. - -"Therefore I use the more correct expression of bespeaking -intelligence...." - -"Oh, you philosopher!" scornfully laughed the girl. "You dream, so that -you do not see that we have eaten up all the radishes from you." - -"I am glad that the traveler has a relish, and I see with pleasure -that you have forestalled me in caring for his well being," said the -commissioner, unconstrainedly. "Permit me to give you a welcome, -Assistant Blom, and wish you much pleasure from your sojourn here in -the solitude. And now I leave you in Miss Mary's care, she can give -you all the preliminary explanations about fishing affairs; meantime I -go up and rest myself. Farewell, my dove," he turned to the girl; "now -take care of the young man and lead him in the right path. Good night, -mama," he addressed to the widow of the exchequer officer and kissed -her hand. - -His sortie had come entirely unexpected, while its adequate motive -and rounded form, leaving no trace of ill feeling, had saved him from -protests and at the same time gave him the last word and a superiority -which was grudged him. - - * * * * * - -Upon reaching his chamber, he had only time to be astonished that "the -fear of loss" could bring him such incredible ability to dissimulate, -suppress disagreeable perceptions, to harden himself, before he was -lying on the sofa with a blanket over his head and sleeping without -dreams. When he awoke after a couple of hours, he arose with a resolve, -which he felt that he would hold fast to for life, to free himself from -this woman. - -But just as she through habit had eaten her way into his soul, so she -could only be gnawed out the same way again, and the vacant place that -he would leave in her, must first be filled by another. By him, whose -soul had seemed to set her on fire at the first encounter. - -His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. - -It was the preacher, who with many excuses stepped in and with some -abashment tried to grind out what he had to say. - -"Has not the commissioner," began he, "noticed anything like that the -people out here have less conscience." - -"That I observed at once," answered the commissioner. "What is it that -has happened now?" - -"Yer, see the laborer on the chapel say, they, have lost boards, so -that there isn't enough to finish it." - -"This does not surprise me, but what have I to do with that?" - -"Yer, see, the commissioner was for it and procured what was necessary!" - -"That was then! Now I have regretted it, since I have seen that your -preaching has taken the people from their work and indirectly made them -thieves." - -"One cannot directly say...." - -"No, therefore I said indirectly! But if you want money, go to -somebody else. Tell me one thing; who is the new assistant here?" - -"Yer, he has been a sea cadet, they say, you know, and now he would -learn fishing as his father is rich, they say, you know." - -The commissioner had placed himself at the window, when the -conversation commenced, and witnessed now how Miss Mary and the -assistant were playing lawn tennis. He had even seen how her gown -had lifted in the front every time she leaned backwards to serve the -other's ball. Now he saw how the assistant jokingly bent down when the -skirt drew up, just as though by gesture and mien to indicate that he -saw something. - -"Listen now," he said, "I have long thought that it would be of great -service for the people's best economy, if there was a provision store, -so that the people need not row to the city for their purchases, -and it might even be possible, that the merchant could advance them -provisions, and sell their fish. What does Mr. Olsson say about it?" - -The preacher stroked his long chin whiskers, while his face expressed a -mass of shifting desires and changes of mind. - -The commissioner now saw through the window, how the assistant had -climbed the pole of the lookout and swung horizontally out by his arms, -while Miss Mary clapped her hands below him. - -"Yes, say, Mr. Olsson, if one could get a provision store here, it -would only do good." - -"But see, the commonwealth will hardly permit it, unless one could get -a storekeeper that could be relied on, I mean a person who...." - -"We will take a religious man and let a share in the benefit go to the -chapel fund; thus we get both the commonwealth and the home mission on -our side." - -The face of the preacher now cleared up. - -"Yes, in such a way it may work!" - -"Yes, think of the subject and try to get a suitable person, who will -not fleece the people nor wrong the church. Think of it awhile. Now to -another subject: I think I have observed that morality stands somewhat -low here on the skerry. Has Mr. Olsson seen or suspected, that matters -are not as they ought to be down at Vestman's?" - -"Hm! Yes, they say, of course, that there is something, but that one -does not know! And I do not believe that one need to mix in it!" - -"Do you say that! But I wonder, if one ought not to interfere in time, -before they betray themselves, for such things generally end ill out -here!" - -The preacher did not seem at all willing to stir in the case; either he -did not find it worth talking about, or he would not offend the people. -Besides, his sickly looks seemed to absorb all his thoughts in his own -suffering, so that he with a thwart turn took up his real errand. - -"Yes, and so I should like to ask if the commissioner had something -to give me, for I think I have got the fever and ague out here in the -dampness." - -"Ague? Let me see!" - -On the impulse of the moment and without forgetting for an instant, -that it was a foe who challenged, the commissioner examined the -patient's pulse, looked at his tongue and the whites of his eyes and -was ready with his prescription. - -"Have you poor board at Oman's?" - -"Yes, it is wretched," answered the preacher. - -"You have malnutrition and shall have food from my table. Have you -sworn off all strong drinks?" - -"Oh, yes; however, I take a glass of beer...." - -"Yes, here you have a preparation of china to commence with, which you -are to take three times a day. When it is gone let me know." - -Therewith he gave him a bottle of china bitters, after which he took -the preacher's hand and said: - -"You shall not hate me, Mr. Olsson, for we have great common interests, -although we go different ways. If I can be of any service to you, I am -ready whenever you wish it." - -Such a simple manner as a little plausible good will was enough to -pervert the sight of the simple man, so that he believed he had found -a friend. With sincere feeling he reached out his hand and stammered: - -"You have done me ill once, but God has turned it to good, and now I -say thanks for everything and beg the commissioner not to forget about -the provision store and the commonwealth." - -"I shall not forget that!" finished the commissioner and made a gesture -for him to go. - -After having collected himself for a moment he went down on the hill to -search for the assistant, whom he found engaged in a fencing exercise -with Miss Mary, whose wrist and upper arm he took great pains to render -as flexible as necessary for a nice guard position. - -The commissioner after having complimented them begged to apologize for -having troubled them, but he must speak with the assistant about his -lodging. - -"There does not exist any vacant chamber on the whole skerry except the -attic room over the ladies' rooms," said he with a daring, as though he -had made every effort to find another. - -"No, that won't do!" cried Miss Mary. - -"Why not?" argued the commissioner. "What is the obstacle? There is -only that room; in case Mr. Blom should have mine, then I must live in -the same house as the ladies, and that would not do at all." - -As there was no other choice, the matter was settled, and the -assistant's baggage was carried up. - -"Now to duty!" continued the commissioner, after it had become calm -again. "The stromling have come, and in eight days the fishing will -commence. Therefore the assistant must at once, preferably to-night, -while this wind continues, go out and try the drifting nets, as he -already knows how." - -"May I go too?" begged Miss Mary, imitating a child's squeaking voice. - -"Certainly you may do that, my angel," answered the commissioner, "if -Mr. Blom has nothing against it. But you must excuse me that I leave -you alone now, for I must write reports the whole night. At one o'clock -you must be out. You can take the coffeepot with you." - -"Oh, won't that be fun, such fun!" exulted the girl, who seemed to have -become ten years younger. - -"And now I go to order a boat equipped and get the nets ready. Look out -and go to bed early to-night, so that you will not oversleep." - -Therewith he went away, surprised over the incredulous surety, with -which he forced his own will, since he had left an impossible defense -and gone over to the offensive. - -For the first time he entered the cottage of the hostile fisherman Oman. - -He noticed at once that there was a coldness and repugnance, but he was -so precise in his questions and orders, that everything bent before -him. He threw in some kindly questions about the children; promised -that there would soon be better times on the skerry, and he would -undertake all the risk himself, threw in a word about the provision -store, and reminded the people to keep barrels and salt in readiness, -and if they had not the money to buy with, they could have it advanced. -He left as a friend to all and must promise at once to send down some -strong medicine to the father who had taken cold. - -Thereafter he went down to the boat houses and selected nets with -strong floats and strings. Examined the best boat, and ordered out two -able boys. - -When he had finished the preparatory work, the bell rang for supper in -the ladies' cottage. - -At the supper table he spoke with the mother, while the young people, -as he now called them, were devouring each other with their eyes; -squabbling and pushing, as if their bodies were irresistibly attracted -towards each other. - -"Should you leave the two alone like that?" whispered the mother to -him, when he had said good night to retire. - -"Why not? If I show myself dissatisfied, then I become ridiculous, and -if I do not show dissatisfaction..." - -"So you will be still more ridiculous!" - -"Thus; in either case. It is immaterial consequently what stand I take! -Good night, mama!" - - - - -CHAPTER ELEVENTH - - -It had rained for eight days after the first trial with the drifting -nets, which had passed without other results than a little scene -between the engaged pair. The commissioner, who very well knew that -there were no fish to get, as he had purposely led the young folks -astray, had gone down to the beach to receive the home-coming fishers -and had then been called idiot by his betrothed, who was entirely worn -out by being up all night. When the boatmen snickered at this secretly, -the commissioner, who feared a storm, had come between with a joke. At -the dinner table the sport at the new method of fishing had taken wider -range, and the commissioner had played deep humiliation so that Mr. -Blom had several times regarded it his duty to defend him in a manner -extremely wounding. - -The rainy days following this had kept the company in doors, whereby an -extremely intimate intercourse had formed down in the ladies' cottage, -where the assistant had introduced the habit of reading aloud from the -Swedish poets. The commissioner had at the beginning listened to it, -but finally left with the explanation that Swedish poesy was written -for confirmation classes and ladies and that he would wait, until there -came a poet, who would write for men. He had then by common vote been -declared unpoetical, at which he was satisfied, as it relieved him from -the duty of being present at the seances. - -The rainy weather had caused even the work on the chapel to stop, and -the laborers were sitting in the cottages and furnishing the gin to -what coffee they could get. - -The colporteur, who could not gather the people out on the slope, -passed the first days in the kitchen and would have read out of the -Bible, but was received with indifference and fell into dispute -with the laborers, who were mostly free thinkers. Whereupon he had -withdrawn to his chamber, explaining that he was sick and he sent to -the commissioner for the china preparation, as his bottle was emptied. -Suddenly he had disappeared and it was said that he had gone with a -steamer to the city. - -He had now returned, the evening before, to the skerry, accompanied by -a man, whom he called his brother and who brought a boat load of divers -articles, mostly beer, which was packed up in a boat house, in the -open door of which a plank on two barrels served as a counter, as the -commonwealth wealth had permitted the opening of a provision store. - -During the past few days fishing folks had commenced to gather from the -islands near the mainland. And now the boat houses were opened where -whole families were harbored, the cottages were filled with relations -and acquaintances, and on the whole skerry there was a life, which -strangely contrasted with the usual solitude. - -As the skerry and the fishing waters belonged to a private individual -in on the mainland, every boat paid a certain duty which was collected -by an overseer who was sent here. With this overseer the commissioner -had at once got on a bad footing, when he would speak about fishing -with drifting nets, which would be followed by the abandoning of the -shoals, and thereby the water tax would cease. But even this apparently -unfavorable circumstance he had known how to turn to his benefit; for -the overseer, when opposing the new method, was urged to propagate the -old system by means of gin and would thereby against his will form the -dark background, against which the effects of fishing with drifting -nets would stand out in bolder magnificence. And the commissioner -was perfectly sure of his victory, as night and day he had been -sampling the water, dredging, fishing, and with his water telescope -investigating the depths to find out where the shoals of fish were -moving. - -All these details, however, had no other interest to him, than that -they served to exercise his energy for coming battles, to restore in -him that feeling of power, without which nobody can endure, who has -unusual abilities, which are easily lost, unless used. - -And during the time, which had passed since the arrival of the -assistant, the daily hectoring from the side of the young folks had by -and by accustomed him to the role of an inferior, so that he was on the -way to live this role himself, especially as he himself did not wish -to break the engagement but found it necessary to cause the break to -be made by her. Between the two young people there existed a complete -sympathy on all subjects, and he had witnessed how the ripe woman was -at once on a level with the unripe man, all of whose immature thoughts, -all improvised notions she accepted as the height of wisdom. And each -of his attempts to refute a stupidity stranded against their inability -to keep together the threads of a discourse, because they were thinking -exclusively under the influence of the desire to own each other. To -take up some competition in acrobatic dexterity or praise of the lower -sex he would not, for it was his exact purpose to be erased and make a -capital end to the tie, which threatened his whole future existence. -And this biandri, in which he was living, when he, for an occasional -moment alone with his betrothed, only received reflexes from the other -man, felt, as it were, his spirit on her lips, heard his childishness -reëchoed from her mouth, all this had ended in giving him loathing for -a state, which reminded of a _ménage à trois_. - -The young man's conceit had no limit, and he had fallen into the -ridiculous idea that he was superior to the commissioner, because he -was _al pari_ with Miss Mary, who also gave the illusion of being above -the commissioner; according to the perfectly correct formula: if A -is greater than B, and C is equal to A, then C is also greater than -B,--without, however, first examining whether A really was greater than -B. - -He had never before expected to find youth's secret so openly exposed -as he got it here gratuitously presented on a waiter, and how well he -recognized himself from a past stage. - -How had he not cried of hunger and rut? Experienced Weltschmerz of -envy for elders, who had already gained what he was struggling for and -who then made him feel dejected, whereby also his sympathy for all -oppressed and small had been aroused. This inability to judge one's -powers, based on anticipation of that, which it would be possible -to accomplish in this long life, if thought of as concentrated in -a single act! All this sentimentality, caused only by unsatisfied -desires. This over-estimating of woman, while memories from the nursery -and of the mother were still fresh. These lax half-thoughts of the -still soft brain under pressure from blood vessels and testicles. - -He even recognized these faint signs of good sense, which under the -form of primitive, animal slyness and discrimination of means so often -believed themselves to be the highest prudence, but were only the fox's -simple attempt to be shrewd, and which therefore wonderfully resembled -the reputed women's artifice, priest shrewdness, and lawyers' trickery. - -The young man had even tried mind reading on the commissioner, thereby -betraying that he suspected the latter of carrying some dangerous -secrets as he was unlike other beings. But in this he had acted so -clumsily, that the commissioner had found out all that was thought and -said about him by the ladies; instead of giving any information he -had by his answers so mystified the young man, that he began to doubt -whether his rival was a blockhead or of a demoniac nature. By demoniac -he meant a conscious person, who under pretext of the greatest naivete -acted with full calculation, always awake and leading the fates of -other beings according to his plans. And as the idea of calculation, -which was a virtue, always had a bad significance to the young, who -could not calculate the consequences of an act, so his envy assumed the -inferior's passionate desire to tear down and trample under the feet. - -Thus matters stood, when the great day came that was to decide the -fishermen's whole existence for the coming winter. - - * * * * * - -The August evening was hanging bed warm over the skerry, all of whose -cliffs and stones were still warm after the sun had gone down, so warm, -that the dew could not fall on them. The sea outside spread itself -smooth and lavender gray where the full moon copper red slowly emerged -and was just now half hidden by a brig, which seemed to sail right on -the satellite's _mare serenitatis_. Nearer the strand were seen all -the floats of the laid out nets lying in rows like flocks of sea birds -floating on the swell. - -And while the people were awaiting the break of day to look at the -nets, they had camped on the strands around campfires with coffeepots -and gin bottles; in the boat house, where the provision dealer was -selling beer, the preacher had taken place beside his brother to assist -him with the lively traffic, and with a blue apron round his hips he -was seen opening beer bottles like an old expert saloon keeper. - -The commissioner, who had come out to observe the direction of the -currents, the temperature and barometric pressure, now wandered on the -sandy beach to rest from his thoughts. Here and there he surprised -a couple, who had sought solitude. Their unintelligible naivete in -behavior made him only turn his back on them with a sneer and loathing. -Coming further out on the point, he climbed out on the cliffs to find -his seat, where he used to meditate. It was one of the arm chairs which -had been perfectly polished by the waves, and was still warm as a stove -from the burning sun of the day. - -He had been sitting a moment half asleep lulled by the sighing of the -surf, when he heard the sand creak below on the edge of the beach. -There was a rustle in the dry wrack, and he saw the assistant and his -betrothed coming slowly walking with their arms around each other's -waist. They halted between the invisible beholder and the moonlight's -street on the water, so that he could see their figures outlined -as sharply, as though he had had them between the objective of a -microscope and the reflecting mirror. And he saw now with antipathy's -sharpened glance her profile like that of a bird of prey leaning -towards the other's big ape's head with the enormous cheeks, useless -to all but buglers, and the narrow tapering skull without a forehead. -He observed now the superfluous mass of flesh in the man's figure, -whose ignoble outlines with too large hips reminded of a woman like the -Farnesian Hercules. A manly ideal of the period of the semi-brutes, -when the fist still ruled over the big brain, which was not completed. - -Disgraced, as though he had been engaged to a centaur, he felt that his -soul through marriage with a retrogressive type, was standing before -the beginning of a crime, which, completed, would falsify his lineage -for all time to come, which should allure him to offer his only life -for another's child, on which he should squander his best feelings and, -after a time grown fast to it, drag his humiliation as a block about -his feet unable to free himself. Jealousy "this dirty vice," what else -is it than the healthy, strong fear of the tribal instinct lest it -should be hindered in its praiseworthy egotism to perpetuate the best -in the individual? And who lacks in this sound passion but the sterile -family sustainer, the wife panderer, the weak fool, the cicisbeo, the -gynecolater, who believes in platonic love? - -He was jealous, but when the first anger over the affront had subsided, -there awoke an unrestrained desire to possess this woman without -wedlock. The gauntlet was thrown, the liberty in choice was proclaimed, -and he felt a desire to take up the battle, break the band and appear -as the lover in order that he with gained victory should be able to -go calmly onwards, conscious that he was not the one who had been -neglected by nature, who had been pushed aside in the battle of love. -Here was no longer a question of honest contest with loyal means, it -was an insidious battle between burglars. The challenger had selected -the simple weapon, skeleton keys, and the combat was about stealing! -With a woman as the prize all hesitation disappeared. The animal had -awakened, and the wild instincts, which hid themselves under the great -name of love, were as furious as the powers of nature let loose. - -He arose from the rock unobserved and turned his steps homewards to -arrange his fate, as he called it. - - - - -CHAPTER TWELFTH - - -There was a gloomy silence on the skerry about seven o'clock the next -morning, for the fishing on the shoals had been a failure on account -of the reasons stated by the commissioner. The fishermen were sitting -dejectedly in their boats and straightening out their nets, and now and -then picking out a solitary stromling, which was thrown on shore. - -The traffic at the provision store had become less with the sinking -credit, and the preacher had laid aside his blue apron and with book -in hand had gathered a little group of despairing women around him in -a cottage. With an incomprehensible, but not unusual, logic among his -class he spoke of how Jesus fed five thousand men with five loaves and -two fishes. There was an approximate _à propos_ for so far as this case -was concerned there were many mouths and few fishes, but how these few -fishes could fill so many, that he could not indicate. Now that there -was no help, he must try and explain, why the miracle could not be done -again, and he found the reason in the prevailing unbelief. If they only -had faith as a grain of mustard seed, the miracle would be repeated. -And faith could only be gained by prayer. - -Therefore he exhorted the community to pray. - -Although none of those present believed in the miracle of the two -fishes, while the most of them had never heard of it, because they had -not read that story, they followed the example and repeated the Lord's -Prayer, which they had learned passably for the first holy communion. - -But when they were half through, they were suddenly disturbed by a -noise from the harbor. Those who were sitting nearest the window now -saw a fishing boat, which had just furled its mainsail, and come up to -the pier. In the bow stood Miss Mary with fluttering hair beneath the -blue Scotch cap, and at the tiller sat the assistant waving his hat as -a sign of success. The boat was overloaded with nets, through the dark -meshes of which glittered fish upon fish. - -"Come here, you shall have stromling," cried the girl with the -conqueror's munificence. - -"If I am only permitted to measure them first, the people shall have -them," interposed the commissioner, who from his window had observed -the return of the boat and had therefore come down to see the result of -his labors. - -"What good will that do?" said Miss Mary over-bearingly. - -"It is for the statistics, my gracious lady," answered the commissioner -with no sign of discomposure, for he knew that the result of the -fishing had depended upon the information he had given, founded on -current, depth, temperature of the water and the condition of the -bottom. - -"You with your statistics," joked Miss Mary with an expression of -deepest disgust. - -"Take it, then, but only let me know afterwards how much there was," -the commissioner finished the discussion with and went home. - -"He is envious of us," remarked Miss Mary to the assistant. - -"Perhaps jealous?" said he. - -"That he surely cannot be," replied the girl half aloud as to herself, -thereby betraying that which she had hidden for several days, namely -her being provoked at her betrothed's incredible indifference towards -his rival which she had taken as an offending over-confidence in his -power to charm. - -The prayer meeting had been broken up, and all the islanders gathered -around the returned fishing boat. - -"Yes, see Miss Mary, you are a perfect man!" flatteringly said the -preacher, getting the chance of sowing a little seed of variance as he -believed. - -"A sitting crow gets nothing," joked the custom house surveyor. - -"One who lies on his sofa, he means," whispered the assistant to Miss -Mary. - -The girl swelled at the praise, and distributed the fish with full -hands to those who stood on the pier, who never tired of breaking forth -in praise and blessings over the angel rescuer. - -But it was not gratitude for benevolence received, which called forth -this beautiful emotion, it was a hearty desire to evade confessing -themselves wrong towards the commissioner, whose way of fishing they -had joked about. It was the reverse side of a hatred towards their real -benefactor, for whom they would not bow in gratitude. - -When the fish was taken from the nets and distributed between the -poorest, there proved to be ten barrels, which were at once bought by -the provision dealer and salted down. The money was transferred at once -into coffee, sugar and beer. For they felt sure they could take their -own stromling for the winter out of the sea, since Miss Mary had given -them all the information regarding the new way of fishing with drifting -nets. - -When the commissioner reached his room, he found a letter, which had -been brought by a coast guardsman returning home. It contained an -invitation for the commissioner and his betrothed to honor the ball of -the officers on board the corvette _Loke_, which would anchor beside -the skerry at eight o'clock of the same day. - -He saw at once that the moment had come in which to make an end to the -engagement, for now to take the mistress of another into society and -introduce her as his future wife, naturally he would not. Therefore -he pulled off his engagement ring, and put it in a letter, which he -had composed the night before to the widow of the exchequer officer, -and in which he with the strongest expressions of despair regretted -that his engagement with Miss Mary must come to an end, because of a -former liaison, which he had recklessly entered into with a woman, -who had borne him children, and who now appeared with a lawful claim -which, if it could not compel him into a marriage with the plaintiff, -still had the power to prevent his union with another. As a gentleman, -but without intending to offend, he explained that he was prepared to -assist the innocently injured girl who was perhaps placed in distress, -both as far as the saving of her honor and her subsistence were -concerned. - -This fiction he had found to be the only possible way to make a final -ending, as it protected the honor of both parties, but mostly that of -the girl, and must be irrevocable without the hope of reparation, being -an inevitable fate. - -When he had sealed the letter, he whistled to his orderly, and gave -it to him telling him to carry it to the widow of the officer of the -exchequer. - -Thereafter he lighted a cigarette and placed himself at the window to -see how the shot would strike. On the porch stood the old lady shaking -a mat, when the man stopped to deliver the letter. She received it -with some astonishment, which increased, when she with her left hand -squeezed the envelope to feel what it contained. Thereupon she turned -round and went into the cottage. - -A moment thereafter Miss Mary's figure was seen to move to and fro -behind the lace curtains in the dining room. She seemed to walk -vehemently backwards and forwards, sometimes stopping and gesticulating -with her arms, as though she would defend herself against reproaches, -which were thrown at her. - -This lasted about an hour, after which she was seen out on the porch, -throwing a revengeful glance up towards the commissioner's window. -After which she beckoned to the assistant, who was coming from the -harbor. - -When they had both gone into the cottage and been invisible for half an -hour, they appeared again and went into the woodshed, from whence they -brought out a trunk and a knapsack. - -So, they had considered it, and found that to tarry on the skerry -longer was impossible. - -After a moment the assistant again appeared, this time carrying with -him his own trunk, which the commissioner recognized by its trimmings -of brass. - -Thus he also intended to go. - -Soon the owners of the cottage appeared with servants, and the whole -house seemed to be turned upside down. - -Towards noon, after the commissioner had passed away the time with -reading, he saw the assistant and Miss Mary step out onto the porch, -and engage in a lively conversation, which became more so and was -followed by gestures, indicating a controversy. - -"They must know each other pretty well, as they are quarreling -already," thought the commissioner. - -In the afternoon the old lady and the assistant were on the pilot's -boat being taken out to an inward bound steamer. Why Miss Mary stayed, -he could not understand clearly. Perhaps with the hope of a renewal, -perhaps with a desire to show her spite or may be something else. - -However, she placed herself at the window, so that she could be seen -from the custom house cottage. And there she sat most of the time, -sometimes drumming on the window pane, sometimes reading a book and now -and then raising her handkerchief to her face. - -About seven o'clock in the evening the corvette was seen stealing -from Landsort's passage and going to anchor at once between Norsten -and East Skerries. When it signaled with the steam whistle for pilots, -the girl arose and came out to see what was going on; and as she now -stood on the slope, regarding the fine vessel, which was adorned for a -feast with flags on all stays and with colored awnings amidships, the -commissioner could see how she became fascinated by the alluring sight. -She stood with her hands behind her back in an unbecoming attitude, -until the wind brought to the skerry the tunes of a festival march, -when her feet began to move on the spot. Slowly the slender body bent -forwards, as if it was attracted by the tones of music, and then, at -once, the whole figure collapsed, the hands covered the face and the -girl rushed precipitately into the cottage, in despair like a child, -who had lost an expected pleasure. - -The commissioner now dressed for the ball; on the black dress coat with -the doctor's insignia embroidered in black silk on the velvet collar, -he hung his six decorations of knighthood on a chain and put on his -bracelet, which he had not worn since the day of his engagement. - -When he had finished his toilet and had still an hour left, before the -boat would come for him, he decided to make a farewell visit to Miss -Mary, mostly because he would not be suspected of cowardice, but also -because he was longing to test his power over his own feelings. As he -came into the hall he made a noise to give the girl time to pose in -order that he from this pose might learn the reason of her stay and -what her intentions were. - -After knocking he entered and found Miss Mary sitting with sewing work, -something he had never seen in her hands before. Her face expressed -humiliation, regret and submission, although with an effort to look -indifferent and aristocratic. - -"Will you see me, Miss Mary, or shall I go?" commenced the -commissioner. And he felt again the inexplicable desire to lift her -above himself as a woman, when she appeared with a woman's attributes -and leaned towards him, just as he otherwise felt an irresistible -desire to push her down, when she came with manly pretensions and -manners. At this moment she seemed more beautiful to him than he had -seen her for a long time, so that he gave way to his feelings, and -without making resistance he became approachable. - -"I have caused you grief, Miss Mary...." - -When she heard the softness in his voice she at once straightened up -and snapped: - -"But you were too cowardly to come and tell me, yourself." - -"Considerate, Miss Mary! It is not so easy for me as it is for you to -slap people's faces. And you see now, that I have the courage to show -myself, as well as you to receive me." - -The last was ambiguous, with the purpose of hearing whether she -believed in his motive for breaking the engagement. - -"Did you believe that I feared you?" asked she and took a stitch with -her needle. - -"I did not know how you would take my explanation, although I thought I -knew that the sorrow which it might cause you would be easily consoled." - -There lay something in the words "easily consoled," which seemed to -cut the girl as an allusion to the young consoler, but neither of them -seemed to have the desire to betray themselves; one feared to show -jealousy, and the other was anxious to learn, if he had seen anything. - -The girl, who had sat at her work, now looked up to read the expression -in the face of her opponent and observed with a wonder which she could -not hide the many orders on the lapel of his dress coat. And with a -childish pettishness, which only hides envy, she sneered: - -"How fine you are!" - -"I shall be so at the ball!" - -The girl's face twitched, twitched so terribly that the commissioner -felt the reflection of her pain and took hold of her hand at the same -moment that she broke out with a terrible cry. And when he leaned -towards her, she drew her head towards his chest and cried, so that she -shook as in a fever. - -"Child!" the commissioner said soothingly. - -"Yes, I am a child! Therefore you should have indulgence with me!" -sobbed the girl. - -"Listen! How far shall one have indulgence with a child?" - -"Infinitely!" - -"No! I have never heard that! There is a perfectly determined limit, -where dissoluteness approaches criminal action." - -"What do you mean?" - -And now she jumped up. - -"You know what I mean, I see that," answered the commissioner, who was -again free from the enchantment, for as soon as she became hard, at the -same moment she became ugly. - -"Jealous, thus!" sneered the girl, who believed she had caught him. - -"No, for jealousy is an uncalled for suspicion, sometimes a measure -of prudence, but my apprehensions have proved to be well founded. -Therefore I am not jealous!" - -"And of a boy! A whelp, that you are standing so far above," continued -the girl without taking the explanation into consideration. - -"So much the more ignominious for yourself!" - -"Thus the whole story was a falsehood," she threw between to escape -being hit by the affront. - -"From beginning to end! But I would not cause your mother sorrow and -yourself shame! Do you understand the delicacy?" - -"Yes, I understand it! But I do not understand myself!" - -"That I should be able to do, if you gave me a part of your past life!" - -"My past life! What do you mean?" - -"There exists then a past in your life! It was this I always suspected." - -"You allow yourself to make insinuations...." - -"As I have nothing further to do, with who you are or what you have -been, so ... Now I must say farewell!" the commissioner broke off, as -he saw a gunner out on the hill coming for him. - -"Don't go away yet!" begged the girl and grasped his hand, looking into -his eyes with drowning glances. "Do not go away, for then I do not know -what I might do." - -"Why torment ourselves longer, when separation is inevitable?" - -"We will not torment ourselves! You shall stay with me this evening, so -that we can talk before we separate; I will narrate to you all that -you wish to know, and after that you will judge me differently." - -The commissioner, who from this utterance believed he knew all and -was sure that he had escaped the misfortune of binding himself to the -mistress of one or more, now came to a decision. He went to the window, -and dismissed the gunner, saying that he would come later in his own -boat. - -When this was done, he sat down on the sofa for the starting of a -conversation. - -But after the girl was relieved of her uneasiness, she relaxed and -became almost speechless, so that finally there was perfect silence. -They had nothing to say to each other, and the fear of stirring up -storm birds oppressed more and more the feelings, so that tiresomeness -faced them. - -The commissioner began to thumb the books, which were left on the -center table, and caught sight of one on which the assistant's name was -written. - -"The story of a young woman, I believe I Have you read it?" asked he. - -"No, I haven't had time yet. What is there about the book?" - -"Well, it is remarkable because it was written by a woman and yet is -sincere." - -"So! What is its contents then?" - -"Its contents are about free love. There is a young scientist, who -becomes engaged to a girl free from prejudice; and while he is on an -expedition, she lends herself to an artist, while expecting later to -marry her betrothed." - -"So? What does the authoress say about that?" - -"She only laughs at that, of course." - -"Fie!" said the girl and rose to go after a bottle of wine. - -"Why so? No right of ownership in love! And, besides, her betrothed was -tiresome, at least in her company, to judge by the delineation in the -book." - -"Now we are beginning to be tiresome, also," interrupted Miss Mary, as -she filled the glasses. - -"What shall we amuse ourselves with then?" asked the lover with an -amorous smile, which could not be misunderstood. "Come now and sit down -here by me." - -Instead of being offended at the coarse tone and gesture, which -accompanied the invitation, the girl seemed to look up to the man with -a certain admiration where before she had almost despised him for his -over-respectful manners. - -The twilight had fallen, and the moon in its last quarter threw only a -yellow-green stripe in onto the floor, silhouetting the shadow of the -balsam. - -Through the open window came the subdued tones of the first waltz, -"The Queen of the Ball," as a reproach, a greeting from the lost -Paradise, and at the same time sustained the hope that all was not -ended. - -And in the hope of binding him by a memory of the highest bliss she -made the last concession after a stormy explanation of love on his -side. - - - - -CHAPTER THIRTEENTH - - -Three days later the commissioner landed on East Skerries after having -been to Dalaro. When he learned that the young lady had left never -to return, he felt an inexpressible easiness, as though the air was -rarefied and purer. Going up to his room, he rested before the open -window to smoke, and in memory pass through the changeful sensations of -the past days. - -When he at midnight had torn himself from the girl's embrace, he had -placed himself in the boat with a certain satisfaction; as though he -had fulfilled a pressing duty. It was now as though the equilibrium -had been replaced. His rights had been violated in such a case, where -the law did not give redress, and therefore he must procure right for -himself, and he had acted only upon the principles which the opponents -themselves had promulgated. - -Afterwards when he had gone aboard the corvette and met people, with -whom he could converse in a cultured language, and had discussed with -the surgeon learned subjects, it at first acted as an intoxicant. He -did not need to suppress his brain for childish talk, nor make himself -semi-stupid in order to be understood; and when he only expressed -himself by inference or with hints, he was understood at once. Then -he felt that he had been living three months in barbarism, which by -and by had imperceptibly drawn him down into trifling battles, which -had placed his thought life beneath the effective and vegetative; had -elevated the act of reproduction to be the main thing, and allured him -to enter as a competitor in a strife as between stallions, from which -very likely he would have come out victorious. And so he understood why -the guardians of the universal Christian church, who were sent to carry -civilization out to the savages of all nations, were once forbidden -to found a family, or to bind themselves to woman or children, and he -understood that there could lay a rational significance in fasting and -renunciation, for those who would live a higher spiritual life. It was -not for self-gratification that the anchorite sought solitude, for -just as when dropped at random on fallow ground, the solitary grain of -wheat could raise sixty spears, while that in the wheat field only gave -two, where the seed was crowded between millions on fertilized ground, -so could that individual, who struggled for a richer development over -others, only grow in the desert. - -Three days' experience had corroborated this, for when he on board the -corvette and at the bathing resort was dragged from circle to circle, -he had observed every night when he went to bed, that during the course -of the day he had ground off his edges, whereby he had, like a precious -stone, gained in appearance but lost in carats. This subserviency, -developed by common sympathy for the human being and by the tendency of -adaption in society had deluded him to such a degree, that the opinions -which he had improvised in society stuck to him and were subsequently -recollected by him with the claim of being his inner-most thoughts. And -he had finally become loath and felt himself at last a false being, -who said one thing and thought another; he began to blush for himself -and observed that with increasing esteem he gained in society for his -affable manners, he lost all esteem for himself. - -To avoid sinking he isolated himself again, and the regained solitude -acted upon his spirit as a steam bath, or a swim in the sea, where -liberty from all pressure, all contact with solid material had ceased; -and he decided to stay on the skerry through the winter. - -For this purpose he rented for his own use the cottage, where the -ladies had dwelt, and began to install himself the same day. The one -big room he took for a library and laboratory, the other for dining -room and parlor; the attic he fixed up for a bedroom. - -When he awoke the next morning in his new domicile, after a dreamless -sleep, he found a new pleasure in having a house alone to himself, -where he need not have forced upon him suggestions from others, nor -receive other impressions than those he himself determined on. - -When he had drunk his coffee, he sat down in the library, after having -given orders that he would not receive visitors before three o'clock in -the afternoon. - -Now he took up an old plan of exploring Europe's present ethnography, -in a way that would save all useless travel. On printed circulars, -issued in a fictitious name, he now filled in the addresses, and -professional titles and put them into stamped envelopes. To get -the most complete record of the measurements of the craniums and -the dimensions of the body he had decided that circulars sent to -hat makers, makers of coffins, shirt and hosiery manufacturers in -Europe's principal cities asking for information as to the sizes -mostly called for in the respective countries, would procure for him -the desired results. The circulars pretended to be Issued with the -view of exportation of said stuffs at wholesale with high profits. In -addition to this another circular was sent to the great as well as the -smaller book dealers in the capitals of Europe and other cities, with -a request for photographs of all kinds. These were to be paid for in -advance at the highest price by postal order. He also placed himself -in communication with a technicist, who bought photographs to utilize -the silver in them. With this and the thousand of portraits, which he -had cut out of foreign illustrated papers, he intended to commence his -explorations. - -When he had finished this work, it was dinner time. He went out of -doors to eat it, and he observed that a letter was in the mail box on -the door. The writing was familiar to him, and when he had assured -himself it was from Miss Mary, he did not open it, he let it lay beside -him on the table; meantime he ate his simple dinner in great haste. -That the letter did not contain anything agreeable, that he understood -as he had broken his promise to come back the next day to say good-by, -and now because he would save himself all disagreeable impressions he -laid the letter aside in the table drawer without opening it. - -But when he had slept an hour after his dinner and the heat from labor -and food had disappeared, he observed, that his thoughts did not turn -to books, they turned towards that table drawer. And now he began -to wander up and down the floor, the prey of vehement and fatiguing -battle. - -It was as though he had a part of her soul locked up in this drawer; -she existed in the room, and the spirit of her power of attraction lay -under the white envelope, on which a red seal lightened as a kiss. He -saw her sitting there on the same sofa, heard her whisperings, felt -her eyes glowing in the dusk, and his flesh began to burn again. How -stupid, he thought, to let life's highest bliss go out of one's hands. -When love was a mutual deceit, why not deceive then! Nothing for -nothing I And when a perfect happiness did not exist, why then not be -content with the imperfect? - -Now he felt that he would have crawled to her, lied that he was her -slave and acknowledged himself vanquished. He could have frightened -away the rival; and with her alone in perfect union it would have been -easy to have bound her with the band of habit and interest, and finally -she would not take the enjoyment from someone else. - -But so came the fear, that this letter would disperse his last hope, -which still was better than nothing, and he would not read it. He had -placed himself at his laboratory table, and almost without thinking of -what he did, he opened an iron retort, put in the letter and lit the -blast lamp under it. After a moment the smoke puffed out through the -neck of the retort, and when it ceased he lighted the gas with a match. -A little blue-yellow flame burned for a few minutes with a whistling -sound like a bat's cry. - -The spirit of the letter, as an alchemist would have said! A mass of -paper which was consumed and gave the same products of combustion, -carbon and hydrogen, as a burning soul in a living body. Carbon and -hydrogen! It was all, and the same! - -The flame fluttered, decreased, disappeared in the neck, and it was -dark again in the room! - -It had again grown cloudy out over the sea, and the waves were -going before the east wind, beating towards the strand, sighing, -hissing, and the wind split at the corners like the waves against -the stem of a boat; but through all these sounds of lamentation was -heard the whistling buoy's crying out on the sea, rhythmetic as a -tragic comedian, when he recites, and with pauses, just as though to -recover his breath or let the last word die out; before he lets a -new one stream forth. It was a solo for Titan with the storm for an -accompaniment, a giant organ, where the east wind tread the bellows. - -The room became too sultry for him, and he took his cloak to go out -into the storm and let his mood blow away. Attracted against his will -by the light of a lantern in the provision store, he steered his steps -thither. As the fishing with drifting nets had been remunerative, the -store had a lively patronage, and hidden by darkness he could come -close to the talking fishermen without being seen. - -"And so the assistant swiped the girl from him," said old Oman; "and so -she got a real man instead of that one...." - -"Yes, he is not as a human being should be," threw in the unmarried -Vestman, "for to-day he wrote as good as hundreds of letters for the -mail. And what he is boiling in there and is busy with, no mortal can -tell, but I think, what I think! And we must have our eyes open, for -such ones as lock themselves in and boil, we know them." - -"Oh, the devil!" the married Vestman followed with. "Let him brew his -drop himself; it cannot turn out worse with him than old Soderlund, who -mashed out on the rocks and lost his still! This here I think we won't -meddle with." - -"Yes, if it is only that," replied Oman, "then let him go on with it, -but see I never can forget that he would have taken the net from me -that time, and if I catch him by the fin, I don't let him slip until I -have him in the cauf...." - -"Yes, a wicked man is he who has no God!" ended the colporteur. "That -is sure!" - -Without having the slightest trace of an illusion in regard to their -thankfulness, the commissioner could not help feeling an uneasiness -at being surrounded in the desert by downright enemies and the most -dangerous of the dangerous, who believed that they saw in him an idiot -or a criminal. They believed that he was distilling gin to save twenty -cents on a gallon! They suspected him of mixing poisons for them. If -any misfortunes happened here, he would be blamed for it. And if they -used their unlawful nets, he would not dare to seize them without -himself dreading a more or less scandalous charge, or something worse -than that--their revenge. - -It was a dangerous company, dangerous to life as stupidity. And -although he knew that at any moment he would he could gain all of them -for his friends, if he treated them to a gallon of gin and stayed with -them himself and helped drink it, he never thought to do this for one -moment. Their enmity kept him free; their friendship would have dragged -him down into their filth. Their hate could only act as an annunciator -for his power, but their affections would have neutralized it, even if -their spirits never could enter into contact with his. And the very -danger had its pleasure, because it kept his spirit awake and elastic, -gave him something to counteract, for exercise. Besides the danger out -here among these savages was not less than that in the upper circles, -which he had lately left, and where the power to do real harm was -greater. Had not the surgeon on board the corvette regarded him as -sick, when he spoke of the necessity of finding a method to utilize -the enormous quantity of nitrous oxide, which was wasted in the -manufacture of commercial sulphuric acid, while at the same time the -expensive saltpeter is imported from Chile to compensate for the soil's -losses of nitrogen. Or when he projected something about utilizing the -smoke from the chimneys for technical purposes, had not this friend -advised him to take a sojourn at a watering place and reside among -human beings. - -Rather stay in absolute solitude and pass for an idiot among redskins -than be condemned to a civil death by equals with authority and -decision without appeal. - -After he had wandered a moment in the darkness, he returned to his -cottage and lighted the candles and lamps in his two rooms and opened -the doors onto the porch, whereby he lessened the impression of being -locked in. - -When he now looked at his watch it was only eight o'clock. The long -evening and night which were coming frightened him, for his head was -too tired to work, but not sufficiently so to enable him to sleep. The -wind blew fiercely round the house corners, the din of the waves and -the roaring of the whistling buoy made him nervous. To free himself -from the suggestions of these sounds, to which he would not be a slave, -he placed in "sleeping bullets" which were small steel balls he had -bought in Germany, which when placed in the ears, prevented every -sound from penetrating and being perceived. - -But when he thus had shut off perhaps the greatest line of -communication with the outer world, his fantasy began to labor at a -higher pressure. A mad curiosity to know what the burned letter could -have contained, gripped him irresistibly, so that he opened the retort -to try to read in the ashes. But even the ink was destroyed by fire, -and there was no trace to be seen of the writing. Now the field was -open for all kinds of doubts and guesses. Sometimes he believed he -could draw conclusions as to what the letter had contained from all -that had passed, sometimes he rejected this, remembering the girl's -illogical way to think and act. - -So finally he stopped at the decision that it was impossible to reason -it out, and he decided not to worry over it any more. But his brain had -become unrestrainable and was worrying on its own account, grinding and -sifting, until he became completely exhausted, without being able to -sleep. And with the increasing feebleness in the organ of thought the -lower propensities awoke. - -Enraged that his soul could not hold out in the battle with a fragile -body, he finally undressed and took a dose of potassium bromide, and -at once the brain stopped in its wild career, fantasies banished, the -consciousness was stunned, and he fell asleep as heavily as though -dead. - - - - -CHAPTER FOURTEENTH - - -The autumn had advanced, but on the skerry could not be seen that the -summer had gone, for there was not a deciduous tree to turn yellow, -and the lichens on the rocks had become more luxuriant, and swelled -by the moisture, the heath and the crowberry vines had taken on a new -verdure, the juniper and the dwarf pines, the eternally green trees of -the north, were freshened and freed from dust by rain. - -The fishermen had flown, as their labor for the fall was ended; the -silence had again returned, and the provision store was closed. The -wooden frame of the chapel became more naked, as the boards had been -picked off for firewood and carpenter's lumber, so that there was only -the studdings to be seen, which resembled a complex of gibbets. - -The preacher was seldom seen now, for since he had become an abstainer, -he had misused the china wine, which was a compound containing brandy, -and he already had buzzings in his ears, palpitation of the heart and -was sleeping most of the time. - -The commissioner after a month of labor had succeeded in curing his -soul of the shot wound he had received at the game of love. With -potassium iodide and low diet he had subdued the desires, and when the -tristesse of the solitude took him, he generated a portion of laughing -gas from ammonium nitrate, for he had found a long time previous that -intoxication from alcohol was vile and succeeded by greater dejection -with mania for suicide. At first the wonderous nitrous oxide had -cheered him up and made him laugh, but the banal giggle had dissolved -all his great thoughts and struggles into a nothing, at which he -laughed, but when he had found himself down among the gigglers, who had -giggled at him, he felt the need of raising himself up again above his -former self, and he missed his sorrows and his griefs. - -But when he had isolated himself completely, so that the chambermaid -was only permitted to clean the room and bring in food, while he -locked himself up in the attic room, all the memories from the summer -commenced to haunt him. He remembered now without wishing it, every -word that had been said. And now the appearance of the preacher in the -mist on the islet appeared as something that had been planned. The -words which he had uttered concerning his father and his circumstances -compared with those of Miss Mary, that she knew who he was, now took -root, grew and became big. There must exist some secret in his life, -which everybody knew except himself. And soon he saw in the appearance -of the preacher that of a planned spying, sustained by someone who -wished to persecute him. He did not believe this in calmer moments, for -he knew very well that the mania of persecution was the first symptom -of that infirmity, which accompanies isolation. Human beings formed -a great electrical battery of many elements, and when an element is -isolated, it loses its power. The induction coil of copper wire was -lame at the same moment the soft iron rod was taken out, and he was on -the way to be lame, since his iron rod had become tempered steel. - -Yes, but that was not that sickly mania of persecution, which comes -from bodily infirmity, for he had in fact been persecuted, opposed -from the very moment, that he in the school bespoke that he would be -a power, a former of a species, that would be able to break from its -kindred and like the differentiating herb beget for itself a name of -its own, perhaps the name of a new genus. He had been persecuted, -instinctively from below by inferiors and above by the mediocre, which -latter sat as gauges and determined the standard, by which greatness -should be judged. He had been hated and picked at as the yellow -high-bred bird of the Canary islands, when it had flown out of its -cage and come among green-finches out in the forest, where its too -splendid attire provoked the wild birds. - -But nature, in which he had sought company before, now became dead to -him, for the intermediary, the human being, was wanting. The sea, which -he had worshiped and which he sought as the only grandeur in his paltry -country with its petty, trivial summer cottage landscapes seemed to him -to become narrow, as his ego swelled. This blue, turpentine-green, gray -circle enclosed him as a prison yard, and the uniformity of the little -landscape brought the same pain, as prison cells might cause, by their -want of variety. To travel away from the whole he could not, for he sat -with his roots In the earth, in his little impressions, his diet, and -he could not be removed with the root. It was the Norseman's tragic, -which uttered itself in longing for the south. - -It was then that he commenced to think out a plan for connecting the -country, the island country,--for that it had a connection by Lapland -did not change the case--with the mainland. First there should be a six -hours' lightning train to Helsingborg and communication with a steam -ferry boat across the sound making the capital of Denmark the center of -the North. Ice free harbors on Djuro and Nynas with ice breakers should -keep commerce and navigation alive the whole year round; the northern -winter sleep would thereby be retrenched, and the national character, -unsteadiness, which is said to be owing to that six months interruption -of all activity, should change nature. The Russian commerce to England -should go through Stockholm and Gothenborg, and the old scheme of -Charles XI and Charles XII, to get the Persia and India trade over -Russia and Sweden would be realized. - -Sweden should become a country for tourists, and foreigners would be -allured to her. He would change Stockholm to a seaport by closing the -lake Mälar at the North Bridge and the Sluice, and give it another -outlet through a system of canals leading to the cove of Trosa. Thereby -the salt water would come up to Stockholm, which would change the -atmosphere conditions and consequently the inhabitants. - -But he remembered the time when Sweden, still belonging to the great, -universal Christian church, stood in direct communication with Rome -and thereby was of some account to Europe. He would, if it was shown -that religion could not be abandoned by the multitude, again introduce -this our forefathers' faith, which we with fire and sword had been -urged to abjure, and whose martyrs, Hans Brask, Olaus and Johannes -Magnus, Nils Dacke, and Ture Jonsson have become so shamefully soiled -in history. And Catholicism, the Roman legacy, the first promulgator -of the idea of Europeism had conquered all Europe. Bismarck had fallen -in the combat of culture, gone to Canossa and selected the Pope for -an arbitrator, as he had commenced to believe in arbitrations without -steel cannons. Denmark had built Catholic cathedrals, and the young -Danes had already lent their pens to the cause. The germanization of -the North like that of North Germany was only a relapse into barbarism -after the Hun battles of 1870 the consequences of which have become -manifest in persecution against Latin, and in French hate, which is -uttered in wars of extermination against French literature, in North -Germany family politics and Lutheran inquisition with prisons for -heretics and a general lowering of the level of intelligence. - -Lutherism, that was the foe! Teutonic culture; bourgeois religion -in black pants, sectaristic narrowness, particularism, sundering, -intrenchment and spiritual death! - -No, Europe should be one again, and the peoples' way be over Rome, the -way of intelligence over Paris! - -The Swedish peasant should again feel himself as cosmopolitan and -leave his position in the under class, again get that glimpse of the -culture of beauty which the church formerly offered in pictures and -tunes; his divine service should be a true hymn in the Roman language, -composed by poets, and not compounded by hymn book makers and of which -he should understand exactly as little, as would awaken his highest -ideas about that which he nevertheless would not comprehend. His high -mass should be performed by real ministers, who devoted their life to -religion and the care of souls, and not to agriculture, dairy business, -whist playing and office work; and then the peasant's wife would get -a guardian of her soul, to whom she at confession could intrust her -sorrows instead of running into the kitchen of the parsonage and -gossiping about it to the servants. - -And with the re-installment of Latin every Upsala student's -dissertation could be read as of old by the learned of Europe and every -Swedish investigator feel himself a member of the great universal -corporation of the intelligence under the pontificate in Paris. - -This and other thoughts he put down on paper and laid it in the table -drawer, for he had not a newspaper, that would print them, least of all -the patriots who "from envy had no desire to receive projects for the -elevation of the country." - -He had now got the answers to his circulars and had the attic room -filled with materials for his European ethnography. But now the subject -had lost its interest, and his soul had become sick in earnest, so -that he did not even dare go out. The aspect of a human being awoke -such a loathing, that he turned back home, if he only saw one. At the -same time grew the contemporary need of hearing his own voice and to -unload his over-productive brain by contact with another being, to feel -himself exerting influence on the life of others and to have company. -He had thought for a moment to get a dog, but to lay down deposits from -his soul and his feelings in an animal body was to graft grapes onto -thistles and he had never been allured by the sympathy of dirty, food -courting animals. - -There was only one man for whom he felt a certain attraction, and -that was the married man of the custom house, Vestman, whose wife was -living in bigamy, without her husband's knowing it. He had an honest -look and an awakened intellect, and with him the commissioner had bound -the companionship by presenting him with a salmon trawl with hooks. -He had at the beginning of the summer lent him books and taught him -how to write after a copy, but since the fishing had been in force and -navigation had become lively, their paths had separated. - -But in order to get the man to really place out the trawl the -commissioner would not tell him that it was for salmon, for then the -conservative fisherman would never concern himself with what was -according to his idea an absurd exploit without reward; therefore he -was left in the belief that the question was about a new remunerative -cod fishing; where the biggest fishes should be caught. - -When the commissioner now after a month of isolation rowed out on the -sea with Vestman and he heard his own voice again, he observed that -from lack of use it had changed its tone and become thinner, so that -he fancied he heard a stranger talk. And now he intoxicated himself -with talking. His brain, which had only labored and produced by hand -and pen, broke now through the sluices of the windpipe, and all his -thoughts flowed out as in a stream, giving new births on the way, -and when he had got the chance to speak to a human being's ear for a -sounding board without being interrupted, without being questioned, -it was to him as though he had a comprehending listener before him. -And after their first outing he felt sure that Vestman was the most -intelligent person he had met for a long time. - -Now he kept on for eight days and narrated during their excursions -about all the secrets of nature, explained the influence of the moon on -the surface of the water, and warned him not to believe that all that -the eyes saw was as it looked to be. Narrated, for example, that the -moon was pear shaped, although it looked like a bowl, and that one, -therefore, had no surety that the earth was ball shaped.... - -Here Vestman made a face and dared to raise an objection for the first -time. - -"Yes, but it says so in my almanac anyhow." - -The commissioner found that he had gone out too far and must return, -but it was too late, because to give a demonstration of the latest -investigations regarding the shape of the earth as being a three axled -ellipsoid, required knowledge in the listener, and therefore he must -change to another subject. He spoke of the mirage and used the occasion -to ask if they had visited Sword Island and seen what he had done there. - -"Surely we have seen that something has been going on there, but nobody -lands there more, and both the draughting of nets and the pasturing of -sheep are spoiled," answered Vestman perfectly in accordance with truth. - -After this confession the commissioner drew back, ashamed at having -been the victim of the delusion that his listener had understood what -he said. Fie had spoken against a wall and taken his own echo for the -other's voice. - - * * * * * - -Eight days later there was a great stir on the skerry, for Vestman had -caught a salmon of twenty-six pounds. And as he believed he was the -discoverer of this method of fishing, there was soon a notice in the -newspaper about a new livelihood for fishermen, now that the stromling -had begun to decrease. The happy fisherman, Eric Vestman of the custom -house service, had thereby made himself deserving of the esteem and -gratitude of his fellow citizens.... - -Shortly afterwards there occurred in a periodical for the people a -defamatory article about fish commissioners, who understand nothing, -but believe they have everything to teach. - -Hereafter a writing soon followed from the Academy of Agriculture -to the commissioner with the request for a complete report of the -management of the fishing, especially the salmon fishing, to which the -commissioner only answered by handing in his resignation. - -Without further interest for the population and without that little -support, which his former official position had given him, he soon -learned how the savages, who thought that he had "been discharged," -commenced a perfect war of extermination against him. First they began -to cast his boat loose, under the pretense that there was no place on -the bridge, and it drifted to land and was broken to pieces. - -During the next rainy weather he observed, that the rain came into the -attic room. And after he had complained to Oman it began to rain into -the other rooms, without his discovering a failing rooftile. - -Shortly after this, one night, a burglary occurred in the cellar, and -the offenders were said to be Esthonians. - -That their purpose was to drive him away was perfectly clear, but now -it amused him to defy them, and this he did by not making any further -remarks, and bearing everything. - -But now when he was surrounded by real enemies and had in earnest -stepped out of the community, the fear of the banished came over him -with double force. - -He slept poorly nights, notwithstanding he sought to regulate his -dreams by giving himself strong suggestions before sleeping. But -when he awoke, he had dreamed that he was a whistling buoy that had -torn lose, and drifted and drifted seeking a strand upon which to be -thrown. And in his sleep he had unconsciously sought support against -the sideboard of the bed to feel contact with some object, even if a -dead one. Sometimes he dreamed, that he fluttered in the air and could -neither go up nor down; and when he finally awoke after a fainting -attack he had grasped his hands round the pillow on which he had lain -his head. Now the memory of his dead mother began to come up, and he -awoke often from dreaming that he had lain as a child on her breast. -His soul was plainly in retrogression, and the memory of the mother the -source, the link between unconscious and conscious life, the consoler, -the interceder, came forth. Childhood's thoughts of meeting again in -another world came up, and his first plan of suicide expressed itself -as an irresistible longing to find again his mother somewhere in -another world, which he did not believe in. - -All science was useless to a spirit going downwards, and which had -lost all interest in life; the brain had battled, until tired, and the -fantasy labored without a regulator. - -Still he kept up until it was near Christmas; but he ate little and -took only ether at night. The whole life disgusted him, and he smiled -now at his former ambitions. The rain had destroyed his books and -papers; the apparatus had corroded and rusted. - -The care of his own person had lessened, so that his whiskers had -grown, his hair remained unkempt, and he shunned water. He had not sent -his linen to be laundried for a long time, and he had lost the ability -to see dirt. - -His clothes lacked buttons, and his coat was always spotted in front -from things spilt, for the hand that managed knife and fork no longer -obeyed the will. - -When he went out sometimes, the children stood and made faces at him -and called him nicknames. - -One morning he had the whole swarm of children around him. They pulled -his coat, and when he turned back, a stone was thrown, which hit his -chin so that the blood ran. Then he began to weep and begged them not -to be cross with him. - -"Yes, you shall go away, you devilish fool," cried a boy of twelve -years, "lest we shall get you to the almshouse." - -And so they all threw stones. But then Oman's maid came out and took -the boy by the hair, and when she had chastised him, she went to the -assailed and wiped the blood from his face with her apron. - -"Poor little man!" said she. - -Then he leaned his head towards her full bosom and said: - -"I will sleep with you." - -"Oh, shame!" snubbed the maid and pushed him away from her. - -He replied, "How coarse your thoughts are! Fie!" - -One evening some days later Vestman's maid ran down and begged -the Doctor to come up and see Vestman's wife, who was dying. The -request seemed somewhat unexpected to the commissioner, but with the -clear-sightedness which during intervals of light accompanied his -sickness, he perceived that here a murder had been committed and -that they would use his name and title instead of a legal medical -examination. The case was immaterial to him, but it aroused him for a -moment. Something had happened, and the unusual had made a long needed -impression. He therefore went up to the custom house cottage and was -received by both brothers, who showed him into the sick room with a -politeness, which seemed to the commissioner extremely suspicious. -But he said nothing, asked nothing, for he would draw out the vague -confession by constraining the husband to speak first, sure that he -would betray himself at the first word. - -By a tallow candle sat the child eating a cookie, which had not been -given her without an object, and she was dressed in her best clothes, -probably so that she should feel solemn and appear in a constrained -manner. - -After the commissioner had looked around the room and observed that -Vestman's brother had sneaked out, he stepped up to the bed where the -woman lay. - -He saw at once that she was dead, and by the contracted muscles of her -face he understood that some violence had been committed, and when he -also observed that her hair was carefully combed over the top of her -head, he understood at once that the old, good way with the nail had -been used. - -But he would have the man speak first, and with half open lips and -questioning eyes, just as though he would ask something, he turned to -Vestman. This at once put him off his guard, and relying, that he need -no longer be sly with one who was insane, he said: - -"Can't the Doctor testify that she is gone, so that we shall be -permitted to bury her at once, for you see, we poor cannot afford to -call a physician out here." - -More was not needed to give half a surety. But instead of answering the -commissioner turned half whispering towards the man who was perfectly -calm after he had delivered his errand: - -"Where is the hammer?" - -At first the man flew backwards two steps, as if he would strangle his -opponent, who still disarmed him by casting a glance at the girl, after -which the husband stood still shivering. - -"You do not know where the hammer is, but I know where the nail is -driven," the commissioner continued with an immovable calm. "Over -prudent asses, who cannot invent anything new, and like children always -hide on the same place, when they play goal. I am convinced that this -nailing the brain was invented by a nobleman or a priest during the -Middle Ages and has now sunk down to the under class, where it is dug -up as a sample of the peoples' craftiness. Everything comes from above, -salmon, arsenic, nails, accidental shootings, revolutions, personal -liberty, financial well being, ballads, folk-lore, farmers' almanacs, -anthropological museums, but they are first stolen, for you mob prefer -to steal rather than take a gift, for you are too paltry to be willing -to give thanks. And therefore you place your benefactors in an asylum, -and your noblemen on the scaffold. Place me now in an asylum, and you -will escape prison!" - -Coming down to the cottage he remembered that the pleasure of speaking -what he thought had allured him to an imprudent act, and with knowledge -of the peoples' character he knew that self-defense against a dangerous -witness might determine the murderer to put him to silence. He slept, -therefore, during the night with a revolver in the bed and was awakened -by bad dreams. - -The following day he remained locked in and saw how white sheets hung -at the windows in the custom house cottage. The third day the body was -brought out and taken away on a boat, and the fourth day the men came -back again. He did not sleep any more now, and insomnia completed the -work of destruction. The fear of becoming insane and being placed in an -asylum, mixed with the apprehension of being assassinated at any time, -confirmed his decision to step out of life voluntarily. Now, when death -approached and the end of life, of a family, stood forth in its gloom, -it was as though the propensity of generation sprang up, and found -utterance in the longing to own a child. But to go the whole trite -way to search for a woman, and bind himself by family to the earth -and community, was against him more than ever, and in his frail, torn -condition he speculated out a shorter way, which would give him family -pleasure, if only for a few hours. - -In a roundabout way, at which his sense of delicacy would have revolted -a few months before, he procured after some waiting the seed of a human -being, and then he constructed a _couveuse,_ under the microscope which -could be kept at a temperature from thirty-six to forty-one degrees -Celsius. When fecundation had taken place, he saw how the males were -swarming round the immovable female, which he imagined he saw blushing. -And now they crowded, pushed, whipped each other in the battle to give -impetus to a generation to propagate his talents, inoculating his rich, -productive spirit on a buxom, rank, wild substratum. But it was not -the largest, those with big, stupid heads and thick tails, it was the -quickest, the agile, the most fiery, who first penetrated the membrane -to push into the nucleus. - -With the screw of the alcohol lamp under his thumb and one eye on the -thermometer he looked at this unveiled mystery of love for a couple -of hours. Saw, how the cells commenced to cleave, how the division -of labor between the different segments had already taken place and -he waited with uneasiness for the anterior end of the medullary tube -to swell into a bulb, which would constitute the primary brain; he -dreamed that he could see this forge of thought arching beautifully, -and he felt for a moment a pride at his creation, which solved the -problem of Homunculus, when a movement on the screw of the lamp -caused the white of the egg to coagulate and the spark of life to be -extinguished. - -He had lived so intensely this other being's life during these moments, -that now, when he saw the round, dull, white spot on the glass, it was -to him, as if he beheld the sunken eye of death, and magnified in his -sickly senses the grief grew to sorrow, the sorrow over his dead child: -the band between this and the future was severed, and he no longer had -power to do it over. - -When he awoke and came to his senses, he felt a strong warm hand -grasping his right hand, and he remembered having dreamed, how he was a -stranded vessel, which was tossed on the waves--between sky and water, -until he finally felt the anchor chain pulling and perceived a calm, as -if again bound to firm earth. - -Without looking up he pressed the firm hand to feel the attachment -with a living being, and he imagined that he observed, how powers were -transferred to him through the frailer nerve currents fastening onto -the stronger. - -"How is it with you?" he heard the preacher's voice above his head. - -"If thou wert a woman instead, I should live again, for woman is man's -root in the earth," answered the sick man, using thou for the first -time to his old comrade. - -"Thank fortune, that you have lost the rotten root!" - -"Without root we cannot grow and bloom." - -"But with such a woman, Borg!" - -"Such a one? Do you know who she was? I have never found out." - -"Yes, then you only need to know, that she was such a one, that a man -never marries. But now she is engaged anyhow...." - -"To him?" - -"To him! It was in yesterday's paper." - -After a moment's silence the preacher would arise and go, but the sick -man held him fast. - -"Tell me a fairy tale," said he in a childish, touching voice. - -"Hm! A fairy tale?" - -"Yes, a fairy tale! About sprites, for example. Do this, I beg of you!" - -The preacher sat down again, and when he saw that the sick man was in -earnest, he let him have his way and narrated. - -The commissioner listened with the greatest attention, but when the -preacher, faithful to his habit, would give some moral erudition, he -was interrupted by the sick man, who begged him to keep to the text. - -"It is so good to hear old tales," said he; "it is like rest and to -sink back into best memories of the time, when one was a little animal -and loved the useless, the nonsensical, the meaningless. Repeat the -Lord's Prayer for me now!" - -"You don't believe in the Lord's Prayer?" - -"No, not more than in the fairy tales: but it will do just as much good -anyhow and when death approaches and one is going back again, one loves -the old and becomes conservative. Repeat the Lord's Prayer. You shall -have what I leave and your note back, if you repeat it." - -The preacher hesitated a moment. Then he began to read. - -The sick man at first listened quietly, afterwards his lips followed -the sound in motion and finally spoke aloud and with a prayerful tone. - -When they had finished, the colporteur said: "It is good to pray, I -believe!" - -"It is like medicine. The words, the old words, awake memories and give -powers, the same powers as they formerly gave to the powerless, who -sought God outside himself. Do you know what God is? It is Archimedes -wishing for a fixed point outside, by the support of which he could -lift the earth. It is the imagined magnet in the earth, without which -the movement of the needle would be unexplainable. It is that ether, -which must be invented so that the vacant space can be filled. It is -the molecule, without which the laws of chemistry would be miracles. -Give me a little more hypotheses before anything else the fixed point -outside myself, for I am entirely loose." - -"Do you wish me to speak of Jesus?" asked the preacher, who believed -that the sick man was irrational. - -"No, not of Jesus! It is either a tale or a Hypothesis. It is a -device of revengeful slaves and evil women; it is the God of the -mollusks opposed to the vertebrates ... but wait, am I not myself a -mollusk. Speak of Jesus! Tell of how he accompanied custom house men -and dissolute women, as I have been obliged to do. Speak of how the -spiritually poor shall own heaven, because they had no power on earth; -and how he taught artisans to waste the time and, beggars, sluggards, -prodigal sons, who owned nothing, to share with the industrious, who -owned something." - -"No. You blasphemer, I am not sitting here as a fool for you!" -interrupted the preacher and arose in earnest. - -"Do not go, do not go!" cried the sick man. "Hold my hand and let me -hear your voice. Speak what you please! Read! Read in the almanac or -the Bible, it is immaterial to me. _Horror vacui_, fear of the empty -nothing must away!" - -"See thou, that thou hast a fear of death?" - -"Surely I have that just as every living thing, which without the fear -of death never would have lived, but the doom, you see, I do not fear, -for the work judges the master, and I have not created myself." - -The colporteur had gone! - - * * * * * - -It was the day before Christmas eve, when he after a stormy night, -during which he believed he had heard cannon shots and cries of human -beings, went out to walk on the newly fallen snow. The heavens were -blue black as an iron sheet, and the waves were heaving against the -strand While the whistling buoy cried in a single uninterrupted howl, -as if it called for help. - -And now he saw out on the sea to the south-east a big, black steamer, -with cinnabar red bottom shining as a torn and bloody breast. The -funnel with its white ring lay broken on one side, and in the masts and -yards dark figures were hanging, twisted as angleworms on hooks. - -From a crack midships could be seen how the waves tore out chests, -parcels, bales, boxes and sunk the heaviest, but carried the lighter -ones to shore. - -With an indifference for the fate of the shipwrecked, such as that one -must feel, who regards it lucky to die, he went forwards on the strand -and came out on the point, where the pile of stones and the cross -stood. There the waves foamed more furiously than elsewhere, and on the -green water he saw scattered objects of strange shape and color, over -which the mews circled with spiteful cries, as though they had been -deceived in their greedy waiting for prey. - -After he had regarded the curious objects, which came nearer, he saw -that they resembled very small children, very finely dressed. Some had -blond bangs, others black, their cheeks were rose and white, and their -big, open blue eyes, glanced up to the black sky, immovable and without -winking. But when they came nearer the strand, he observed, that when -they swung on the wave, the eyes of some of them moved, as if they -signaled to him, that he should rescue them. And on the next wave five -were thrown upon the strand. - -He had his desire so fixed to own a child and so rooted in his soft -brain, that he was not led to the thought, that they were dolls, which -the delayed and stranded vessel had brought for the Christmas season, -and he collected his arms full of the small orphan children, whom the -sea, the great mother, gave him. And with his wet protégées pressed -to his breast he hurried back to the cottage to dry them. But he had -nothing to make a fire with, for the people had said they had no wood -to sell. He himself did not feel the cold, but his little Christmas -company should have it warm, and therefore he broke a book shelf to -pieces, and made a flaming fire in the big fireplace, pulled out the -sofa and placed the five little ones in a row before the fire. After he -comprehended that they could not dry without being undressed, he began -to take off their clothes, but when he saw that they were all girls, he -left their small chemises on. - -Now he washed their feet and hands with his sponge, and afterwards -combed their hair, dressed them and laid them to sleep. - -It was as though he had company in the cottage, and he walked on tiptoe -not to wake them. - -He had found something to live for, something to cherish, to give his -sympathy to, and when he regarded the small sleepers a moment and saw -that they lay with open eyes, he thought that the light pained them, -therefore he let the window shades down. - -When it became dusk in the room, there came over him a heavy desire to -sleep, which was caused from hunger, although he could not now place -the cause of the sensation in the right place and thus did not know, -when he was hungry or thirsty. However, as the sofa was occupied by -the little ones, he laid down on the floor and slept. - -When he awoke, it was dark in the room, but the door was open, and a -woman stood with a lighted lantern on the threshold. - -"Heavenly father, he is lying on the floor," Oman's maid was heard to -break out. "But, dear sir, don't you know it is Christmas eve to-day?" - -He had slept a day and a night and into the next day. - -Unconsciously he arose, missing something, for the custom house men had -been down and confiscated the strand goods, but he could not remember -what he missed. He felt only a dreadful emptiness as though under a -great sorrow. - -"Now he shall come up to Oman's and eat the Christmas rice pap, for one -is still a Christian being on Christmas eve. Oh, heavenly father, such -misery!" - -And the girl began to cry. - -"To see a human being so wrecked, is enough to make one shed tears of -blood! Come now! Come now!" - -The half insane man made only a sign that he would come, if she would -go first. - -When she had gone, he tarried a moment in the cottage, took the lantern -she had left and went to the looking glass. When he saw his face, -which resembled a savage's, his understanding seemed to light up, and -his will expand for a last effort. - -Leaving the lantern, he went out. - -The wind had turned west and slackened somewhat, the air was clear, and -the stars of heaven sparkled. Guided by the lights from the cottages he -went down to the harbor, sneaked into a boat house and took out sails -to a boat. - -After he had hoisted the sail, he threw the painter loose, took the -tiller and kept for aft-wind straight out to sea. - -He made a tack to look once more on the little fragment of the earth, -where he had last suffered, and when he saw a three branched candle in -the custom house window, where the murderer celebrated the birthday -of Jesus, the forgiver, the idol of all criminals and wretches, who -licensed everything wicked that the civil law punished, he turned back -and spat, pulled the sheet and made full sail. With his back towards -land he steered out under the great starry map and took bearings -from a star of the second magnitude between the Lyre and Corona in -the east. It seemed to him that it shone brighter than any other, -and when he searched in memory, there came a glimpse of something -about the Christmas star, the guiding star to Bethlehem, where three -dethroned kings pilgrimaged as fallen great ones to worship their -own insignificance in the smallest child of human being and which -afterwards became the declared god of all little ones. No, it could -not be that star, for as a punishment to the Christian wizards for -having spread darkness over the earth, not a single dot of light on the -arch of heaven bears the name of any one of them, and therefore they -celebrated the darkest time of the year--so sublimely ridiculous!--to -light wax tapers! Now as his memory cleared up--it was the star _Beta_ -in Hercules. Hercules, Hella's moral ideal, the god of vigor and -prudence, who killed the Lernean hydra with its hundred heads, who -cleaned Augias' stable, captured Diomedes' bullocks which devoured -human beings, who tore the girdle from the Amazon queen, fetched -Cerebus up from Hades, to finally fall for a woman's stupidity, who -poisoned him from pure love, after he in lunacy had served the nymph -Omphale for three years.... - -Out towards the one that at least had been placed in heaven, who never -let anyone strike him or spit in his face without man-like to strike -and spit back, out towards the self-destroyer, who could only fall -by his own strong hand without begging for mercy from the chalice, -out towards Hercules, who freed Prometheus, the light giver, who was -himself the son of a god and a woman, and who was afterwards falsified -by savages to be the son of a virgin, whose birth was greeted by milk -drinking shepherds and braying asses. - -Out to the new Christmas star led the way, out over the sea, the mother -of all, from the womb of whom life's first spark was kindled, the -inexhaustible spring of fecundity and love, life's origin and life's -foe. - - -THE END - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of On the Seaboard, by August Strindberg - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ON THE SEABOARD *** - -***** This file should be named 44184-8.txt or 44184-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/4/1/8/44184/ - -Produced by Marc D'Hooghe at http://www.freeliterature.org - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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